(02 Jul 2022, 10:01 am)tvd wrote I'm a few miles from Saltburn station, so for me on a day out up north it'd be an Explorer ticket, an Arriva bus to Middlesbrough then the X10 up to Heworth, then Metro to wherever takes my fancy around Tyne & Wear and Newcastle. 

I guess it's just one of my frustrations that in these modern, fast-paced times, the bus industry locally has done very little to incorporate genuinely express services into its routes.  We're all bus enthusiasts here so will use them anyway, but I'm sure a lot of potential passengers must be put off by certain longer distance routes taking so long and stopping at so many stops.

It's not just GNE- there's nothing quick to get from East Cleveland to Middlesbrough, or from Middlesbrough to Durham, or Middlesbrough to Newcastle, or Darlington to Durham, etc.  Trunk routes where you'd think there'd be at least some effort to work in a fast, direct and reasonable frequent service.

Is some of the reasoning behind them being considered express routes despite all the stops not because people don’t get on at all of the stops? I mean the X45 and X46 pretty much carry fresh air between shotley and rowlands gill most of the time. (I know they have the X prefix because of the metrocentre) Unless they decide to cancel 6 services at consett, of course.