I like the "simplicity" of the 22/23/24, providing a fifteen minute service from Peterlee to Sunderland/ Durham/ Hartlepool but the 22 seems a bit of an oddity compared to the other two routes
Durham to Hartlepool is a fairly straight line - or would be if the 24 didn't try to be a Town Service for half of Peterlee - Hartlepool to Sunderland is a fairly straight line - but Durham to Hartlepool is a ig of a "dog leg"
The only two things that the 22 has got going for it (AFAICS) are that it's a direct link from Durham to Dalton Park and that it might as well run as a through service because the Durham - Peterlee and Peterlee - Sunderland routes both deserve a fifteen minute service, so you might as well link the two halves together to dovetail with the Durham - Peterlee bit of the 24 and the Peterlee - Sunderland bit of the 23)
The half hourly GNE 65 provides a faster Durham - Dalton Park service, which got me wondering whether the Peterlee - Sunderland bit of the 22 would be better served by extensions of the X21/X22 through to Wearside instead?
That would at least provide some links like Newton Aycliffe/ Sedgefield to Dalton Park/ Sunderland - probably not going to be huge markets, but there can't be many people who are sitting on a 22 all the way from Durham to Sunderland at the moment given the frequency of the GNE 20/ X20
(apologies if this is a subject that's been debated to death - I've only recently joined so am reading through some of the long running threads!)
RE: Arriva North East: Service Suggestions