(26 Oct 2014, 6:07 pm)Jimmi wrote The other reason why the 21 often runs late on a Sunday is because it has less running time on Sundays, so it is harder to keep to the timetable for example if you end up with lots of passenger numbers like when I rode it on August bank holiday Monday it can fall behind time, thankfully it was only about 2 minutes late arriving in Peterlee.
Darlington services 5A, 7 and 8 also have this problem on a Sunday, the 5A often arrives in Newton Aycliffe about 5 minutes late and continues to run 5 minutes late until it reaches Darlington and makes the next bus late (now service 19 to Faverdale) Service 8 is the worst it has a tight timetable and unlike the 5A, 7 and 21 it doesn't have 10+ minutes to layover it has about 4 minutes in Spennymoor before heading back to Darlington and struggles to keep to the timetable.
I admit the EcoCitys are slow, I think the top speed is something like 52mph which should be fun down the A19, everything will be overtaking us probably even TTX Volvo B9TLs on the X9/X10
The new X21 EcoCity's have a different gearbox, have a far better power delivery and a higher limited top speed (60mph) so they shouldn't have any problems. Famous last words...