(02 Mar 2020, 4:08 pm)Malarkey wrote The only way it would work in the present day would be by merging the 8/30 together baring in mind at the moment it is a case of swapping buses at Stanley and the potential of a short waiting time for either service thus giving Lanchester a direct link to Sunderland.
Another idea would be to merge the 30/X31 together to give them a direct link to Newcastle again rather than changing buses at Consett/Stanley or Durham.
Could perhaps do both mergers and have them run once an hour to both Newcastle and Sunderland.
Further to the above you could also merge the peak X32 with the 30 and again have it run hourly throughout the day rather than just peak times.
Extend 8 to Consett and send the 78 to Lanchester, via South Moor etc.
Consett to Chester journey time would be shorter than it is currently.
The 78 would then connect the various villages between Chester and Lanchester via Stanley.
There's obviously an underlying reason they stopped the Lanchester - Newcastle service. Timekeeping perhaps? Plus it encourages people to buy a day ticket, over a return.