(07 Feb 2026, 11:29 pm)Storx wrote One board is unacceptable though, if my bus doesn't turn up, I couldn't give two hoots what's happening next door.
The X21/X22/35 has had problems for weeks, yes it's bad but to bring the same problems to the X7/X8/X9/X10/X11/306/308 to save face is just crazy management (and all those routes were impacted today (again)).
People are rightfully pissed off at Ashington, but that's better than literally everyone pissed off on the Arriva Northumbria network.
Right, and if you went for one bus and the next was coming you'd be annoyed but likely get over it. If, for weeks, you have been going for buses and multiple in a row were cancelled you're absolutely not going to use the bus again.
It's likely that this is an attempt to answer the inevitable questions from the traffic commissioner. If resource has been drafted in it looks like actions have been taken. If you've got a depot 5 miles down the road with spare buses every day (which Blyth generally do...) while your other one is missing a significant percentage of mileage due to no available bus, it wouldn't be a comfortable conversation.
Ashington have a significant amount of rural and contracted work, which cannot be dropped. This leads to an absolute massacre across the 1/2/35/X21/X22. Blyth exclusively operate frequent, urban services - far more choice in services to drop if need be, and also a corridor (Coast Road) which has multiple operators.