(10 Jul 2025, 10:10 pm)Storx wrote 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.

Completely agree with the comments out of T/W

Arriva Teesside weekly going to £22.50
From £19 while the stagecoach ticket of the same boundary is £17.50 seems rather steep! Eliminating the X3/4 saver which is currently £18.50 a week and when I last did X3/4’s was a very very well sold ticket - replacing that with the full tees valley ticket at £32.50 is a very very hefty increase! That move WILL put people onto the train between Middlesbrough - Saltburn and a number of stations inbetween! Half hourly rail service which has been hammered with cancellations but is also much improved of late!

Mind in all of this there are some small bright shoots! The new Redcar and East Cleveland ticket is much needed and has been asked for, for a long time by passengers! Many in East Cleveland don’t actually travel out of East Cleveland but have had to pay a huge premium in the past!