(10 Jul 2025, 10:02 pm)PH - BQA wrote 3 of 20 X21/22 boards are single decker on paper. 

Morpeth is far more than an hourly service. The following trains today from Morpeth called at Newcastle: 0638, 0704, 0713, 0738, 0759, 0825, 0855, 0920, 0955, 1038, 1055, 1101, 1120, 1155, 1234, 1255, 1320, 1355, 1455, 1515, 1521, 1540, 1555, 1655, 1720, 1727, 1755, 1855, 1901, 1924, 1951, 2000, 2041, 2056, 2102, 2114, 2157, 2229, 2255. 

39 trains between 0638 and 2255. Roughly 2-3 per hour, in the morning peak you have 4 trains between 7 and 8am. 

If you're making the point that Morpeth station is miles away from the centre, please could you tell me how that is any different to Bedlington Station, Newsham, or Bebside. All of which are nowhere near Bedlington or Blyth town centres.

No-one wants to go to Bedlington/Blyth they're both awful places with nothing at either of them, unlike Morpeth which is a destination place for people outside the local area so there is some demand for it.

There's no buses to Newcastle, anywhere near Morpeth station either, which is the same as Chester-Le-Street and most Metro stations, unless they're doing local journeys like the 22 (SNE) and 27 (GNE) which have another purpose. 

It's way too early to still be making comments either way as even if Arriva was failing, they wouldn't be butchering the network immediately, unless they really do want to kill the network. You can always just rip off passengers on the likes of the 43/44/45, who have no alternative, to cross subsidise other services by having 20% price increases overnight though... No doubt what GNE do with their Angel services aswell. 

It's a shame Stagecoach don't cover more areas as their prices are fair across the board, £22.50 from Hartlepool to Middlesbrough/Stockton for example, much better value than the £30 from Newton Aycliffe to Darlington.