(30 Sep 2014, 4:49 pm)stagecoachbusdepot wrote 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.
Not all changes have to save resources? Bus operators do, albeit less regularly, add more resources into services. In this case, you're adding the resources from the 8 into a revised 20 by merging the two and providing a 10 min freq as per the latter, on the former.
It would achieve a 10 minute frequency from South Hylton to the City Centre, opposed to the current 30 minute frequency. Whilst that perhaps in part suggests there isn't a great demand for a 30 minute frequency, it could create more of a demand, taking passengers away from the Metro service.
It would only add about four minutes on to the current 20 timetable (assuming it calls into Prestbury Rd first opposed to South Hylton - it certainly doesn't take 10 mins to get round Hadleigh Rd), and the re-routing via Prestbury Rd for service 8 would only add a few minutes too.