(24 Sep 2014, 3:18 pm)Dan wrote But the whole point I'm making here is that the current level of passenger numbers is not sufficient to justify an express service from Sunderland to Peterlee - it's clear that Arriva are wanting to take patronage from Go North East by offering a very similar service, and boils down to competition between the two companies not being to benefit to customers, and rather to get back at the other operator for introducing a competing route elsewhere in the region.
Monitoring the loadings in and out of Sunderland is the only way to determine what the passenger numbers will be like on the X21, as in reality, the only thing that should happen is that further passenger numbers are taken from services 23/24, to boost loadings on the X21...
How do you know people from Wingate and Sedgefield won't use the direct link to Sunderland?
You don't know that the X21 will fail.