(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.
isn't that the 723 were withdrawn the full route due to congestion and reliability issues and also cant compete against the train service between Darlington and Newcastle, anybody who wants to do the Newcastle to Darlington by bus then travel on Arriva service X2 then service 7.