Service changes in County Durham and Darlington
from 6 April 2025
We are planning changes in County Durham and Darlington from Sunday 6th April. These changes come following a punctuality review across our network of services, along with feedback received from customers following a recent consultation on the 56 service.
Service 1 – Darlington to Bishop Auckland and Tow Law - Minor timetable changes will be introduced, with additional running time added at peak times to assist with delays in the Darlington area.
Service 3 – Darlington to Skerne Park – Minor timetable changes will be introduced.
Service 5 – Darlington to Bishop Auckland – Timetable changes will be introduced to improve punctuality. Journeys departing Bishop Auckland on an afternoon will be revised to create a more evenly set of departure times.
Service 6 – Durham to Cockfield and Barnard Castle – In response to customer feedback, the 0602 departure from Durham will extend beyond West Auckland to Evenwood.
Service 8 / 8A – Darlington to Spennymoor and Ferryhill – Minor timetable changes will be introduced to improve punctuality.
Service 17 – Darlington to Mowden - The first journey on a Monday to Friday in both directions will operate upto 10 minutes earlier, this is following feedback received to ensure school children arrive in time for the start of the school day at Hummersknott Academy.
Service 19 – Darlington to Faverdale - A revised timetable will be introduced with revised running times due to increasing traffic congestion being experienced in the West Auckland Road and Faverdale areas.
Service 22 – Durham to Peterlee and Sunderland – Minor timetable changes will be introduced to improve punctuality.
Service 23 – Peterlee to Hartlepool – Minor timetable changes will be introduced to improve punctuality.
Service 24 – Durham to Peterlee and Hartlepool - Minor timetable changes will be introduced to improve punctuality.
Service 43 – Durham to Esh Winning - Minor timetable changes will be introduced to improve punctuality.
Service 49 / 49A – Durham to Brandon - Minor timetable changes will be introduced to improve punctuality.
Service 56/56A – Durham to Ferryhill, Bishop Auckland and Tindale Crescent.
Thank you very much who shared their thoughts on a possible route change to the service within the Bishop Auckland area.
Following on from the feedback received during the survey, we will be looking to introduce a new one way loop for the service within the Bishop Auckland area, which was based on a result of 65/35% in favour for the one way loop, allowing all current links and areas to be served.
As a result, a new timetable will be introduced throughout the route, with the service operating to Tindale Crescent before serving Bishop Auckland. All journeys will now provide this link, increasing the number of early morning buses on this service to Tindale Crescent and the southern end of Bishop Auckland Town Centre.
Additionally, following from several requests in the consultation, a new later departure from both Tindale Crescent and Bishop Auckland will be introduced on this service. Evening journeys on service 56A will also be slightly revised, following changes to the 56 service.
Service 58 – Durham to Hartlepool - Further changes to the service are introduced from this date, these will result in most journeys operating 5 minutes later in both directions, designed to better coordinate the service with the 56 and X12 between Durham and Coxhoe.
Service 64 – Arnison Centre to Sherburn - Minor timetable changes will be introduced to improve reliability.
Service X12 – Newcastle to Durham and Middlesbrough - A punctuality review of this service has been carried out in the aim to improve reliability, especially around peak times for journeys leaving the Middlesbrough and Durham areas.
We will continue to operate up to 4 buses per hour between Durham and Coxhoe on a more evenly spaced timetable combined with services 56 and 58.