(03 Sep 2014, 3:36 pm)Dan wrote From my sightings today, which reflects the same story as in previous discussion, the loadings are nothing more than mediocre on services 23/24 coming into Sunderland, though the latter does seem to be the better achiever of the two. With free periods being added to the mix at school, I get even more chance to see the goings-on on Stockton Road, and I can't say I've ever seen a full load on a Pulsar/Omnicity or standees on a Solo.
I was with Scott a few weeks back and he came off the X7 which was full, and the 23 he had seen came in with around 10 people (and that's before you consider that some of those passengers weren't fare paying). Whilst I'd suggest the service will definitely be breaking even, and it should be making a profit (however small or large that may be) at the end of the day (when you take higher peak time loadings into account), the loadings aren't high enough to justify bringing in a new express service to ease loadings, and I'd imagine that this is very much a stab in the dark, with the company anticipating they can bring a few passengers off the X7 following its success.
I've mentioned previously that competition between Arriva and Go North East is very much a vicious circle. We've seen that Go North East has been successful on the Tyne Valley, so this seems all too convenient... Whilst I wish Arriva the best of luck, my loyalties (obviously) lie with Go North East, and I hope that customers - especially the ones who are fare paying - don't decide to migrate from the X7 and onto the X21 (as this would scupper any plans to upgrade the service in terms of frequency - which would be an awful shame!)
Well I know I'll be using the X7 as the difference in price is £1.60. And I'd rather have a Citaro than a Omnicity.