(21 Jun 2020, 6:37 am)L469 YVK wrote But if an OmniDekka turned up on lets say the X30 (if Consett still have any), at least you'd know that you were on an old bus rather than being disguised as X-Lines.
But at least GoNE are doing the right thing with the X30 by diverting 1x of the X1 batch to Consett to make up the new PVR of 4 allowing a dedicated spare.
Regarding the X9 / X10 / X11, the journey times are very similar between Blyth and Newcastle and they both have a middle common point in Cramlington. Surely it would make sense given the times we're in to streamline.
Looking at Newsham Black Diamond, the X10 & X11 run on a 16-4 split (20 min freq each). If anything, reducing the frequency to every 30 minutes each would create a more evenly distributed service.
If better times do come back again, a "super-fast" express like ANE's X30 running all day would be a good option.
They do have enough buses for it though?
27 MAX - 21 Gemini / 6 Pulsar
X10 / X11 - PVR 12
X7 / X8 - PVR 10
X9 - PVR 4
Total 26 Buses (1 Spare) same as your beloved GNE at Consett. Then there's an extra Gemini from the 308 if needed aswell. The only reason reason the older buses end up on the expresses is because they swap things around at Blyth to get things back on time and add extra buses in rather than just cancelling them outright or short like other companies.
You can't possibly tag the X9 and X10/11 together they're not the same route at all. Okay they serve 4 bus stops which are the same on the whole hour journey but that's not a valid reason. It's false economy and would just confuse people. Very few people will travel from Blyth to Cramlington to Newcastle there's no reason to. It's about the estates inbetween to Blyth, Cramlington or Newcastle. Like I said it's also not streamlining it's cutting frequency.
21 - 9 frequency is worse aswell btw. You've reduced an ex 10 minute service to double that time if you hit it at the wrong time.
There's no reason to change the expresses, in particular cutting frequencies, it's probably their most profitable area in the N. East, Teeside and Darlington would get decimated before they even consider touching up here.