I think there’s a lot of assumptions that go on here, the first is that we assume everyone knows the bus network inside out - whilst in this case the 60 and 61 follow the same route from New Seaham into Sunderland, there’s plenty of examples where just because a bus says “XX Sunderland” does not mean it’s going the same route and arriving the same time you need to be there for. Think about Peterlee up until last month you’ve had the X6, 22, 23, 55 and 61 all displaying “Sunderland” when leaving Peterlee Bus Station but they all go different routes, even now there’s four routes with the same terminus. Can you imagine if someone was told by a journey planner use the X6 but then used the 61 instead just because they both said they were going to Sunderland. In the 60 vs 61 case, if people are using journey planners, the likelihood is it’s said get the 60 as it’s more frequent, so I think we can excuse a lot of passenger for not willing choosing the 61.

Second, is people might meet friends/family on the bus too. Particularly young people might have mate who gets on the 60 on The Avenue so they’ll get the same 60 with them through to Sunderland therefore won’t get the 61 even if it arrives first. But even young families I’ve seen met up on the bus on their way somewhere.