(6 hours ago)Storx wrote Not sure whether it's just a tracking error but checking tracking it appears there's been:

• 14:40 308 - Cancelled
  
• 14:45 309 - Started short at New York
  
• 14:50 306 - Cancelled
  

I used to live on that corridor around 10 year ago and that doesn't sound normal at that time of day so wouldn't be surprised if it's the case. The buses are generally very quiet beyond Whitley Bay normally (I live the next village across so always see them).

There's definitely no need for a 308, 309 and X38 beyond Whitley Bay, 3 BPH would be more than enough really, like it pretty much was (4 BPH) until the Cobalt Clipper came along.

The 14:30 306 left 10 mins late though, so there was (at most) a 15 minute gap between that leaving and the 14:58/15:03 307/308 starting to board passengers at 14:55. I thought I had saw something leaving in the direction of St. Mary's Place on my way into Haymarket at 14:50, but I may have been mistaken. 

So, if there were missing runs, essentially in the 20 mins between 7507 leaving at 14:40, and the 307/308 leaving just after 15:00, enough passengers had accumulated to more than fill 2 deckers. Most of the ones headed in had decent loads too, and on my way back in the ones leaving looked just as busy. 

I'm really not sure if 3 BPH is enough to be honest, that's slicing the frequency in half? Certainly the past few times over the past year where I've used the 308/309 they've had good loads on that section of the route, and to me they definitely justify the current frequency. That corridor is one which, for years, has been plagued by issues with congestion, the answer needs to be in improving the appeal of public transport (through quicker links, as an example) rather than slicing it and giving people yet more reasons to move to a car.