(25 Jan 2024, 9:44 pm)Jimmi wrote Agreed! Especially when it comes to the more southern parts of County Durham which have really suffered in the last few years with reduced frequencies and lost links

56 - down from half hourly to hourly, the few times I've seen the 56 heading to/from Tindle Crescent before/after Bishop Auckland Town Centre has been dead every time I've seen it, surely would be better to run the 56 half hourly from Bishop Auckland to Coundon at least like it was doing through COVID. Amazing how it was 4 bph not so long ago with the 18 & 56 between Coundon & Bishop.

35A - which is essentially the evening version of the 8/8A/56, was cut down from hourly to every 2 hours in COVID and then when Hodgsons took over, the service was cut to finish at around 10pm meaning the last Ferryhill to Bishop Auckland and Bishop Auckland to Ferryhill trips were withdrawn, this was said to be a temporary measure due to staffing issues when they took on the contract but shows no signs of a return.

8 - parts of Chilton & Ferryhill plus Kirk Merrington and parts of Spennymoor lost their service on a Sunday.

West Cornforth - as well as the reduction of the 56 to hourly and loss of Sunday Service due to 56 now terminating at Coxhoe, the direct link to Spennymoor was lost when Scarlet Band closed - also means Green Lane in Spennymoor went from 3 Buses an hour (8A/112/113) to 1 (8A - 112 withdrawn and 113 terminating at Ferryhill) with 8A now dropping out on school days to run school service 865.

Link between Newton Aycliffe and Sedgefield lost with the X22 replacing the X21 but only as far as Sedgefield, meaning direct journeys from the likes of Fishburn to Aycliffe/Darlo have been lost.

Parts of Shildon now unserved.

Sadly seems these areas ain't going to get a look in, despite the MP for some of the areas claiming to be taking action as suggested in sponsored Facebook posts.

Yeah totally agreed, imo the most sensible thing would be to extend the 99 through to Durham via Amazon. Would open new links pretty much the whole route if it ran something like: https://www.google.com/maps/dir/54.77704...?entry=ttu

With your 56 shorts, you'd technically sort most the issues out with Coundon really, 2 buses to Durham and 2 buses to Bishop. It's also absolutely crackers there's still no bus service to the Amazon at Bowburn.

For Sedgefield to Aycliffe/Darlington, maybe extend that 113 I think it is through, maybe to School Aycliffe to replace, I think the 17, be a bit of a dogleg but still better than nothing tbh and it's vital links like you say. Could maybe bolt into the 8A aswell and give Sedgefield links to Spennymoor. All much better than the X20.