(Yesterday, 10:15 pm)peter wrote Probs not for this thread but it's all purely speculation so I wouldn't even bother to try and overthink which would routes would be operated from where and by whom. In the NE due to the amount of cross-over between depots and patches it would be quite complex, or not if they just kept all the depots the same, though you would argue there'd be lots of inefficiencies with that. The 50 for example could technically be operated from a depot in Durham, Washington, South Shields or Sunderland or a new depot altogether. Nobody knows how it would work. Having said all that if franchising did ever happen here wouldn't hold your breath on Arriva winning big given their lack of success elsewhere!
No, I'm actually curious if Arriva will disappear completely if franchising comes in. That was just an example as they've only ran a handful of Metrocentre services over the years and could suddenly run all of them bar the 6/7 and X22/X43 if they got Riverside. Currently, Arriva has GNR/Gosforth up to Ashington/Blyth/Cramlington and the 306/308 along the Coast Road to Marden/Tynemouth/North Shields/Whitley Bay/Blyth. Easy to wipe out. Dare I go into who gets the Coast Road?!...
Apologies if this is the wrong thread, just interested how it works. Looks complex to me! Gosforth is mainly Arriva, but has 4 operators currently. Whoever gets Ashington/Blyth will presumably get all of the Gosforth/South Gosforth/High Heaton stuff?