Changes to services in County Durham (31 July)
From Sunday 31st July we will have a few changes to some of our services in County Durham following comments from our customers on ways we can improve our services. We’ve also got some improvements to frequencies in some areas and the restoration of buses on Sundays in others. The full details are as follows :-
Service 1/1b Tow Law – Bishop Auckland – Darlington
The schoolday services to/from St Johns School in Bishop Auckland have been withdrawn in both directions. Durham County Council are looking at alternatives at the moment for those customers who had scholars tickets to use these services.
Service 4a/b Bishop Auckland – Shildon (Circulars)
These services will be replaced by a new off-peak service 4 which will provide a link to the new Tesco & Sainsbury’s stores at Tindale Crescent and restore a service to West Road in Shildon. The service will run in a one-way loop in Shildon via Byerley Road, Redworth Road, Dale Road, Coronation Avenue, Jubilee Road, King William, Central Parade and back to Byerley Road.
Service 5/5a Darlington – Shildon – Bishop Auckland
Buses on Sundays will no longer serve Henknowle Estate in Bishop Auckland, but the area will still be served by buses on our 1b route.
Service 7/7a Darlington – Ferryhill – Durham - Arnison Centre - Brasside
These services will be changed on the section North of Durham, with all buses on service 7 now terminating at Framwellgate Moor (for New College) and all buses on service 7a now extended to run to Brasside after the Arnison Centre. We’ve also added some new evening journeys between Darlington and Woodham, plus altered the time of the last bus from Durham on Sundays.
Service 7b Coxhoe – Newton Aycliffe Ind Est - Darlington
The morning only journey has been re-timed to improve reliability.
Service 8a Darlington – Newton Aycliffe - Ferryhill
This route will now serve the Duncombe Estate and Wood Lane areas of Ferryhill following suggestions from our customers.
Service 21a Peterlee – Sedgefield – Middlesbrough
The Sunday/Bank Holiday journeys between Peterlee and Deaf Hill will be cancelled and replaced by a new 57b service (see below) which will also provide links from Wingate to Durham on Sundays.
Service 22 Durham – Wingate – Hartlepool
This service will no longer serve Hutton Henry due to low passenger numbers. Hutton Henry will still be served by Go North East service 206 which provides links to Blackhall (for connections to Hartlepool) and Peterlee (for connections to Durham).
Service 23 Sunderland – Peterlee – Hartlepool
Minor timetable alterations to improve reliability of the service.
Service 24 Durham – Peterlee – Sunderland or Hartlepool
Our route between Easington and Seaham will change with all buses now running via Hawthorn in both directions following customer comments. We’ve also added a couple of additional journeys via Oakerside in Peterlee and retimed some evening journeys from Sunderland to Peterlee to improve connections for customers changing at Peterlee to travel towards Wheatley Hill and Thornley.
Service 35/36 Bishop Auckland - Ferryhill
We’ll now be running an hourly Sunday service between Bishop Auckland and Ferryhill following customer requests. This service will be running on a trial basis and we do need support from the local community to ensure that the Sunday service continues.
Service 43 Durham – Esh Winning
This service will no longer serve the Lark’s Hill area of Esh Winning due to low passenger numbers. Durham County Council are looking at an alternative timetable for their supported 52 service to serve Lark’s Hill.
Service 46/46a Durham – Crook – Stanhope
Our Monday – Saturday daytime frequency will increase on this service from every 30 mins to every 20 mins which is great news for our customers on this busy route. We’ll also be running earlier buses in the morning from Crook to Durham following customer requests. The peak-time journeys on College days from/to Stanhope will remain, but the off-peak journeys to Stanhope have been withdrawn due to low passenger numbers.
Service 48 Durham – New Brancepeth
Minor timetable changes to journeys on Sundays.
Service 49 Durham – Brandon
Minor timetable changes to journeys on Sundays to improve the spacing between our 46 & 49 buses through Meadowfield and Langley Moor.
Service 50 Durham – Brandon
We’ve added a new afternoon journey at 15.05 from Durham following requests from our customers.
Service 56 Durham – West Cornforth – Bishop Auckland
Our Sunday service will be extended to serve West Cornforth following requests from our customers for a service on a Sunday. Our Sunday buses will run as 56a and won’t be serving High Shincliffe, but High Shincliffe will still have an hourly service with our buses on service 57b.
Service 57 Durham – Kelloe – Peterlee
We’ll be adding a new look Sunday service on this route too, with a 57b service which will run from Durham to Kelloe and then be extended to Peterlee running via Thornley, Wheatley Hill, Deaf Hill, Station Town, Wingate and Shotton Colliery. This will restore a link to Durham on Sundays for Wingate, Wheatley Hill and Thornley as well as improving connections to other services at Peterlee with connections for Sunderland and Hartlepool.
Service 63/64 Arnison Centre – Durham - Musgrave Gardens/Sherburn Village
We’ve added extra running time into these very busy cross-town services to cope with continued problems with congestion in Durham City Centre. This means that the services will continue to run every 20 minutes, but will now terminate at Arnison Centre with Brasside now being served by our 7a buses instead. We’ll also be adding more evening buses to the Arnison Centre, but Brasside will no longer have an evening service due to low passenger numbers.
Service 69 Sedgefield – Spennymoor
Minor re-timing to morning peak journeys to improve connections onto service X1 at Sedgefield for customers travelling towards Middlesbrough.
Service 86/87 Bishop Auckland – Toft Hill/Ramshaw (circulars)
The 0845 journey from Bishop Auckland to BA College is withdrawn due to low usage and the 0838 journey from Escomb Village to Bishop Auckland is incorporated with the existing slightly earlier journey on service 86.
Service 85 Darlington – Bishop Auckland
The 1740 journey from Darlington will now run at 1755.
Service 239 Peterlee – Sedgefield
The 2310 journey from Sedgefield will now terminate at Deaf Hill rather than Peterlee.
