(18 Jan 2014, 9:48 pm)BJ10VUS wrote Probably the dead mileage... it's already quite far from South Shields/Jarrow to Saltmeadows Road.
Would be very little dead mileage if the 5 was interworked with the new short 9's and transferred to Deptford. 8267-8273 could then be used (7 buses for pvr=7), with 8242-46 painted red and used on 67/69 to allow 5160-64 to be withdrawn. Evening/Sunday 5's could've been interworked with 35 at South Shields using Laser buses.
Replacement work for Saltmeadows could've been New X36, or Fab57.