(07 Mar 2022, 4:49 pm)Drifter60 wrote The 55s days seems to be numbered. The X1 offering two buses an hour means it’s not as needed on that Houghton to Peterlee corridor as much. Plus it’s been took out of Doxford International outside peak times, so is just doing exactly the same as the 20/X20 do on daytime runs. So it’s now just duplicating other routes across all sections. I wonder if once the 20 goes back to normal timetable, it’ll be a case of “the 55 is no longer needed as we’ve increased our popular X1 and 20 services across all sections of the 55 route”. Peterlee to Sunderland passengers have the X6 as the quicker option in any case.
Tend to agree with this. It feels like there's too much running on the A182 between Houghton and the A19. X1/55 running 4 buses an hour throughout, the 62/62A adding a further two buses an hour from Easington Lane, and then the 35 providing two buses an hour between Houghton and Hetton.
The 55 is probably the easiest to cull, given it shares most of its route with the 20/X20 and I think would only leave a section of Silksworth without. Having said that, it wouldn't be too difficult to replace it by extending the 2/2A deeper into Silksworth.