Honestly I think a lot hast to do with the cancellations/delayed operations aswell with passenger frustrations while I would never take it out for a driver, I have seen people who have complained as the bus before went NIS due it being 18 mins late (every 15 mins service), and people complaining that they've been waiting 30 mins for a bus which is true (then you've got some whcih say they've been waiting nearly an hour) and that has a lot to do with the scheduling, if you look at GNE Twitter Page its all just "Sorry Due to Delayed Operation" X won't run and sorry just isn't enough, while cancellations were really tough especially Washington & Consett, which both were ridiculous at one point im pretty sure at one point there was more X45/X46's parked up than actually were on the route (when they were every 20 mins).

Honestly I think more of a streamlined approach when it comes to buses running late for example

X21 say it was 30 mins late arriving into West Auckland, it would continue as normal to Durham or Bishop Aukland then go NIS to Newcastle dropping off only(or untill it becomes on time), and X21 to West Auckland (being 30 mins late) would run to Gateshead then go NIS till it gets on time.