(26 Jul 2019, 9:14 pm)Jimmi wrote BusLoverMum summed it up but I feel there is more to add...
Obviously the services chosen to be upgraded are done on a pick and choose basis, you would pick a service that has a potential to benefit from an upgrade, many of the services under Sapphire brand run in urban areas that has the likelihood of gaining passengers from and sure enough numbers shot right up on many of these services after being upgraded.
The Durham to Hartlepool thing, the number seemingly making this full journey ain't a massive amount (really, I have to say this again! [emoji57]) and with the 22/23/24 & 56/57/57A it's a fair lot of passing from a village to a town/city centre or another village for shopping and whatever else like people in Wheatley Hill going to Durham, Peterlee or Sunderland.
The 22/23/24 run later in some form than the 56/57/57A do with the 57/57A winding down between 6 & 7pm wheras the 22 & 24 run later, granted the 56 runs into the night now (in place of X12) but it is allocated buses off other services due to interworking patterns so what would the point be in insisting in 'premium buses' on a service that only runs like 07:00 - 19:00 Monday to Saturday over a service that runs most of the day, would only make sense if these buses were allocated elsewhere in the evenings.
With all this in mind, I say all the services under the 'premium brands' are far more worthy of this treatment than the likes of the 57A which only really does anything between Durham and Bowburn, most times I see the 57A on the Trimdon Village to Hartlepool stretch the numbers are in single figures and doesn't operate in the evenings and Sundays. The only thing I can potentially see upgrading the stock on 56/57/57A is the fact GNE opted to pull out of Coundon which likely saw a slight rise in numbers from Coundon on the 56 but then again there's virtually no competition on the 56/57/57A routes now so that's less for Arriva to worry about.
</p><p><br></p><p>At risk of 'Arriva bashing' again, I feel like the Sapphire brand is a joke at this point. What is supposed to 'make my journey sparkle'? Because as far as I can tell, all they've done is stick a few stickers up that say 'Sapphire'. It's the same old buses that they run on any other route</p><p>And what is the difference between a MAX and Sapphire service other than the name?</p><p>Not to be a GNE evangelist, but as I said previously, their 'standard' spec is equal to or higher than Arriva's Sapphire, even on the X21/X22. </p><p>As much as I see people complain about them, I think the tables were a great idea, I'm always using them to work on the bus, plus it gives me a seat with legroom! </p><p><br></p><p>I'm not surprised GNE dropped Coundon, I only ever saw a couple people stay on the 18. And if I'm being totally honest, I'm very surprised they actually extended the X21 to Tindale, people I speak to at the stop let the X21 go by and get the 6 as they say the X21 takes too long because of the route it takes through Woodhouse</p>