Internally, the messaging is the network will be unchanged. Two X4 boards will move down to Whitby and run from there (with them running 5 out of 8 boards) and everything else will run from Stockton (including the X94 as now).

Whitby will basically be an outstation of Stockton, but with a bigger maintenance facility compared to now and engineering and driver managers based down there. Stockton depot will grow with some land being bought on Boathouse Lane.

Double deckers in Stockton was raised, but they have three pits to easily maintain them on, plus any heavy maintenance can go 20 minutes down the road to Darlington if they desperately need lifting on roll on lifters.

Driver pay is also being uplifted again to £16 an hour (the last pay change was in March, but this additional one will be from Summer), funded pretty much from a chunk of the savings being made from the merge. Staff facilities at Middlesbrough and Stockton are being upgraded along with the existing Stockton Depot. Electricification plans have been drawn up to convert Stockton into a full electric superdepot. The fleet at Stockton will be over 100 vehicles, so the economies of scale compared to paying to electrify two sites is probably the biggest single driver on this.

Some managers and supervisors are at risk of redundancy (or alternative roles) and no drivers are at redundancy risk, instead an option of moving to either Stockton or Whitby and almost certainly some kind of payment to cover the increased distance.