Absolutely gutted I missed it. I came out late and ran for 10 minutes to catch the 16:24 metro from Benton, but all the timetables have changed for the Christmas period which I completely forgot about, so it didn't come. I had been aiming to be into Park Lane at 17:11 but only got there at about 17:25 instead after a 10 minute connection wait at South Gosforth. The "stress-free" Christmas timetables certainly haven't eased the trip I normally take. I still hurried up to the bus stands hoping the 230 would be late, but nope it had already gone.

But from what you're saying about the 230 leaving five minutes early, I would have missed it anyway. I think there's an Arriva 23 to Hartlepool that leaves Park Lane at 17:12, so that could have been the bus that the 230 had to leave the stand for.

Hopefully passenger numbers on the 230 will improve, it's early days yet - the service was only announced last week. Not sure what the service level will be like over Christmas and New Year when most routes run a Saturday service instead. Could perhaps be a week and a half gap in service.