(21 Jun 2020, 4:37 pm)L469 YVK wrote I agree where you're coming from in terms of changing something that's familiar. Arriva do very well with their local routes such as the 51/51A/57/57A/1/2

But in terms of their core routes, a PVR decrease of 11 vehicles whilst only slightly cutting services is a very significant saving and would allow Arriva to operate more sustainably. No routes would be changed as such in terms of the route that they take.

If Arriva were to order vehicles with the X10 & X11 in their current form plus the 308, that would be 23x vehicles (excl spares). That's not taking into account the 306 & X9.

If Arriva were to however order vehicles for the X9/X10/X11 & 306/308 in the future, then 26x vehicles (excl spares) would be needed but...................that's still 9x less than what would be required with services in their current form.

If they ordered spares, 2x at Blyth covering a PVR of 19x and 1x at Jesmond covering PVR of 7x. That still leaves Arriva with 6x less vehicles required even with a suitable spare ratio taken into account. In turn, that would significantly reduce associated costs and improve reliability in terms of vehicle uptime.

The thing is though if you did a bit of jiggling around you could keep similar service levels (or even improved) but keep the same reduction your wanting.

The X8 and X9 are by far the weakest two expresses out the lot and I'd work on trying to get arid of them or improving them.

So my idea would be this:

X7 - Increased to every 20 minutes and serves Amersham Drive, PVR 7 (Singles) (+3) - Gives the Cobalt Clipper a real competition and also replaces the X8 which is changed below from Burradon to Newcastle. Improved service in Seaton Valley aswell.
X8 - Renumbered X9 Below, Northern Section Only (-6)
X9 - Current X9 removed or replaced by 43 and 52. New X9 is current X10 from Cramlington -> Parkside then current X8 route PVR 4 (DD) (0) - Creates quicker links from Cowpen and Northern Blyth to Newcastle and keeps 10 Minute service between Cramlington and Parkside. Doesn't serve Swaledale Avenue and runs direct Tynedale Avenue.
X10 - Every 30 Mins (Works with X9 / X11) - No Changes, Northern Section complemented with X9 (X8) - PVR 4 (DD) (-2)
X11 - Every 30 Mins (Works with X9 / X11) - No Changes - PVR 4 (DD) (-2)
43/43A - Same as current Newcastle -> Seaton Burn where splits as below. - PVR 8 (DD) (+1)
43 Every 30 Mins - Continues current route to Dudley where travels along Fern Drive and does current X8 route to Cramlington - Restores bus from Fern Drive to NCL and utilises better use of buses which is already covered by X10/X11, 52 and 53.
43A Every 30 Mins heads towards Seaton R'bout and does current X9 bus route to Cramlington. - Removes the worst running express and give an evening service (currently ends at 7pm) by making more profit on the Southern section.
52 - Extended to Blyth hourly on X9 route (+1) (Single) Keeps link along A1061 in Blyth and gives new link from Blyth to Freeman to replace X9.
53 - Extended to Morpeth hourly (+1) (Single)

PVR Changes
-----------------
X7 (+3) (DD -> Single)
X8 (-4)
X9 (0) (Single -> DD)
X10 (-2) (DD)
X11 (-2) (DD)
43 (+1) (DD)
52 (+1) (Single)
53 (+1) (Single)

New: 20 DD, 17 Singles (37 Total)
Old: 28 DD, 12 Singles (40 Total)

Your creating better links to places and removing the worst serving express services hence they're only hourly currently or with the case of the X8 giving a quicker service which could push more people to use it and by improving the customer base by linking it in with other buses that serve the same area with Parkside in Cramlington. Also by using more singles than currently your saving costs when purchasing new buses rather than purchasing more deckers. This is real streamlining as your utilising the 43 which is a bit of a waste currently.