(26 May 2020, 9:53 pm)col87 wrote I think Go North East are making a mistake by not keeping a service in Hartlepool they could easily have kept a service there if they wanted to. They have played right into Arrivas hands by giving them a monopoly for Hartlepool to East Durham services. If and when Go North East decide to do a service from Hartlepool again they wont find it easy to get passengers back unless they do service to Newcastle again. The 55 never worked because Arriva 23 gets there in half the time. They would have been better the X6 and scrapping the 55 the other year but to late now.
I’m not sure the 55 was ever meant to compete for along the full Hartlepool - Sunderland route. They flirted with that with the 30 in 2004/5(?) and it didn’t take off. The competitive corridor is just Hartlepool - Peterlee with the Peterlee - Sunderland being an established corridor going back to the 231/X5.
Perhaps GNE are worried about the impact Horden station is going to have and hedging their bets in routing the Horden circulars that way. I’m surprised as I thought if there was a weak link along the coast corridor it was the 23.
The link into GNE land would have been sorely missed by teenage me who spend a lot of time in the Washington area. The lost connection to the X9 in Peterlee, which is the best bus link to Newcastle Hartlepool could reasonably hope for, is also a blow.
The 21 through Arnison is a good move IMO. Recognising retail parks are the biggest areas of footfall growth and acting on it.