(07 Jul 2019, 4:05 pm)Malarkey wroteWhy are you snowflakes complaining about the Red Kites being rebranded to X-Lines because of Go North East making the services non-stop between MetroCentre and Newcastle yet on the flip side your saying the Red Arrows/Castles Express should become X-Lines because of their express nature.
Just to note with the upcoming changes to the Red Kites these services will have a faster journey time point to point than that of the X1/X21 so of course they should fall under X-Lines, In personal opinion I don't see this as brand dilution with Eldon Square becoming a sea of Gold in the coming months, how many services in past carried "Express Link", "Northern Superliner" & "Go Xpress" branding.
If anything for me Go North East are revisiting this type of network branding and it's actually a very clever business strategy on the part of Go North East to promote their express services in order to boost passenger numbers so that less people are taking the car to work etc which is exactly what it's purpose was 15-20 years ago and it worked.
Quite clearly Go North East are investing highly into the network of services which run from Newcastle to Stanley/Consett which many passengers have been calling for since the days in which the services were branded West Durham Swift. A majority of users on here have said on numerous occasions that these services should be invested in on the fleet order predictions thread in the past. Go North East have now done so and you lot still complain.
If you look at the bigger scale of things just look at how much money Go North East have spent since 2013 on the network of services which operate from Stanley/Consett to surrounding areas, quite clearly those previous investments have brought growth over the past 6 years.
Services through Stanley are certainly well used on a Sunday, when we
often come back from the Metrocentre via Stanley because it takes no
longer than via Gateshead and it's a much more scenic route.
(07 Jul 2019, 4:41 pm)streetdeckfan wrote
My issue is that they've literally changed nothing about the 45/46/47 other than change the name. Sure it's now none stop between Metrocentre and Newcastle, but it might as well have been already, in all the times I've used them, I've rarely seen anyone get on or off between them.
And I actually don't think the X21 should fall under X-Lines at all, as I don't see it as an express service. Yes, between Newcastle and Durham it is, but the rest of the route it isn't. In my eyes at least, for a service to be branded as express, there has to be a slow alternative, and since the X21 is the only GNE service that goes to Bishop, it's not.
The X21 still manages to be a little faster than the Arriva 6, during the week, as it's not snarled up on South Road and Church street and picking up dozens of students who can't be arsed to walk half a mile.