(21 Dec 2021, 11:10 am)54APhotography wrote To be quite fair a Versa is a downgrade from just about anything. Having travelled on X84 and X85 in the summer I found them well used and imperious in terms of comfort over the knackered 156s and 158s on the Tyne Valley.
This whole Bus improvement chatter is absolute b*llocks, acrosss the regions services are crumbling, and yes Covid has a huge bearing, but lets face it the reductions pinned on Covid never recovered.
Personally I think the X84/X85 is on borrowed time if it goes hourly via the X84 route. It's just a matter of time before it goes back to being a Hexham -> Ovington service only. There's literally no reason for anyone to use it as it's slower than the 685 which has better buses (Enviro 400 MMC's and Pulsars) and people at the Villages of Wylam and Ovington are more likely to use the train it's every 20 minutes at the peaks, much quicker and both stations near the villages are relatively busy (Prudhoe 160k, Wylam 100k)
Mind I don't agree with your comments about the Class 158, even known they're getting on they're decent trains imo. The Class 156 is a bit meh but better than most buses in particular a Versa which imo are one of the worst full size buses in the North East.