(18 Nov 2025, 7:33 pm)Theboyle92 wrote If they made the x24 limited stop along chester road I couldn’t see it being an issue since GNE pulled the 2 from the city center to park lane most passengers would rather wait for an x24 on fawcett street than walk up to john street and if the 16 is late on holmside then once again the x24 takes the brunt, ive seen passengers let the 62 or 8 etc go past and get on the x24 to get off at the chester, hospital or the wavendon. Making it limited stop will reduce the chance of one stop hoppers abusing an express service, if GNE can do it with the X20 I personally dont see why stagecoach can’t do it with the x24.


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Surely the point of the X24 is to let people from the West side of Sunderland have a direct bus to Newcastle?

If you made it limited stop along there then it's a bit pointless? Anyone sane is going to use the quicker 5 Metros an hour.

(18 Nov 2025, 8:01 pm)Storx wrote Surely the point of the X24 is to let people from the West side of Sunderland have a direct bus to Newcastle?

If you made it limited stop along there then it's a bit pointless? Anyone sane is going to use the quicker 5 Metros an hour.

Most of the main stops i.e hospital, wavendon, broadway, grindon mill and Hastings hill are within a 2 minute walk from little stops i.e chester gate, thats what kills the x24 running time as i say especially if a 16 is late, ive known it to be bang on time at hastings hill heading into sunderland yet be 7/8 minutes late into fawcett street not because of traffic its because its now taking the slack from a delayed 16 or passenger who dont want to walk from park lane down to fawcett street and with a 3 minute layover in town its already 5 minutes late onto its next trip and then it has a domino effect until the start of the peak when layover and running times are increased.


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(18 Nov 2025, 8:07 pm)Theboyle92 wrote Most of the main stops i.e hospital, wavendon, broadway, grindon mill and Hastings hill are within a 2 minute walk from little stops i.e chester gate, thats what kills the x24 running time as i say especially if a 16 is late, ive known it to be bang on time at hastings hill heading into sunderland yet be 7/8 minutes late into fawcett street not because of traffic its because its now taking the slack from a delayed 16 or passenger who dont want to walk from park lane down to fawcett street and with a 3 minute layover in town its already 5 minutes late onto its next trip and then it has a domino effect until the start of the peak when layover and running times are increased.


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Yeah get you, wonder how many people actually use it from end to end and whether another option would be to pull it from Sunderland like the X34 in South Shields does doing more estates or creating hospital links to somewhere that doesn't have them (or whatever). 

I'm sure there's a few but I can't really see why anyone would want to use it end to end when the Metro is much much quicker and I don't believe Stagecoach Sunderland Day Tickets are valid if I'm right?

(18 Nov 2025, 9:53 pm)Storx wrote Yeah get you, wonder how many people actually use it from end to end and whether another option would be to pull it from Sunderland like the X34 in South Shields does doing more estates or creating hospital links to somewhere that doesn't have them (or whatever). 

I'm sure there's a few but I can't really see why anyone would want to use it end to end when the Metro is much much quicker and I don't believe Stagecoach Sunderland Day Tickets are valid if I'm right?

Money.

£2.50 single each way on the bus vs £4.70 on Metro. Also, if you don't live on the route, the Dayrider Plus is cheaper than the Day Rover.

The X24s always seemed to be quite popular since it started, although the running times don't really take into account the short hop journeys or increased traffic congestion. Rush hour seems to be all day, every day now.

There are quite a few people who do use the service from end to end, and with the new Metros being quite uncomfortable with the sideways seating, lack of cushion in the seats & no windows to open, amongst other things, it wouldn't surprise me if more people opted for the X24 just to avoid what can be an anxiety provoking experience on the Metro.

The only real change I would make for the X24 is to have a few more journeys added on an evening, as the final journey out of Newcastle always seems to do really well with passengers, apart from that it seems to be a well established route doing well now...

(18 Nov 2025, 10:00 pm)F114TML wrote Money.

£2.50 single each way on the bus vs £4.70 on Metro. Also, if you don't live on the route, the Dayrider Plus is cheaper than the Day Rover.

Yeah that's fair, mind not a trade off I'd do personally, it's nearly twice as long.

(18 Nov 2025, 10:26 pm)S830OFT wrote The X24s always seemed to be quite popular since it started, although the running times don't really take into account the short hop journeys or increased traffic congestion. Rush hour seems to be all day, every day now.

There are quite a few people who do use the service from end to end, and with the new Metros being quite uncomfortable with the sideways seating, lack of cushion in the seats & no windows to open, amongst other things, it wouldn't surprise me if more people opted for the X24 just to avoid what can be an anxiety provoking experience on the Metro.

The only real change I would make for the X24 is to have a few more journeys added on an evening, as the final journey out of Newcastle always seems to do really well with passengers, apart from that it seems to be a well established route doing well now...

It’s a bit overkill describing the new Metro trains as ‘anxiety provoking’. Anyway, from December, Northern Rail increasing their services to 2 trains per hour which is good news.

(18 Nov 2025, 11:42 pm)Storx wrote Yeah that's fair, mind not a trade off I'd do personally, it's nearly twice as long.

It's not that much longer. Interpeaks;
X24 Fawcett St - Pilgrim St is 42 minutes;
Metro Sunderland - Monunent is 29 minutes.

If you're in the north estates or 10/11, why get a Day Rover, get off at John Street/Borough Road and trail through town for a Metro when you can buy a Dayrider Plus for less, get off at Holmeside and walk maybe 20-30 yds at most to the X24 stop?

Unless you're planning on returning after the last X24's left, for a saving of 13 minutes it doesn't seem worth it to me, and if you time it right, there'll only be a couple minutes in it.

(18 Nov 2025, 10:26 pm)S830OFT wrote The X24s always seemed to be quite popular since it started, although the running times don't really take into account the short hop journeys or increased traffic congestion. Rush hour seems to be all day, every day now.

There are quite a few people who do use the service from end to end, and with the new Metros being quite uncomfortable with the sideways seating, lack of cushion in the seats & no windows to open, amongst other things, it wouldn't surprise me if more people opted for the X24 just to avoid what can be an anxiety provoking experience on the Metro.

The only real change I would make for the X24 is to have a few more journeys added on an evening, as the final journey out of Newcastle always seems to do really well with passengers, apart from that it seems to be a well established route doing well now...

100% with that - not sure why they don't run later on a Friday or Saturday night - Stagecoach could make some more money.

I do remember when the Day Rider was priced very reasonably pre-2017, that the only way to get to Newcastle from Sunderland using Stagecoach was to use the Es to Marsden, then transfer onto the X34. I don't think many people would do that now unless they happen to live around Seaburn/Whitburn etc.

Seemingly with Stagecoach there's loads of potential links they could create, but I guess it's getting enough people to use the service to make it profitable as a commercial route, similar to the risk of when they started the X24.

Sunderland To Hartlepool/Middlesbrough would be a nice link.

The following other routes would be good candidates as coach services, but routes where you can pay on-board opposed to buying online;
Newcastle/Middlesbrough To Hull.
Newcastle To Edinburgh.
North East to the Lake District (as a seasonal trip bus, alike the X8 they already have running from Chester).

(Yesterday, 10:34 am)F114TML wrote It's not that much longer. Interpeaks;
X24 Fawcett St - Pilgrim St is 42 minutes;
Metro Sunderland - Monunent is 29 minutes.

If you're in the north estates or 10/11, why get a Day Rover, get off at John Street/Borough Road and trail through town for a Metro when you can buy a Dayrider Plus for less, get off at Holmeside and walk maybe 20-30 yds at most to the X24 stop?

Unless you're planning on returning after the last X24's left, for a saving of 13 minutes it doesn't seem worth it to me, and if you time it right, there'll only be a couple minutes in it.

Yeah some fair points, the Metro 'should' be more reliable though with no traffic etc and more frequent. 

I suppose I could see why some would do it though, but then again I'm someone who used to let the direct bus to Newcastle go by to use one to change at the Metro.

I was going to say surely it's easier to change at St Peter's but just remembered there's no bus stop, good old British lack of integration 

(18 Nov 2025, 9:53 pm)Storx wrote Yeah get you, wonder how many people actually use it from end to end and whether another option would be to pull it from Sunderland like the X34 in South Shields does doing more estates or creating hospital links to somewhere that doesn't have them (or whatever). 

I'm sure there's a few but I can't really see why anyone would want to use it end to end when the Metro is much much quicker and I don't believe Stagecoach Sunderland Day Tickets are valid if I'm right?

Ive had a bus with 37 pax on leaving sunderland and by the time its got to hastings hill 8 are left on the bus to go to Newcastle/Gateshead and its 9 minutes late with traffic at the broadway etc, thats whats killing the service its an express service with out the express experience along chester road, and its only going to get worse over the next few months with the demolition of the flyover in gateshead between the drivers we have worked out roughly a 20/25 minute delay to each service during the peak with the diversions or sitting on the felling bypass.


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(Yesterday, 12:36 pm)Theboyle92 wrote Ive had a bus with 37 pax on leaving sunderland and by the time its got to hastings hill 8 are left on the bus to go to Newcastle/Gateshead and its 9 minutes late with traffic at the broadway etc, thats whats killing the service its an express service with out the express experience along chester road, and its only going to get worse over the next few months with the demolition of the flyover in gateshead between the drivers we have worked out roughly a 20/25 minute delay to each service during the peak with the diversions or sitting on the felling bypass.


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Yeah could see it being a big issue Gateshead. It's a shame they couldn't bin off the Gateshead bus stops and then register the buses to come in some different ways, maybe one through the Tunnel and along the Coast Road and another via the A1 and Redheugh Bridge, during the demolition works. 

Obviously longer in distance, but they're much pretty much same time wise as they're avoiding the traffic. Believe service buses get free tunnel journeys, if I'm correct.

Not sure how enforceable it would be but maybe another option would be to make it drop down towards Sunderland and pick up out of Sunderland only bar a few select stops.

(08 Nov 2025, 3:12 am)Kimlfixit wrote In the "Promos and Offers" section of the Stagecoach website is this consultation regarding the 10/11 service in Sunderland and 22 in Newcastle. I've not seen Stagecoach advertise this on any social media

https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and...sultations

Been sent an image of an on-bus poster about this. There will be a drop-in session tomorrow (Thursday 20th November) at Fru Fru & Friends Coffee Shop in Grangetown, 1600 till 1900.

There was one on Monday (17th) at St Luke's Community Centre.

(Yesterday, 12:57 pm)Storx wrote Yeah could see it being a big issue Gateshead. It's a shame they couldn't bin off the Gateshead bus stops and then register the buses to come in some different ways, maybe one through the Tunnel and along the Coast Road and another via the A1 and Redheugh Bridge, during the demolition works. 

Obviously longer in distance, but they're much pretty much same time wise as they're avoiding the traffic. Believe service buses get free tunnel journeys, if I'm correct.

Not sure how enforceable it would be but maybe another option would be to make it drop down towards Sunderland and pick up out of Sunderland only bar a few select stops.

Its normal route during the works however its along up sunderland road towards the roundabout then up past gateshead civic then down jackson street and back onto high street, when asked why can’t we just use the interchange they dont want to pay so unfortunately the passengers will have to suffer being stuck in traffic, and if anything does happen along Sunderland road during the peak then its sitting in traffic on the bypass, and as for drop off only pick up only how would it be enforced, we already have issues still with passengers on the X24A thinking it goes up ti hastings hill however once we turn at the broadway we have been told under no circumstances unless its an emergency to stop at any bus stop so you can imagine the torrent of abuse we get taking them to doxford international, one thing we have suggested is introducing a new X25 service along durham road and have it as a loop i.e X24 to Newcastle up chester road then back as a x25 along durham road and vice versa so most of sunderland is covered by a service to Newcastle.


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(Yesterday, 1:09 pm)Theboyle92 wrote Its normal route during the works however its along up sunderland road towards the roundabout then up past gateshead civic then down jackson street and back onto high street, when asked why can’t we just use the interchange they dont want to pay so unfortunately the passengers will have to suffer being stuck in traffic, and if anything does happen along Sunderland road during the peak then its sitting in traffic on the bypass, and as for drop off only pick up only how would it be enforced, we already have issues still with passengers on the X24A thinking it goes up ti hastings hill however once we turn at the broadway we have been told under no circumstances unless its an emergency to stop at any bus stop so you can imagine the torrent of abuse we get taking them to doxford international, one thing we have suggested is introducing a new X25 service along durham road and have it as a loop i.e X24 to Newcastle up chester road then back as a x25 along durham road and vice versa so most of sunderland is covered by a service to Newcastle.


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Not a bad shout that X25, I've always thought it would be a good idea to extend the Nexus 37 short through to Newcastle aswell, respect it's not Stagecoach's territory, but would do a similar thing - it's arguably better than a bus from no-where to no-where outside working hours.

The Gateshead routing sounds horrid, especially coming out of Newcastle, It's a shame they couldn't do it in sections, with the bit where the bus gate being done first so buses can run as normal during the really bad works. 

Might actually help keep things moving, having the buses moving - at least.

Another X25 service? To Newcastle? There is already a x24A service via Durham Road and Doxford International (that uses BUS LANES)

(Yesterday, 3:50 pm)DaveFromUpNorth wrote Another X25 service? To Newcastle? There is already a x24A service via Durham Road and Doxford International (that uses BUS LANES)

The x25 would replace the X24A along that section to remove the confusion of passengers getting on a x24A thinking its going to hastings hill also it opens up potentially new passengers using a service that they would normally have to get a bus into sunderland then the x24 to Newcastle or the 20 to houghton then x1 from there also could remove some stagecoach x1 services and have that bus used somewhere else.


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PB0002404/26
Variation BUSWAYS TRAVEL SERVICES LTD 995 (991) HMRC Benton Park View Throckley or Byker

Effective date: 21 Dec 2025

(Yesterday, 10:39 am)Michael wrote 100% with that - not sure why they don't run later on a Friday or Saturday night - Stagecoach could make some more money.

I have emailed and suggested this to Stagecoach multiple times over the years and just get the "not commercially viable repsonse". I literally travel on the X24 all the time and the last journeys of the night for both the X24/X34 are one of the the busiest loads of the day. I think its because the last few runs into Newcastle i.e the ones that make the last routes back carry fresh air, meaning only one way is sustainable. 
I don't understand why they haven't at least tried this especially as look at the success of the Sunday routes. 

Personally, I would do 1 more extra run for the X24 at like 21:30 which would still catch people finishing work, heading home and other connecting services.And for the X34 at like 21:45 to give the same (also catching the footfall at Boldon Cineworld/Nandos) for those later movies/meals (as the 35* does pick up a few people each time from here when it terminates on an evening)

(Yesterday, 12:57 pm)Storx wrote Yeah could see it being a big issue Gateshead. It's a shame they couldn't bin off the Gateshead bus stops and then register the buses to come in some different ways, maybe one through the Tunnel and along the Coast Road and another via the A1 and Redheugh Bridge, during the demolition works. 

(Yesterday, 3:57 pm)Theboyle92 wrote The x25 would replace the X24A along that section to remove the confusion of passengers getting on a x24A thinking its going to hastings hill also it opens up potentially new passengers using a service that they would normally have to get a bus into sunderland then the x24 to Newcastle or the 20 to houghton then x1 from there also could remove some stagecoach x1 services and have that bus used somewhere else.

Personally I would bin off the X24 into Gateshead as there is never more than 2/3 people depart or board here and it won't take much longer to get the metro or 56 depending where yo are travelling from. This would also make th X24 more unique and likley to make money as opposed to going to the same places as 56/Metro. The blue route below is the way I woukd route this. Yes there would be a bit of conjestion on the A1 but this is more slow moving instead of start/stop so won't feel as bad. And also the 939 carrys very healthy loads for a nexus route therefore you could still make a X24A and add stops at HMRC, Concord & Washington for peak times. The lost links would be from Southwick but not many people actually get on the 939 there. 

I would us the spare nexus cash from the 939 being replaced to help fund an extension to the 37 for links to doxford pk from Newcastle. 
X24 Newcastle - Sunderland (via Team Valley & Chester Rd) [additionally stopping at Barmston Court, Concord & Washington at peaks as the "A" variant. But they would both travel the entirty of Chester Rd so its not confusing as drovers have mentioned on here...
X37 Newcastle - Seaham (via Gateshead, Amazon, Concord, Washington, Doxford Pk & Ryhope) this also introduces links to Doxford Park from Seaham which geographically should exist anyways, as they're relatively close to one another. 

I would also change the route of the X34 to use the Swing Bridge heading out of town to avoid the traffic there with the X24 coming across the Redheugh bridge past gallowgate and onto Blackett St and then back out towards TV via the High Level.
And both the X24/X34 should use the spare stop on Blackett St where the 100 used to stop as this would be a better terminus than backing onto a junction like on pilgrim st. Better connectivity with Stagecoach's high frequency routes too.

I've picked up or dropped off double figures at Gateahead on numerous occasions. Also get people with Newcastle day/megariders go to Tesco at Gateshead High Street.

(Yesterday, 6:56 pm)logidoodah wrote I have emailed and suggested this to Stagecoach multiple times over the years and just get the "not commercially viable repsonse". I literally travel on the X24 all the time and the last journeys of the night for both the X24/X34 are one of the the busiest loads of the day. I think its because the last few runs into Newcastle i.e the ones that make the last routes back carry fresh air, meaning only one way is sustainable. 
I don't understand why they haven't at least tried this especially as look at the success of the Sunday routes. 

Personally, I would do 1 more extra run for the X24 at like 21:30 which would still catch people finishing work, heading home and other connecting services.And for the X34 at like 21:45 to give the same (also catching the footfall at Boldon Cineworld/Nandos) for those later movies/meals (as the 35* does pick up a few people each time from here when it terminates on an evening)



Personally I would bin off the X24 into Gateshead as there is never more than 2/3 people depart or board here and it won't take much longer to get the metro or 56 depending where yo are travelling from. This would also make th X24 more unique and likley to make money as opposed to going to the same places as 56/Metro. The blue route below is the way I woukd route this. Yes there would be a bit of conjestion on the A1 but this is more slow moving instead of start/stop so won't feel as bad. And also the 939 carrys very healthy loads for a nexus route therefore you could still make a X24A and add stops at HMRC, Concord & Washington for peak times. The lost links would be from Southwick but not many people actually get on the 939 there. 

I would us the spare nexus cash from the 939 being replaced to help fund an extension to the 37 for links to doxford pk from Newcastle. 
X24 Newcastle - Sunderland (via Team Valley & Chester Rd) [additionally stopping at Barmston Court, Concord & Washington at peaks as the "A" variant. But they would both travel the entirty of Chester Rd so its not confusing as drovers have mentioned on here...
X37 Newcastle - Seaham (via Gateshead, Concord, Washington, Doxford Pk & Ryhope) this also introduces links to Doxford Park from Seaham which geographically should exist anyways as they're relatively close to one another.

With regarding Gateshead ive known multiple times leaving Newcastle with 2 or 3 but picking 10/11 people up at Gateshead, personally i would use the interchange gives passengers a choice of services to Sunderland if the metro goes down or they dont fancy sitting on the 56 for a long period also gives drivers a chance to curtail at the interchange if running extremely late, regarding the late one 21.30 unfortunately it would require a whole new driver as the driver who does the 20.09 x24 departure wouldn’t have enough running time to get back to Sunderland then back to Newcastle would be around 21.50/22.00 by the time the drivers gets back which pushes him extremely close to driving time without any diversions or delays. There is only 5 x24 drivers on the road during the day and adding a 6th for one trip wouldn’t be economical viable.


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“X37 Newcastle - Seaham (via Gateshead, Amazon, Concord, Washington, Doxford Pk & Ryhope) this also introduces links to Doxford Park from Seaham which geographically should exist anyways, as they're relatively close to one another.”



Thats essentially the old GNE x90 route and it was only really busy during the school times and with the 09:30 brigade rest of the day was carrying air between the galleries and ryhope.

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X24 is going to get further disrupted if this goes ahead 

https://www.sunderland.gov.uk/article/35...ent-prompt

(Yesterday, 6:56 pm)logidoodah wrote I have emailed and suggested this to Stagecoach multiple times over the years and just get the "not commercially viable repsonse". I literally travel on the X24 all the time and the last journeys of the night for both the X24/X34 are one of the the busiest loads of the day. I think its because the last few runs into Newcastle i.e the ones that make the last routes back carry fresh air, meaning only one way is sustainable. 
I don't understand why they haven't at least tried this especially as look at the success of the Sunday routes. 

Personally, I would do 1 more extra run for the X24 at like 21:30 which would still catch people finishing work, heading home and other connecting services.And for the X34 at like 21:45 to give the same (also catching the footfall at Boldon Cineworld/Nandos) for those later movies/meals (as the 35* does pick up a few people each time from here when it terminates on an evening)



Personally I would bin off the X24 into Gateshead as there is never more than 2/3 people depart or board here and it won't take much longer to get the metro or 56 depending where yo are travelling from. This would also make th X24 more unique and likley to make money as opposed to going to the same places as 56/Metro. The blue route below is the way I woukd route this. Yes there would be a bit of conjestion on the A1 but this is more slow moving instead of start/stop so won't feel as bad. And also the 939 carrys very healthy loads for a nexus route therefore you could still make a X24A and add stops at HMRC, Concord & Washington for peak times. The lost links would be from Southwick but not many people actually get on the 939 there. 

I would us the spare nexus cash from the 939 being replaced to help fund an extension to the 37 for links to doxford pk from Newcastle. 
X24 Newcastle - Sunderland (via Team Valley & Chester Rd) [additionally stopping at Barmston Court, Concord & Washington at peaks as the "A" variant. But they would both travel the entirty of Chester Rd so its not confusing as drovers have mentioned on here...
X37 Newcastle - Seaham (via Gateshead, Amazon, Concord, Washington, Doxford Pk & Ryhope) this also introduces links to Doxford Park from Seaham which geographically should exist anyways, as they're relatively close to one another. 

I would also change the route of the X34 to use the Swing Bridge heading out of town to avoid the traffic there with the X24 coming across the Redheugh bridge past gallowgate and onto Blackett St and then back out towards TV via the High Level.
And both the X24/X34 should use the spare stop on Blackett St where the 100 used to stop as this would be a better terminus than backing onto a junction like on pilgrim st. Better connectivity with Stagecoach's high frequency routes too.

Not going to lie, that X24 route would be better as an extended X88 imo. Just run the 939 all day pretty much - with it extending to the Metrocentre from Team Valley.

There's not actually a direct bus route from the Stadium of Light or Southwick to Washington Galleries currently, so there's always potential for some passengers there nor is there any bus from the Metrocentre to Team Valley either.

The X88 survived until relitively recently commercially, so there's clearly some demand for it out there and Northstar seem to be doing a decent enough job with the similar X22, even known it's only holidays and weekends.

Someone suggested the X34 use the Swing Bridge. I m sure a double decker wouldn’t be able to cross?

(Yesterday, 9:58 pm)Economic505 wrote Someone suggested the X34 use the Swing Bridge. I m sure a double decker wouldn’t be able to cross?

Decker fits on the swing bridge with no problems at all


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(Yesterday, 9:58 pm)Economic505 wrote Someone suggested the X34 use the Swing Bridge. I m sure a double decker wouldn’t be able to cross?

Not sure you'd gain much, you have to remember buses can jump the queue at Swan House with the bus gate anyway. By the time you messed around with Dene Street and then around the Sage, you'd be over anyway.

What needs to happen is Express buses need to be just that, EXPRESS, not farting about being non-stop for a portion, then all stops, effectively falsely numbering bus routes
Go North East- X45
Arrivas various X services
Stagecoach X34
The 22X is a good example of how it should be, it says "hey look im the 22 but i do have an Express section"