(24 Feb 2023, 8:04 pm)Andreos1 wrote When the 21a ran, the extension to the Chester - Houghton section was on the northern portion. Where the demand was.
The southern portion (the weaker part) was the extension. Clearly the stronger portion kept the weaker portion going.
Since they got rid of the 21a, the focus has been on the weaker portion and tagging even weaker portions on it.
Whilst having it run in the shadows of the 78 both on the half hourly frequency and then the hourly frequency.
The extention of the 238 over Copt Hill didn't work.
The shortlived X4 over Copt Hill didn't work.
Why would the 71?
When it originally ran to Sunderland, it replaced the poorly performing 160 and 163. They didn't work. Why would the 71?
Fares fell into the ridiculous stage from day 1.
I can't remember the exact figures, but a T&W Day ticket that allowed travel to Birtley and beyond on the 21a was circa £3.
When the 71 was launched, a single to Chester was circa £3.
The T&W ticket was suddenly invalid and the equivalent day ticket was circa £6.
The 71 didn't work, so why did they think the 36 would? When that failed, why did they go back to the original 71 and go back to the work that didn't work originally?
Yeah I remember the 21A having decent loadings, as did the old 231 prior to that. If I remember correctly, the 21A was half hourly along with the old X5 and the X94 was hourly to provide a combined five buses an hour between Newcastle and Houghton. The 21A was then scrapped and the Chester - Newcastle section replaced by the current 21. The Newcastle - Houghton section was replaced and merged with the old X5 and X94 to become the current X1. That left the gap between Chester le Street and Houghton but provided an extra bus an hour between Newcastle and Houghton. While I could understand this decision it took away options for people to connect with other places as you mentioned.