(28 Jul 2024, 2:56 pm)Storx wrote I get what your saying but personally I'd look at the vehicles instead. If they didn't repaint more buses in pointless Super Shuttle liveries. I'd personally move all the Enviro 200 MMC's to Consett and then have a mixed allocation for the 6/X30/X31/X32/X45/X70/X71/X73
There's more than enough buses to do it ie.
Main Allocation:
14 Enviro 400 MMC
8 Enviro 200 MMC
Spares
2 Older Enviro 400 MMC
2 Enviro 200 MMC
I'm sure there's easily 8 boards which could be singles ie. most of the 5 boards on the 6 for starters.
The bridge is now no longer an issue.
Well back in 2019 before COVID, there was strong peak time demand on the X30's and X70's. Plus there was growth on the Rowlands Gill to Newcastle corridor.
For starters, the X45, X46 and X47 warranted deckers. That then in turn formed interworking patterns to make sure everything ended up back in Consett.
- X30 (incl short runs to Stanley interworking with the then extension to Consett)
- X31/X45/X46
- X47/X70/X71
I'd say to keep things simple, keep everything double deck and except the 6, focus on forming cleaner interworking patterns and round trips. If GNE tidied things further up, the headway between Sunniside and Newcastle would be better spaced to create more balanced demand, unlike when the X30 effectively clashed with the X70/X71 both in Sunniside and Newcastle (pre 2021). Or the whacky September 2021 changes combined with early stages of COVID recovery and driver shortages.
Plus not forgetting, demand does come in peaks and troughs. Matchday or a big festival in Newcastle at the weekend = easy bums on board. Fair enough, the Derwentside express routes (except the X45 & X73) don't have anything inbetween unlike Arriva Northumbria's Blyth & Ashington express routes. Likewise when Arriva have ran a mix of singles & doubles, quite often the wrong runs ended up getting allocated singles leaving passengers standing.