(03 Mar 2026, 9:27 pm)S830OFT wrote There's always the option of extending the 4 over to Boldon Asda from Downhill, to offer connections to services 30 to South Shields & X34 to Newcastle.
Unfortunately, the biggest problem I find with Stagecoach in the North East is there just is not any innovation by them to start new routes, unless of course they are heavily subsidised & contracted routes...
I’m a bit late jumping into the party but I’d heavily argue Stagecoach have showed the most commercial innovation out of all the major North East Operator's. The Seasider between NorthShields and Whitley Bay had great potential but thwarted by COVID. Obviously the X24 has been their major success story in recent years too. Although the X55 wasn’t a success they still made a go of it. And more recently as well the 37 to Cramlington seems to be performing relatively well too. Is there room for more? Absolutely. But as things stand Stagecoach have certainly taken more successful commercial innovative risks than any other North East Operators in the last decade. I’d argue the next step would be to introduce a Sunderland-Hartlepool-Middlesbrough service to bridge that gap, perhaps numbered X14 or X44 to help bridge the gap and allow for the Hartlepool 1 to be ran more efficiently.