(23 Jan 2014, 8:35 pm)GMitchelhill wrote I wouldn't say the 19 has suffered much to be honest. Considering it has had its route extended twice. Firstly to Cramlington, then onwards to Ashington.
And to add, the Cobalt Clipper would have taken some passengers away from the 19 as passengers who might have previously gone to Cobalt on the Metro to Northumberland Park, then the 19 from there to Cobalt may now catch the 309 from Newcastle to Cobalt instead.
You could say that but Cobalt did cut funding back in 2009 though. But look at the 309, here's how it will come on leaps and bounds. The 17:13 308 left Haymarket and didn't get to Rake Lane untl 17:55. But the 309 left Haymarket at 17:19 with a full single decker after St Marys and if it didn't change drivers in New York, it would've got to Rake Lane by about 18:01 but I wouldn't have known because I got off in New York as always. Now Arriva's 308 is timetabled to take 36 minutes to to the first stop to Rake Lane but tonight by tracking it on the app, it took 42 minutes whereas GNE's 309 would've taken about 44 minutes with a driver change. Now the difference is that if the 308 is a full double decker, it will run late especially at peak times but the 309 on the other hand with a full double decker, would keep to time.