(6 hours ago)L469 YVK wrote It might well do, but Arriva do have strong catchment areas especially around Cramlington so although something like the X9 might take a hit on the Northernly part of the route, Cramlington & Beacon Hill will prop it up especially with the new houses.
Only things I can see happen longer term is something done with the Blyth > Cramlington section of the X8, and maybe the X21/X22 going half-hourly. But can't see any wholesale changes other than some refinements / tweaks as Northumbria is a pretty strong network.
Also, this could pose a problem with single deckers although the 1&2 are single deck so maybe not. But if GNE ever spit their dumny out and go to the begging bowl over the 35x services - Arriva could make a good go of the 353 half-hourly extended to Morpeth instead of the 43, and running via High Pit & NSECH as opposed to Dudley Lane.
See personally I don't think the X9 should exist and should be part of the 43/44/45 corridor with Bebside back onto the X8. The 43/44/45 could easily support extra buses imo rather than having another express (X9) passing everyone, even if it skipped Seaton Burn / Wideopen.
Once the new loop opens near the Garden Centre you could easily send either X21/X22 through there for the extra couple of minutes it would add onto the service which would deal with that side and might be the extra passengers needed for the X21, in particular, if Bedlington Station has an impact as much as it could be.
Loop for reference:
People away from that are quite likely to use the train which is a hell of a lot quicker. There's 130k people using it which works out at around 355 per day so it's not a dead station and I'd be surprised if it's people from the X10/X11 areas who are using it. It's no doubt why the bus service at the West side of Cramlington has always been poor towards Newcastle, similar to Stobhill in Morpeth.