What will be happening with the 306 and the 308 timetable? Well put it this way, if the 308 needs a couple of extra minutes again, Arriva will have some trouble going against the big silver B9's at Percy Main depot ready to be out any minute soon. The max 309 journey from Rake Lane to Newcastle AM is 47 minutes and for the 308, is 40 minutes. For the PM from Newcastle to Rake Lane Hospital, the max journey time for the 309 is 42 minutes and the 308 is 38 minutes but more like 40 minutes by the time the delays at Willington, Silverlink and Norham Road are taken into account. Now if Arriva add two miutes to the 308, there'll only be 5 minutes diffrrence in times AM towards Newcastle and 2 minutes during the PM towards Whitley Bay / Blyth. Also at the moment off peak, the time difference is 3 minutes between Rake Lane and Newcastle and back with the 308 taking 33 minutes and the 309 taking 36 minutes. Unlikely so, if Arriva were to add 2 minutes off peak, that would only be a difference of one minute! Now look at the evening and Sunday journeys, the 308 from Rake Lane to Newcastle and back takes 29 minutes and the 309 takes 32 minutes. If Arriva add two extra minutes, then the time difference will be only one minute. Therefore, with the exception of the AM rush hour Newcastle bound journeys, the time difference between the 308 and 309 will be by abfine margin if Arriva change the timetable by adding a couple of extra minutes.

Now look at this, Arriva COULD, increase the 308 to every 10 minutes durung the peak times but the 306 would heavily suffer as a result. The 308 can't keep to time with a fully seated double deck but the 309's timetable would allow a fully seated double deck and an on time journey. GNE's B9's are to a far superior standard to Arriva's B5LH's. That alone speaks for itself without any other marketing depending on how nice the guys up in Queen Street feel. Arriva don't have any buses to the Metro Centre and passengers would have to buy a more expensive Network One or, cough up the single or return fare on the 100, TEN or any other Eldon Square service. With regards to cross border travel, despite the 308 running at a higher frequency outside the peak times between Whitley Bay and Blyth, the ticketing and zones work out more expensive and passengers can travel on the 309 for only £12.50 PW cross border, compared to paying 20 odd quid PW to use the 308. Also, GNE buses board more efficiently due to the location of the pass readers and the use of Key Cards. I don't wish amything bad on the drivers as they have bills to pay and mouths to feed, but Arriva seriously need to look at the 308 before the big silver B9's end up taking dominance.