(25 Mar 2023, 4:18 pm)peter wrote The timetables on Arriva's website are always a mess, some of the new ones have Saturday and Sunday but no Monday-Friday times for example. Someone's obviously uploaded the original new 57 timetable - still no sign of the 58 timetable.I suspect also linked strongly to the current driver shortfall at Durham.
Doesn't surprise me that it's skipping Thornley. Operationally Arriva seem determined to reduce the PVR by a specific amount. Currently the PVR for the 49/49A/57/57A is 9, the original 57 was a PVR of 2, and a 15-minute frequency on the 49/49A a PVR of 3, so a reduction of 4. The new 58 seems to be a PVR of 3 - going off the arrival and departure times shown on the 59 timetable - and it seems like they've cut out bits including Thornley, parts of Kelloe and Bowburn to make sure it can be done standalone.
The change to the 49/49A was only registered at the same time as the 58 on the 9th of March, not when they originally registered these changes back in February. So I reckon they've reduced the frequency on the 49/49A to provide the extra bus needed for the 58 and have made sure the 58 can fit in a round 3 hour circuit - arriving at Durham and departing 5 minutes later.
I expect decisions have been made by Arriva to not operate the 57/57A in its current form due to this, but Durham have suggested an alternative and supported a reduction on Service 49/49A to ensure the same end result in PVR overall as the initial 2 bus plan of Durham to Trimdon and back.