(11 Jul 2020, 10:24 pm)mb134 wrote Absolutely this. It's unlikely (though I perhaps should have made that clearer), but infrequent bus users often simply look for where they want to go, see whichever bus is first then get on that.
Over the years, the amount of times I've seen people catch an X21/2 to Ashington over the X20 because the X21/2 leaves 2-3 minutes earlier is too many to count. I've steered them the right way if I've noticed in time (if I've overhead their conversation!), but all too often I'd get off the X20 then 10 minutes later they'll get off the X21/2. (Note that this was just as frequent in pre-Sapphire days where there generally was no internal spec difference either)
But if you go down that route then you might aswell serve John Dobson Street and take Megabus customers. The Megabus is cheaper than the X9/X10 between Newcastle and Middlesbrough for a single and quicker as it's non-stop...