(18 Mar 2018, 4:54 pm)Dan wrote I'd be very surprised if a day went by when a bus on the E's didn't incur a defect/breakdown, if I'm honest.

I'm shocked (and impressed) that they're even bothering to report it on Social Media, given that the next 'E' service wouldn't be too far behind by the time they got that message online (especially on parts of the routes which operate on a shared corridor - granted there aren't that many).

I've been quite vocal recently about having not seen an Enviro400 on the X34 for months. It seems only right, in the interests of fairness, to note that I saw two yesterday (as usual could have been the same one twice, as I never really see the numbers, when I'm on the Felling Bypass). Whatever issues they seem to have had (if all of my observations in recent months haven't just been a coincidence) must be improving.

Interestingly both of the above Tweets show delays from Sunderland and not South Shields. I do often wonder (specifically with regards to the X34, but can be said for other services too) whether Stagecoach are quite proactive, and if they see any sort of delay to services, they send a spare bus/driver out to cover mileage and make sure that the bus leaves the nearest terminal point on time, which is why we see so many 'wrong' allocations, as we do with Arriva's services operating out of Blyth Depot.

Shields will tend to put spare timekeeping buses on the X34 from Horsley Hill end rather than the Newcastle end, obviously due to the Shields depot being just 5 mins away. If waiting in Newcastle you have no choice but to wait, regardless of the elements.

I've said a few times that some NCL drivers should be trained for X34 (and X24) to assist with timekeeping issues.