(20 Jun 2013, 8:35 pm)nk55 wrote I very much doubt gne will pull out of bishop auckland, arriva services in this area are nothing but dreadful. Service 6 runs to anything but its published timetable, 50 again never ontime. Service X1 is doing well only because they've combined 3 bus routes into 1 at the cost to passengers, (4 buses per hour to 2 between crook and bishop),, now gne have a new operations director who sees bishop as having massive expansion potential, and quite a few contracts are up for renewal in september, i think things in the wear valley will improve for gne.
Adam, gne do not compete with arriva on service 7, 50 or 46. X46 is for positioning purposes only, hence why only 2 out am and 1 (mon to friday) & 3 saturday. Gne will not cancel the X21 simply because loadings are very good, only see a drop when arriva have their bendy buses infront (thats 2 or 3 service 6s running together).
I understand your point about the 6 being late, although it is rare to see a 6 running more than 12 minutes late. As for the service 50, it is extremely rare to see this service running late as the timetable does not allow for this. The route takes 1hr30 but it could be done in around an hour and therefore, I can't really see how it can run late.