(13 Aug 2020, 11:31 am)Storx wrote Never thought about driver changeovers for the X34 to be fair but isn't Walkergate or Slatyford just as far from Newcastle on much busier roads anyway?I guess if you had the times so they met in Newcastle then you could get away with 6 with 3 on each as now, interworked doing one of each. I guess it wouldn't be very efficient though with only being able to do 3 hour pieces, except some of the start and finish duties maybe.
Surprised on the costs though thought having extra drivers working for extra 2 hours a day not taking fares would mount up quite a lot for the company especially for routes which aren't so profitable could be an issue. But then again an extra depot would cost money aswell as I'm guessing these are the ex Loftus routes and the 5? I don't know that area too much.
I might be missing something obvious here but why would the PVR need to go upto 7. Surely you could just do X24 (45 Mins) -> X34 (45 Mins) -> X34 (45 Mins) -> X24 (45 Mins) with a PVR of 6?
Yes you'd have the same remote relief issues for Walkergate / Slatyford running them, they use a number of cars to change drivers already on some services of course.
Yes the 1h30 travelling time every day to/from Easington on the 5 (a former Loftus route, effectively) is dead time but the real cost (£50/day?) has to be weighed up against the cost of the extra depot with all of the overheads of running an extra base.