I know this sounds like a bad blast from the past, but GNE really need to vet a handle on the situation.

They could easily make a few temporary changes (working with NECA, Stagecoach and Arriva) to sort these issues out and give engineering a chance to get buses back on the road in good condition.

- 307/309 - Drop to half hourly, W.Bay to Blyth dropped to hourly.....has 306/308 covering most parts and hourly extension kept for access to Broadway.

- 1 - Split so every 30 mins W.Bay to Newcastle then every 20 minutes (or 30 using deckers) Newcastle to MetroCentre

- X21 - Drop to hourly and run combined half hourly frequency with Arriva's X12

- X31 - Drop as X32 covers East Stanley and X71 also covers Whickham & Dunston alongside X30.

- X20 - drop to hourly off peak?

- 56 - drop to every 15 mins off peak?

- X66....got 49/49A. Not saying drop, but maybe reduce frequency epecially on weekdays?

- Q3 - drop to half hourly?

Not the most ideal situation, but pretty much protects the most rural and socially essential routes where there's no alternative routes either within GNE or other operators. Also affords some better condition vehicles (i.e the Cobalt B9TLs) to be moved about to help out elsewhere.

I suppose everyone will have a different take.