(14 Feb 2026, 10:58 pm)L469 YVK wrote At the moment in their current form they are.

But if GNE are worried that they can't sustain a service ex Newcastle after 11.10pm (even just pushing the proposed last 11pm 307 back 10 mins) plus curtailing & cutting other journeys & frequencies, does the 307 & 309 fall into fhat bracket for investment - or will they go back to the underdog days of the 300/305 when they ran Excels & SPD's - with NMS/Arriva (and some GNE/Coastline joint runs) dominating with the 306 & 308?

Except for the end-to-end X39 journeys, there's no demand for Cobalt on the 309 like before covid.

Arriva aren't going to publicly come out about any frequency increases, but if they could draft in vehicles from elsewhere - it would be a political win for them re-increasing the 306 & 308 back to every 7/8 mins with no BSIP or subsidy - compared to Stagecoach & GNE who used it to prop up their "goldmine" routes.

In fairness, I can't see GoNorthEast dropping out the Coast Road though; the only bit if anything I could see is the 309 being curtailed at Whitley Bay because there's absolutely no real need for it beyond there and it eventually being the service which serves the huge new development being planned opposite Rake Lane as there's more money there.

You could easily extend the odd board in the morning / evening for the Cobalt commuters, or alternatively just run a seperate works service and head through the likes of Marden, aswell, who don't have a link to Cobalt currently.