Needed to be in Newcastle this morning, so went to the stop for the 4, planning on connecting to an X1.
The journey takes about an hour, including connections.

Today, from getting to the bus stop to getting into Newcastle, it took an hour and a half.

Traffic wasn't bad when I was on either bus, loadings were decent - but both were 5 mins late when I boarded them.
No dramas.
It happens.

The X1, which was 5mins late on boarding, lost an additional 8mins at the Galleries - following a driver change over and a long queue of passengers getting on.
Obviously since services in Washington were condensed, the X1 is the only service that links the Galleries to Newcastle,
The queue of people don't have an alternative, so an ever expanding queue builds up for the X1.

On leaving Gateshead, two vehicles were following each other (carrying nowt but fresh air - but still in service).
One was on time (it being the run in front of us), the other 10mins late.

Anyway, got into Newcastle just under 15mins late - which by my reckoning, left a canny gap between the late running X1 I had been on and one of the vehicles we had seen in Gateshead.