(20 Mar 2022, 10:59 am)Wybus wrote I was in the area yesterday and it was clear there was a lot of lost mileage by the amount of buses parked on layoverCLS really seemed to be struggling yesterday, was in Durham yesterday morning and the 11am 21 was terminating at CLS, the X21 at 11:16 was about 10 minutes behind schedule and 6335 disappeared off the face of the earth around CLS, I caught the 11:46 X21 off Durham to Newcastle which was rather busy, upon arrival in CLS we were pretty much full on 6334 then was surprised to see a StreetDeck also heading to Newcastle on the X21 which at first I thought was a dupe but it turned out to be the replacement for 6335 on the previous X21 which followed us to Newcastle, passed loads of people heading through Low Fell, was a large crowd getting on at The Cannon, certainly seemed to be gaps in 21's... upon arrival at Eldon Square I could barely move due to the queues around the X21 & 21 stands, intending passengers didn't look impressed when 6334 was approaching the stand but were tricked as it went on layover for 20 mins as intended.
Firstly in Sunderland around lunchtime, parked up in the Interchange were 3 Cherries, 2 56s, 2 Prince Bishops and 2 GNE buses displaying 9 Jarrow. So that’s at least 9 boards not running
Then a bit later in Washington it was a similar situation, the layover area had 2 X Lines, 2 Connections 4s, a normal livery bus probably from a 50 and a Little Pinks
And then late afternoon in Chester le Street there were buses strewn all over town. A Versa parked up on Front Street, another Versa and an Angel parked up by Tesco, and another Angel and an X21 parked on a side street where I’ve never seen buses parked before. The 21 I caught in the direction of Brandon, had to be taken by a/the leading driver as there was no normal drive relief.
On my return to Durham saw a large crowd waiting for 21/X21/50 and were there for some time as:
16:31 21 didn't operate
16:46 X21 terminated at CLS
17:01 21 ran light from Brandon to CLS due to delays
Meanwhile the 50 disappeared off the face of the earth south of Washington with the following departures from Durham being cancelled or started at Washington yesterday afternoon (according to BusTimes):
12:50 - 13:50 - 14:50 - 15:20 - 16:32 - 17:09 - 17:39
Arriva Darlington is in an absolute state atm with many cancellations including on hourly services like the 8/8A, I'm at my wits end with them as I've struggled to cope with the service being provided as cancellations make it difficult to get anywhere and if by some miracle a bus does turn up its usually rammed due to said cancellations on previous trips and usually a Solo will turn up. Supposedly this is from issues with vehicle availability rather than drivers, not helped windows are being put out most nights atm forcing buses off the road for days, last Saturday supposedly the first service to Barnard Castle from Darlington wasn't until after 10:30 (excluding the 10:01 84 ran by Scarlet Band).