(13 Aug 2013, 1:22 pm)CatsFast101 wrote I nearly said that myself. Sunderland-Peterlee (where I most commonly use it) very good. Not as good towards Middlesbrough it maybe a cause of those doing Peterlee-Middlesbrough can use the X9 quicker (only 10 minutes but still). I think it's decent towards Wingate & StationTown but then are many passengers there switching to use GNE to travel further south? I have seen X7's leave Peterlee towards Middlesbrough looking busier than X9's in the same direction.
I think the problem is that passengers can travel from Sunderland (xx38) to Peterlee (xx08), and meet a connection with the X9 from Peterlee (xx17) and get to Middlesbrough earlier than they can if they just stay on the X7 - with the additional "luxury" of free WiFi and plug sockets (xx50 on the X9 as opposed to xx00 on the X7).
Despite being a huge fan of the X7 service, I always go for that connection with the X9 because I like having the option to charge my phone, camera, whatever, and have the extra ten minutes in Middlesbrough for easier connections.
Just so I'm not clogging up this thread with suggestions for Go North East, I've drafted out some suggestions in our dedicated thread that serves that purpose here