(22 Jul 2020, 3:56 pm)big mac wrote Was there ever a service that did just Newcastle-Harlow Green? I can remember ones like the 25,26 etc which have been mentioned here that went to Harlow Green and beyond but not one that ever terminated there.
How about maybe having it do a loop so it goes down Chowdene Bank, up Hertford and back along Durham Road or vice versa?
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Going back further, during the bus war of the 1990s, you briefly had the 20 from Gateshead to Harlow Green Bridge run by old metrobuses painted in Tyne Rider livery:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/22342302@N05/2190470335
The general pattern was that the Tyne Rider bus would sit on the slip road watching for an approaching Classic bus on the 21 then pull out and run in front of it towards Gateshead.
They were great times to live on Low Fell bus-wise with the Tyne Rider 20, Classic 21 and Northern/Shaws Coaches 221 shadowing it. OK eventually threw their hat into the ring with a 22 from Rickleton to Newcastle Central Station.
This was all in addition to the 24, 25, 26 and 28 mentioned above, as well as direct routes to the Metrocentre and Washington (183), Sunderland and Crawcrook (638), Hartlepool (231), Durham/Darlington (722/723), Houghton (735) and Stanley (709/728). Classic also ran a competing route for the latter (the 78/79). Not to mention the Low Fell Coach from Allerdene to Newcastle and the OK from to Bishop.
Some of the vehicles running around were well ropey, those second hand Classic nationals and atlanteans were knackered before they arrived here, not to mention the second hand metrobuses from Merseyside which often ran around with about an inch of water sloping around on the floor, and the old reinstated national Mk 1s used by Northern under their Shaws Coaches brand weren't any better. One of those ran for months with a massive hole in the floor.
The frequency of service and choice of destination was, of course, a benefit of some competition. GNE has the market so sewn up along the route now that they can run what they like as, other than taking the car, there is no alternative., other than the infrequent X12.
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