So as I mentioned on the disruptions thread, if Arriva pulled the plug on the 47/51/52/53/54/55 and sent them out to tender, it would level the driver numbers at Blyth & Ashington almost immediately and get things back to normal. 

Obviously the margins on these services are probably marginal and likely even more so since the pandemic. Minibuses could be the next step but with that is the cost & logistics of the clean air zone not forgetting other logistics.

Working it out, if all routes out of Blyth & Ashington except the 1/2/57/57A are all decker operated (if there was enough), that would phase out most single deckers and minibuses.

Then for the 1 & 2 and 57 & 57A, the total PVR is 12 meaning that the 14x StreetLites would then cover them services with 2x spare and phasing out all minibuses.