(Yesterday, 8:55 pm)DaveFromUpNorth wrote Take it he has never been on the bus when it is busy or the last bus (2345 departure with over 40 people on board seated)
At the moment it's busy - but that's with the partnership in place. And I've used it lots of times myself.
If the partnership is broken up, Arriva will be in a much stronger position to compete and although they don't have Jesmond depot to mitigate some of the dead mileage especially with the 306, they have lots of interworking options at the Newcastle end of the routes (unlike GNE) with other Blyth operated services.
GNE are relying on High Farm for the 307 & 309 to survive as it's a strong area. But any frequency re-increases by Arriva could leave GNE in a position where they might need to revert back to single deck - especially if they were to go all out.