(20 Apr 2014, 9:38 pm)Tom wrote Made a couple of observations over Friday and Saturday, and here are somethings I noticed.
Firstly, the X26/X27. I'm not sure if these services actually deserve a upgrade to Scania Omnciities, never mind ''MAX''. The three X26/X27's I saw, only justified a Solo. The first X27 came in with half a bus, and left with three passengers, the next X26 came into Darlington full, but with no standees, left with one passenger, and then the next X26 came in with about a quarter of the bus, and left with about seven/eight passengers. Not sure if it's really worth upgrading this service? Now, the 21/21A. I think these services are in need of a upgrade, and the Scania Omnicities planned to go on the X26/X27 could probably be more worthwhile on the 21/21A's. From what I saw, loadings on both services were decent. The Prestige on the 21A arrived into Peterlee with it's full seating capacity, and left about half full, and the 21 was packed with standees. These services should be upgraded to ''MAX'' in my opinion, albeit not being express routes. I didn't actually think these routes were busy at all until yesterday. So I reckon a swap would be good, Solos on the X26/X27, Omnicities on the 21/21A.
All in all, I think Arriva have made some good decisions, but one or two bad ones too, especially with the X26/X27. I'm glad to see the X66 getting ''MAX'', and I'd like to see the 1/X1 follow suit. I was really impressed with the amount of people using the X1 yesterday. Maybe the 5/5A could get ''MAX'', and then that's all that could be upgraded really.
The busiest I've seen the X26/X27 is all seats occupied.
In my experience with the 21 is busy between Darlington and Newton Aycliffe and does have standing passengers between Station Town and Peterlee quite often.
When I've seen the 21A its quite busy.
I think the 21/21A would be far more deserving of an upgrade than the X26/X27.
The Darlington X1 does really well, especially between Bishop Auckland and Shildon.