Indeed, the August closures is bound to impact upon next year's set of passenger figures. Although journeys on Metro Replacement services will count as Metro journeys, I wonder how many people will switch to, say, Arriva's X5 between Four Lane Ends/Longbenton and Newcastle, or Stagecoach's X47 between Kingston Park and Newcastle? Both services offer a quicker alternative to the Metro Replacement services and, if people are satisfied, they won't switch back.

I predict a further decline next year with a similar rise in bus patronage.