(10 Apr 2026, 6:51 am)Storx wrote See imo I think the North East need to develop some intercity/town services which are that, and run them extremely limited stop between the towns (providing there is no rail service).

The X12 is a prime example of that which imo should be Middlesbrough - Stockton - North Tees Hospital - Sedgefield - Coxhoe (Centre Only) - Bowburn (Centre Only) - East Durham College - Durham University - Durham Bus Station Only

Then you'd have a second service running along the corridor which serves every nook and cranny doing stuff like Integra 61, Coxhoe, High Shincliffe, Cornforth, Fishburn, Thorpe Thewles, Trimdon, Teesside Park etc which intentionally takes ages.
ie:
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Durham/5...70!1m0!3e0

We have an issue right now where for people travelling between the major towns it takes too long and is unattractive but for those wanting to use it in the local villages the bus is skipping it to try and make it not unbearably long. It's the worst solution for all. Not to mention those wanting long journeys probably are attracted to things like tables etc, which are a waste of space on a town service. 

The 6 from Bishop Auckland to Durham and the 7 from Darlington to Durham are others down that neck of the woods similar. The bus services in Newton Aycliffe, Spennymoor and Ferryhill are awful unless you happen to live on the one corridor where there's loads of buses, nevermind country hamlets with 25 people.

I've shared many examples of services being like that in the past. 
But the obsession with consolidation has often been at the expense of anything convenient for the passengers. 

The old GNE X5 was replaced by the X1 and journies are longer in duration than they were South of Washington.
Partly because the X1 is an all stopper (as opposed to limited stop like it was), replacing the 194 between Shiney Row and Easington Lane.

The Durham Road services in Gateshead allowed for the shorter hops, whilst the 231, 723, 735 etc were limited stop between Birtley and Gateshead. 
They've all been combined in to the 21 now (aka the slow bus to Gateshead).

The X12 between Birtley and Gateshead is the only limited stop service between the two and is timed to be approx 10mins quicker during the peaks.