(21 Jun 2020, 10:14 am)Storx wrote They do have enough buses for it though?Newsham would be 14/16. Cramlington would be 8/12/10 and Blyth would be 9/11/10.
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.
Arriva are going to have to go forward as a more leaner outfit despite historical standpoints. They had to do that in 2010 and again in 2012.
The same argument could've been said about the X21 & X22 back in 2012 despite the original routes being different to an extent. Whilst the changes were controversial and p***ed some people off, they did their job and simplified things.