(17 May 2025, 12:49 pm)L469 YVK wrote On a serious note, there is a way that the X30/X31/X32 & X70/X71/X73 can be cleaned up and reduce low height requirement to only x4 vehicles.

I did have a previous idea including the X45, but I think that's better left alone as throwing in any interworking patterns involving the MetroCentre during normal Monday to Saturday timetables (with the exception of the X73) is a recipe for disaster.

Basically

• X32 with proposed route change omitting Lobley Hill Estate, is renumbered to service X30 and increased to two buses per hour.
  
• Current X30 renumbered to X31, serving the current X30 route with no frequency or route change.
  
• PVR unchanged for X30/X31/X70/X71/X73 - Still x12
  

Frequencies would be

• X70 / X71 Consett and Burnopfield to Sunniside and Newcastle - x2 buses per hour with modest headway
  
• X70 / X73 Dipton to Newcastle - x2 buses per hour with modest headway
  
• X30/X31 Stanley to Sunnside and Newcastle - x3 buses per hour running approximately every 20 minutes
  
• X30/X70 Sunniside, Lobley Hill, Team Valley North and Gateahead - x3 buses per hour running approximately every 20 minutes
  
• X31/X71 Sunniside, Whickham, Dunston and Newcastle - x2 buses per hour running approximately every 30 minutes
  
• X30/X71/X70/X71 Sunniside to Newcastle - x5 buses per hour running approximately every 10-15 minutes
  

Only main caveat would be the fast link from Stanley to Whickham and Sunniside being reduced to hourly, although Whickham is still served by the 6 from Stanley.

As for vehicle changes, would be a straight swap of 6356-63 (to Consett) and 6344-51 (to Riverside). This would mean that Riverside would have x12 E400MMC for use on both the X10 & X21 and if any additional VOR where 6377 is already deployed / unavailable, then E400MMC is taken from X21 with a B9TL or something else standing in on the X21.

Consett would still have x8 E400MMC which should at least cover most bases including some of the Sunday interworkings.