(28 Jan 2023, 7:04 pm)Retro Nero wrote Early morning and peak times do carry quite a few between Doxford and Houghton
I suppose the point here though is, that at the moment between Doxford and Houghton they’re potentially (anecdotally) carrying not great numbers during the day whereas when this was the 55 at least you’d still be taking people from other areas, Easington Lane/Hetton/Houghton/South Hetton to the city centre etc. so at least the bus was serving a wider purpose at times when the link between Houghton and Doxford itself isn’t as utilised.
(28 Jan 2023, 8:45 am)Unber43 wrote If DCC were to use the money they got from the GOV, it would be perfect to bring back the 55/62 imo
55 - Peterlee - Easington - Houghton - Doxford Park - Silksworth Lane - Prospect Sunderland (every 60 mins)
61 - Murton - Dalton Park - New Seaham - Ryhope - Queen Alexandra Road - Tunstall Road - Sunderland (every 30 mins)
62 - Peterlee - Easington Village - Easington Lane - Murton - Seaham - Dawdon - Parkside - Station Road - A19 - Doxford Park - Silksworth Lane - Prospect - Sunderland (every 60 mins)
Roughly be a PVR of 8 which could have 8339-46 allocated.
This would make people of South Hetton/Easington Happy as they've got the 55 back, they've only got the 62 with a slightly longer route back for connections.
It would be every 30 mins to Sunderland/Doxford Park from Peterlee/Easington/Houghton (39A too)/ Doxford/Sunderland
I also think the X6 needs either an increase in frequency (i would prefer this one) using Ex-Little Pinks buses which aren't needed anymore, this could also stop the interworking of certain services which still do changeovers at Peterlee.
One thing I will agree with you on is that some of the frequencies in the East Durham area do need revising I think. The X6 and 65 both should be half hourly, seen a couple of 65’s today that had heavy loads and no free seats, from what I could see and an X6 that looked pretty tight to fit anymore people on heading into Seaham.
Likewise, it was pretty short sightedness of GNE to withdraw the 62 and 55 at the same time, one or the other would have meant that at least South Hetton/Easington Lane would still have a link to Sunderland. If the 55 was replaced by the X1 then in my view having the 62 would have least mitigated the loss of the 55. Communities would still have a direct bus to Sunderland and with the 62 would have retained a link to Seaham too. I think the last version of the 62 was only 5 minutes slower than the 55 between South Hetton and Sunderland.
I’ve said before and I’ll say it again, there’s just not a huge need for a link direct to Doxford from Seaham, it would just increase journey times too much for customers needing the city centre. It’s been a while since there’s been such a link, and I don’t think there’s many people asking for this. Anyone from Seaham and Murton going to Doxford seem more than happy to change at Ryhope, maybe less happy now the 39’s are less frequent but still. Also an hourly bus might still not work and some passengers will still be best changing st Ryhope depending on shift times and bus timetables.