(30 Jun 2013, 4:57 pm)gtomlinson wrote 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)
To be fair though, it's a totally different set up between Newcastle and Amble, with it being mainly rural compared to the urburn Gateshead sprawl and suburbs of Durham inc Chester.
GNE obviously feel the need to have some sort of toe, in the section between Durham and Bishop, however it wont be as lucrative as the route North of Durham.
re the other points made: If the rumour of Weardale is true, then GNE can one of two ways - either go for broke, get their own depot and increase their prescence in the area or pull out with a whimper.
Can the deckers the X21 usually require, get around the estates the 18 serve, if the two were to interconnect?
Thinking out loud, would the withdrawal of the OK1 impact on the 18?
Its like Arriva operating 1 minibus around the streets of Town End Farm and Castletown - with the driver bumping into a colleague now and again in Park Lane...