Real shame about the 55 - in a lot of cases the writing seemed to be on the wall for the cancelled routes (the 64 and X88 always seemed like basket cases to me, and the V11 seemed to only exist for operational convenience), but not with the 55 which always seemed reasonably busy south of Peterlee. As mentioned the connection with the X9 was always popular, and I also sometimes noticed X1 passengers changing at Houghton-le-Spring.

Don't agree with the issue about the 21 going to Arnison - the X21 is the main GNE service on that corridor and the 21 is really mainly Chester - Newcastle now. It'll be an annoying change for Birtley passengers but that's balanced by the benefits for those around the Arnison Centre who now have direct services to Newcastle and Gateshead. Depending on the exact route taken, there might be an increase in commuter traffic from the quite nice estates around the Abbey Leisure Centre.

I suspect there'll be another round of changes around July/August (when leisure starts to reopen and "non-essential" journeys are likely to be permitted again). I suspect a few of these "permanent" changes are actually more experimental than they appear, and may be reversed quickly.