(24 Jun 2023, 10:23 am)Michael wrote I'm sure the 594 still goes down to the retail park?, I'm 50% sure the 18/19 went down at once point too.
Not sure on the 18/19 off the top of my head, but the 6 certainly did back in the day so the 18 may have replaced it when that was withdrawn.
On service suggestions, seems a realy missed opportunity with the open toppers - a couple were out today, absolutely rammed (and so horrendously late running) from Sunderland to Seaburn then pretty empty. Can't help but think running them as the old 22 even only Sunderland to Whitburn or Marsden for folk who want a trip out to the beach on an open topper might build passenger numebrs while also not having such a crippling effect on the Es through to South Shields. Must have been a fair bit of lost mileage on those services today as there were a lot of dead runs to reposition vehicles taking place.
Something like this taking in The Glass Centre, St Peters, The Marina, then right along the seafront to Souter Lighthouse and Marsden if advertised properly could work well. Should take about 30 mins, so allowing for delays, boarding time, layover etc on a 30 min frequency could comfortably manage with 3 of the Tridents, leaving one spare. https://www.google.com/maps/dir/54.90751...?entry=ttu