You're right! The X3 has always ran on time when I've travelled on it too, it's the reliability of the 26 that's the problem. It's alright coming back home from Newcastle and connecting on to a late 26, but arriving at Boldon ASDA on a late 26 is hopeless even early on a morning when you'd think buses would be on time.

Back to the X3, considering it's an express bus service between two major cities and having operated for well over a year now, I'd say passenger growth has been pretty disappointing. The timetable was scaled back considerably last month with the withdrawal of a few early morning and evening journeys. I still see completely empty buses at certain times of the day too. Off-peak it tends to attract the free-travelling concessionaires especially those who don't pay for a Metro Gold Card. GNE aren't fully reimbursed for carrying these passengers so these journeys could possibly be operating at a loss or barely breaking even.

Having regularly been travelling on the metro over the past couple of months, trends seem to crop up. Seaburn is a very popular station - according to Wikipedia it's the busiest station on the Sunderland extension after Sunderland and Park Lane. East Boldon and Stadium of Light are also very well used stations, both of these having park and ride facilities. All three stations are very short walking distances from the X3 route.

I agree it would be a huge shame if the X3 was withdrawn, but it's nothing definite yet, it's just someone's post on Facebook so can't be assumed as fact! But it wouldn't take me by surprise if it was withdrawn. I don't it's frequent or fast enough to be competitive with the Metro. I don't think the number of service changes GNE have had in recent years have helped gain passenger's loyalty either. In June 2010, they axed the 57A which had provided a direct GNE bus between Boldon and Newcastle, leaving the Stagecoach X34 the only direct alternative. At the same time, the 26 had been re-routed through Fellgate Estate which increased journey times considerably and then you still had to change at Heworth for onwards travel to Gateshead and Newcastle. To be fair I don't think GNE have done themselves any favours on this corridor.

Personally, I think I'd be happy to see the return of daytime 26's to Heworth, but only if the two morning trips started from Sunderland/Southwick instead of Hylton Retail Park! That would mean I could get to work using one bus and one metro instead of one bus and two metros.