(17 Dec 2022, 8:52 pm)Unber43 wrote Well Arriva are pulling out of Sunderland and Seaham, with reduced services to Sunderland on Saturdays and Sundays. X21 was pulled out too.
I feel like Peterlee is a massive issue, arguable GNE should run the 22 between Sunderland & Durham, and 23 between Sunderland & Peterlee & 24 between Peterlee & Durham. And then you could extend the X6 to Middlesbrough which would become a better connection to the X10 too.
And 6 at every 15 mins is better however on X21 offers a better connection to Newcastle and if it was every 15 mins it would be better, same with the 21, if that was every 15 mins to Brandon it would be better, and a much better option via 49/49A.
Personally I would do
X5 - Sunderland - Peterlee - Hartlepool (every 60 mins) Old 55 Way
X5A - Sunderland - Peterlee - Hartlepool (23 way every 60 mins)
X6 - Sunderland - Seaham - Dalton Park - Peterlee - Middlesbrough (every 60 mins)
X7 - Sunderland - Seaham - Dalton Park - Peterlee - Wingate - Bowburn - Durham (every 60 mins)
X8 - Newcastle - Durham - Bowburn - Darlington (Every 30 mins)
60 - Sunderland - Parkside (every 12 mins)
61 - Sunderland - Dalton Park - Murton - South Hetton - Peterlee (every 30 mins) - Darlington (hourly)
62 - Sunderland - Seaham - Dalton Park - Hawthorn - Easington - Peterlee (every 30 mins)
63 - Peterlee - Shotton - Sherburn - Durham - Arnison Centre(every 60 mins)
65 - Seaham - Dalton Park - Hetton-Le-Hole - Durham (every 30 mins)
64/64A - (209/210 route)
Not sure all the express services are needed they're all slow as hell. I know you like GNE more but most of them don't benefit the communities. GNE are pulling out of Seaham at the same time; 65 hourly, 60 still every 15 minutes, X7 scrapped.
It's a messy area imo. Remember GNE sold Bishop to Arriva in the past so they definitely shouldn't be running the 6. If anything for the Durham routes this would be better:
EXPRESS:
EX1 - Newcastle - Chester Le Street - Durham - Middlesbrough (Hourly)
EX2 - Newcastle - Chester Le Street - Durham - Brandon (Hourly)
EX3 - Newcastle - Chester Le Street - Durham - Spennymoor - Bishop Auckland - West Auckland (Every 30 Minutes)
SLOW
N1 - Newcastle - Low Fell - Angel - Birtley - Chester Le Street - Arnison - Durham (Every 30 Minutes)
N2 - Newcastle - Low Fell - Angel - Birtley - Chester Le Street - Langley Park (Every Hour)
N3 - Newcastle - Low Fell - Angel - Birtley - Chester Le Street - Houghton (Every Hour)
N4 - Newcastle - Low Fell - Angel (Every 15 Minutes)
B1 - Durham - Spennymoor - Bishop Auckland - West Auckland (Every 30 Minutes)
B2 - Durham - Brandon (Every 20/40 around EX2)
EX1/EX2/EX3 - Every 15 Minutes, Newcastle - CLS (Express) - Durham
N1/N2/N3 - Every 15 Minutes, Newcastle - Birtley - CLS (Slow) - Durham
N1/N2/N3/N4 - Every 7.5 Minutes, Newcastle - Angel
B1/EX3 - Every 15 Minutes, Durham to West Auckland
B2/EX2 - Every 20 Minutes, Durham to Brandon
It would be much better than the mess around but again there's problems with operators again. They're not the numbers btw as I couldn't be bothered to make them up. PVR should be roughly the same as now potentially less taking in the withdrawal of the 725 and part of the 71.
(17 Dec 2022, 9:20 pm)Malarkey wrote It looks that way when you look at it but if look to how Oxford done there's earlier in the year if either Oxford Bus Company or Stagecoach were losing out on a shared corridor then the latter was awarded a contract of services from the latter on another shared corridor or a non competitive corridor, not sure if that work up here as I would say our services are more complex and each operate in the same areas with a varying percentage of who's the more dominant operator.
That is why I would then say once you've removed all duplication of services then they should all be retendered and open to bidding from all operators in similar way to how they are working it out in Manchester with there "Bee Network" which be starting in September 2023.
Only other way I could see it benefitting both Arriva and Go North East was if they did a trade of Arriva Durham (Belmont/Full X12 Ops) for Go North East (Percy Main/Q3-Riverside), that would make "Arriva the Primary Operator in North Tyneside through to Blyth" and "Go North East the Primary Operator in County Durham" and then streamline the frequency's of services from there to better suit passenger demand.
Percy Main is a weak depot compared to Durham though, it's not really a fair swap and would just cause problems in Bishop Auckland instead with the likes of the 56 etc and 1/6 through the South end of the town.
Ideally they need to come together and work together even if it's splitting profits in East Durham, Coast Road and bringing Stagecoach in, South Tyneside as all three areas are weak as piss water unless you happen to live on the right corridor.
It's a hard one to fix as they can say they can work together, they just won't and I don't blame them. It's why we need franchising like Manchester imo but then I wouldn't trust Nexus either as they're useless aswell.