(19 Aug 2025, 7:26 pm)L469 YVK wrote It's not twice hourly all day though.
The X10 does get full at times too especially after Peterlee.
To be honest - the whole shambles of vehicle suitability began in 2017 when GNE under Kevin Carr bought them absolutely stupid basketcase hairdryer Volvo B5TL Gemini 3 deckers......just because they were "Volvo" and "Wrightbus".
The order should've been either integral ADL E400MMC with ZF - or Scania N250UD E400MMC - both options with 2x spares for a then PVR of 7x.
Likewise, some dealer stock Volvo B9TLs (im 2014/15 financial year) or then new E400MMC would've been better for the X21 than the pile of ***** StreetDecks ordered in 2016.
It is after December, both services are going hourly with the timetable change.
(19 Aug 2025, 6:01 pm)DodgepotMcDougal wrote The problem with the X10 is the likely yield per passenger.
It's mostly concessions from what I've seen. Fare payers from Middlesbrough, Stockton and Billingham have deserted it for the improved Northern service.
Maybe it just needs to be Peterlee to Newcastle every 30 minutes with an hourly extension to Middlesbrough? Maybe even missing out Billingham entirely to speed up trips
Yeah agreed, personally it's the sort of route I'd loved to have seen BSIP used to do it every 30 minutes from Peterlee to Newcastle.
Maybe it could've extended onto one of the subsidised services aswell - unsure what's around these days and give more people a direct link to Newcastle as anyone sane isn't going to be connecting onto an hourly service unless they really have no choice.