I'd say that Xlines in the Consett and Stanley areas is no different to what Arriva did with their comparable routes out to Ashington, Blyth and Morpeth - bringing them up to date with modern, comfortable buses...just 5-10 years too late. A welcome development in vehicle terms, anyway.

As for everywhere else, it hasn't really added anything to what was already on offer. The X1, X9, X10, X21, X84 and X85 were already at, or close enough, to the new "standards" of the mid-2010s, so Xlines hasn't built upon anything.