(30 Sep 2014, 7:00 am)Dan wrote I've been on buses on both at around midday with standees.
Me too.
I gave my suggestion for merging services 8 and 20 previously. It shouldn't be too difficult to re-route the 20 to include the little estate next to the Round Robin (this would add 3 mins to journey), and then after doing the Prestbury Road loop, the 20 could easily call into South Hylton - adding about 10 mins to the route (at a guess)... You'd then have 7 mins to play around with, as the resources (two buses) would go into the revised 20.
Singles on the 20 are cheaper than singles on the 8, so this would potentially allow the 20 to incorporate the 8's fares - or simply lower the fares for those using the 8 by retaining the 20's fares!
What would be the point though? It wouldn't save any resources as the two buses from the 8 would go onto the 20 and it would make the 20 journey 10 mins longer. The only benefit would be anyone wanting to travel from Prestbury Rd to South Hylton, which can't be huge in number. Would it call into South Hylton both to and from Prestbury Road? If not, those people could get to South Hylton but not back again.