(27 Dec 2013, 11:34 am)Dan wrote Wasn't the X31 introduced on a trial basis this year?

I never noticed it whether it had ran previously.
If it is a new Boxing Day service, then brilliant.

Loadings were obviously analysed from the 43/44 and they were enough to justify an extra bus from Stanley - perfect for shoppers, workers and people going to the match.

Anyone in Newcastle on a normal Saturday can see the justification in having frequent 21's and x1's - when a match has finished during the week, extra services are put on to some routes such as the x10.

So I am unsure as to why the frequency was reduced to/from Newcastle on a number of services and smaller vehicles introduced for the x1, if demand would be similar, if not increased to normal.

Comments have been made, comparing services to the Tokyo Metro!

This is a multi-million pound organisation and they couldn't forecast/manage loadings on one of the busiest shopping days of the year in addition to 52,000 people converging onto the City Centre...
However, the other big two are just as guilty in failing to maintain their service offer.

Edit.
I would still love to know the business case and even logic behind the decision making though.

If for example the x1 picked up a stack of people heading to Newcastle from Houghton - what would GNE be able to determine from that?
Would they be aware that passengers had been dropped off by family, dropped off by another bus from an outlying estate/village or walked there?
Unless passengers were specifically asked or held a day/week/month ticket, then there is no way in the world GNE can determine if there is a demand for a service in say Fencehouses or Bournmoor.

It is the same with the 21 picking up passengers in Chester le Street.
For all GNE know, the 10 getting on, could have all come from Garden Farm Estate - which would justify demand for a bus through there on Boxing Day.

Every year, I see numerous posts (there will be any amount who don't post) on fb from passengers wanting to get to work on TVTE.
There are some this week - yet according to GNE towers, there is no demand?!