(13 Nov 2021, 11:56 pm)Wybus wrote Regarding the 55, X1 being on top of each other

Surely if the 55 was changed to run 5 minutes earlier and the X1 changed to run 15 minutes later, (I.e same times as now, just changing which journeys run to Peterlee/Dalton Park) there would be a better split of services

From Easington Lane it would be 09 (55), 24 (X1), 39 (55), 47 (62)
And from Peterlee it would be 17 (62), 29 (55), 45 (X1), 59 (55)

Also if the X6 was moved to run half an hour later than currently it would both give a better spacing of journeys between Seaham and Sunderland with the 62 than currently, and also mean the 38A doesn’t need to be interworked with it?

Whilst I agree with all these comments about co-ordination, there are reasons behind it.

For the 55, the timetable is driven by shift patterns at Doxford International. In a new world post-Covid where patronage here is far less with remote work continuing, it is perhaps time to move away from that and look at where co-ordination would be beneficial to more customers. For me personally, it would be more advantageous to customers to offer a 7-8 minute frequency headway from East Herrington into Sunderland (with the 20 and X20), but you could also look at something like the X1, 55 and 62.

The 62 elsewhere on its route is a difficult one to fix, due to the interworking cycle. There have been comments about poor co-ordination between the 62 and X6 but when the two services interwork, you’re very limited in what you can do without adding an extra bus to the cycle.

It’s absolutely not about trying to kill off any service but there’s more to consider than one specific corridor.

The other favourite on here is the poor co-ordination of the 71 and 78 between Chester-le-Street and Great Lumley - but when the timetable for the 78 is co-ordinated with the 8, and the 8 is co-ordinated with the 35 from Castletown to Sunderland, and the 35 is co-ordinated with something else on another section of its route, it all gets quite tricky to achieve. Ironically a lot of the network is driven by bus station departure times, such as Durham where there aren’t enough stands to meet the service provision.


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