To play devil's advocate here.
Bishop is 30 miles from Newcastle. To have the level of service it does to Newcastle is pretty good. If you went North of Newcastle (say, Amble around 28 miles from Newcastle) you'd not see the same level of service from Arriva.
The Pronto at Bishop is basically, imo, supported by the link to Durham and commuters into Newcastle at peak times. Looking at a DCC report, car ownership amongst commuters in BA is higher than the average for County Durham.
I'd cut my losses and send 1 Angel an hour (like the old 21 system used to) down to Bishop. I can't help but feel the current system in place just gives otherwise dormant B7's something to do.
(my thoughts are purely commercial and not reflecting the view of a passenger on that route)
RE: Go North East