(12 Nov 2019, 2:12 am)DH9 wrote
Its clear the M6 extension to Lanchester hasn't worked and is a mess to say the least.
M6 to Quaking Houses plus split at Stanley, restoring at least an hourly 30 makes sense.
Separately, the 6 is struggling, with timing issues plus reduction to hourly putting pressure on the 16 leading to unreliability in the Annfield Plain area for both services.
The pre-29th July configuration worked better with reliable connection to X30 and X31 express services to Newcastle.
One per hour extension of expresses to Consett would be better with X31 and not X30, as X31 provides better commuter links to Gateshead.
X32 should start and finish at Consett, restoring Consett, Annfield Llain and Catchgate links to Tean Valley.
When they curtailed the X30/X31 at Stanley a few years back and introduced the 30, it didn't work initially. I would argue later down the line it did, and separating the route into 2 made sense at the time.
However when they decided to ditch that and extend a route back down to Lanchester that goes to the Metrocentre! While the link is a good one, the timings and overall service has been very poor. I'm sure it was done with good intent, but it seems a huge step backwards and I imagine a lot of the issues stem from around the Metrocentre with delays.
I'm not sure what the alternative is other than reintroduce the 30, or potentially introduce a route from Stanley to Durham Via Lanchester, Quaking houses etc could have it run via Bearpark and the other surrounding villages rather than following the X5/X15 route, using a Solo perhaps?