(25 Mar 2023, 11:30 am)peter wrote I'm wondering if the 57 Kelloe to Hartlepool and 57A Trimdon to Hartlepool were deminimis extensions? Hence why described as financially supported to a considerable extent but essentially operated commercially. With the contracts for these extensions being up for renewal it seems like Arriva had essentially decided they were quite happy not running either of the supported extensions or the commercial stretch between Durham and Kelloe on the 57 anymore, keeping just the 57A hourly between Durham and Trimdon (re-numbered 57). The original 57 timetable between Durham and Trimdon only is on Arriva's website atm, I've attached it to this post.
DCC have obviously had to step in with replacements. It's interesting because prior to Arriva taking over the 58, DCC funded for the 58 in full (operated by Scarlet Band) from Durham to Hartlepool and the 57A extension from Trimdon to Hartlepool. In this instance they've seemingly negotiated with Arriva to ditch Trimdon in favour of continuing to fund the Kelloe to Hartlepool section of the 58 tacked on to Arriva's commercial service. But of course in the process, the Trimdon to Hartlepool stretch not only gets reduced to every 2 hours but also loses the direct link to Durham. With this being an emergency contract, hopefully they'll be able to do something with it, either an hourly Kelloe to Hartlepool service or a 2 hourly Durham to Hartlepool service would be better than the current 59.
It's certainly a baffling one to be fair. Personally they should move the routes around imo. I don't really see the point in the middle section of the 58 it just duplicates the 22.
Personally something like:
New 205 - Every Hour, https://www.google.com/maps/dir/54.77801...4e!1m0!3e0
206 - Every Hour, Extended to Hartlepool from Wingate
Thornley and Wheatley Hill to Hartlepool customers change at Peterlee. It's much better than the mess right now imo.