(25 Feb 2015, 6:01 pm)MarcTheA4 wrote Very unlikely to happen, but I've been thinking about a service between Newcastle and Darlington. I am aware Go North East left Darlington territory years ago, and it may be suited to Arriva, seeing as they have the majority of services in Darlington, but I still think it could work. It would basically be a bit similar to the 723 Newcastle-Darlington service from 'the olden days'.
NEWCASTLE, ELDON SQUARE - 00 30
Gateshead Transport Interchange - 10 40
Chester-le-Street Front Street - 30 50
Framwellgate Moor, The Salutation - 44 14
Durham Bus Station - 50 20
Ferryhill Bus Station - 05 35
DARLINGTON TUBWELL ROW - 25 55
DARLINGTON TUBWELL ROW - 30 00
Ferryhill Bus Station - 50 20
Durham Bus Station - 05 35
Framwellgate Moor, The Salutation - 11 41
Chester-le-Street Front Street - 25 55
Gateshead Transport Interchange - 45 15
NEWCASTLE, ELDON SQUARE - 55 25
The combined PVR of the new service would be 6.
I understand people could easily get a 21/X21/X2, etc from Newcastle to Durham then the 7 to Darlington, but it would be roughly 1 hour on the 21, 50 minutes on the X2 and around the same on the X21, plus another hour and 9 minutes on the Sapphire 7 service to Darlington. So a total of roughly (hoping the timings work) 1h 25m from Newcastle to Darlington, via Gateshead, Chester-le-Street and Durham.
The drivers would get a 5 minute layover at each terminus point, and would be operated by Chester-le-Street.
Forgot about this post.
You couldn't do Ferryhill - Darlington in 20 minutes.
It would be good to see an express between Darlington and Durham then on to Newcastle but I doubt it will ever happen.