(25 Apr 2021, 4:21 pm)L469 YVK wrote But no doubt longer term there will be reductions given the change in travel patterns. Gone are the days of Smartie seat Palatines or Cityzens leaking water.
A permanent reduction to the X21 & X22 but with "other" benefits thrown in would be sensible. All boils down to good marketing and how it's sold to the customers.
Take GNE's X11.......relatively new concept (with some history) and marketed correctly on social media. Not just the usual "Service changes from xxxxxx" that Arriva stick on with a mere few weeks until the changes.
I'm not too sure where this comes from? Bar 7484 making regular appearances, the bulk of the X21/22 allocation is made up of 17-plate MMCs with a decent specification.
If you think these services are the issue with ANE, then you're misinformed. The X21/22 have the newest buses in the Northumbria fleet, having had a Sapphire upgrade a few years previous. Peak time patronage is strong, but they also take decent loads on local journeys off peak - as well as being strong on the weekend. All of that is with the current (or at least, pre-Covid) setup. As far as I'm aware, yesterday was very busy for both services (along with the Alnwick work picking up), and that's been the case on weekdays for a number of weeks too.