(23 Sep 2014, 8:23 pm)Tom wrote I'd like to see a Chester-le-Street-Fence Houses-Houghton-Sunderland service.
It's been done before, in the form of Go North East's 71, but failed due to low usage.
Direct services are appealing to some (mainly those who pay for single fares), but I really do prefer streamlined high frequency services which offer connections. You've gotta think - if Arriva did this, they'd be competing against services 20/35/X35 (14 buses per hour) from Sunderland to Houghton, and then service 71 from Houghton to Chester-le-Street (2 bsues per hour).
I think the main reason that the 71 didn't perform as well as it could have is due to the fact that the frequency of the 20 means that most passengers will opt for that service over others. It's advantageous over the 35 too, of course, due to the shorter journey time.
Go North East has the monopoly there too, as I explored in my post above.