(08 Sep 2020, 6:22 pm)Storx wrote Must say this is a very confusing reply. The top part disagrees with what I said and the 2nd part says the total opposite and agrees haha.
The X45/X46/X47 is the odd one out for me and it shoudn't be part of it. The Red Kite was a strong brand as it was and obviously I don't have stats to back it up but, a strong rebrand with the emphasis on the Red Kites and the new buses and features would do as well. People like localised stuff and it's one of the few brands in the North East that nailed it imo and it's not a express services on route or an express service of another route at all so there's going to be very disappointed people when they discover the branding makes no sense. 308/X7/X8 at Blyth prime examples for the same problem with Max. Least the X30 etc is an express 6; X20 20, X21 21, X1 4/56, X84/X85 10 etc. The X15 is questionable aswell.
The X30/X31/X70/X71 should definitely be X-Lines though
Agree re the Red Kite and localised brands. Would prefer to see that over XLines any day of the week. Totally get the change though.
Aside from being forced to rebrand due to interworking patterns being introduced at the time (X31), the services having roughly the same end-to-end journey time as the X70/X71 even before the non-stopping between Metrocentre and Newcastle probably helped justify the rebrand further.