Welcome to routes X22 and X43

Thursday 24th July 2025

Two more new bus routes launched this week and, once again, they’re pure commercial ventures and come from one of Britain’s newest bus companies. Who said deregulation and entrepreneurialism in the bus industry was dead?

New ‘express’ routes X22 and X43 began on Monday linking Chester-le-Street (X22) and Stanley (X43) directly with the Metrocentre in Gateshead.

They’re routes Go North East dropped during Covid and are the latest initiatives from the fledgling bus company launched last year called Northstar. Readers may recall my review of its start up and the great work owner Dan Graham is doing back in October 2024.

Dan’s two new routes operate on Mondays to Saturdays during the school holidays giving residents living along the line of routes a convenient and quick way to reach the North East’s renowned shopping centre and at very attractive prices.

Fares start at £2 maxing out at £2.50 for journeys to the Metrocentre with up to three childrern aged 11 and under travelling free until the end of August when with an adult. Those aged 12 to 21 inclusive can travel for £1 each way or a £3 day ticket, making for a great travel bargain for young people.

With attractive deals like those, the routes are expected to attract many families and young people not least because since Covid it’s taken the best part of an hour to reach the Metrocentre by other bus routes.

Both routes operate hourly between around 09:00 and 16:30 with the X22 picking up at all bus stops between Chester-le-Street, Barley Mow and Birtley before running non-stop to the Metrocentre with an end-to-end journey time of just 24 minutes. The X43 similarly picks up at all stops between Stanley, Tanfield Lea, Tantobie, Burnopfield and Swalwell Bank in Whickham before reaching the Metrocentre in 28 minutes.

The two buses needed to run the routes, which are being staffed by regular drivers for the summer, interwork at the Metrocentre sharing out the rather tight schedule for the X43 with the slightly slacker, but still tightish, X22.

With the vagaries of roadworks, the weather and summer traffic levels it’s still quite an ambitious schedule which I experienced on a flying (by train) visit to the North East yesterday to see how this first week is going.

I caught the 12:23 X43 to Stanley from the Metrocentre which is due in at 12:19 from the X22. It arrived at 12:23 from Chester-le-Street with an impressive load of 17 passengers who all headed into the shopping centre while eight of us quickly got on board for the journey down to Stanley.

While waiting I noticed Dan has arranged promotional posters around the bus station and not just at the two departure stands used by routes X22 and X43, but others too.

Departure time listings and electronic departure displays were also showing details of the routes which was good to see.

The driver on the run down to Stanley was very smartly turned out and did an excellent job trying to make up a few minutes time as we headed south. Two passengers alighted in Whickham, one in Burnopfield, two in Tantobie and two in Tanfield Lea with two more boarding in Burnopfield and one in Tanfield Lea giving ten passengers for the journey overall.

Despite his best efforts we arrived into Stanley at 12:55, the departure time for the return journey to the Metrocentre, and this time there was a driver changeover but he was ready and waiting – and was instantly recognisable as none other than Dan Graham himself taking a keen personal interest in his new initiative.

Dan quickly got the seven waiting passengers on board – an adult with four young people and another adult and child with another joining us in Whickham.

Dan drove well to regain time and we arrived into the Metrocentre at 13:28 taking an impressive 11 passengers on board for the X22 to Chester-le-Street due away at 13:27.

It was a good nonstop run down the A1 with Dan smartly using the road space available approaching an outer lane closure for roadworks so we didn’t suffer any further delay.

Five passengers alighted in Barley Mow with one joining us and the others all got off as we reached Chester-le-Street with four boarding for the next journey back to the Metrocentre which left spot on time at 13:55 thanks to Dan’s excellent driving and passenger handling skills.

It’s so good to see an initiative of this kind and doing so well even on its third day. Dan tells me numbers were slightly down on Tuesday’s experience but yesterday’s weather wasn’t particularly encouraging.

While travelling up and down these routes I found myself wondering if a Mayoral controlled bus network will be fleet-of-foot enough to introduce such an initiative. Somehow I doubt it.

There’s a printed timetable leaflet giving details of both routes but although Dan had filled leaflet racks on both buses earlier that morning passengers had taken the supply – demonstrating once again how popular printed publicity is. Dan confirms both buses were restocked later in the day. The new routes have also featured extensively on Northstar’s social media channels.

Well done Dan and the Northstar team. It looks like you’ve got a well deserved success on your hands.

Roger French

Summer blogging timetable: 06:00 TThSsU.

37 thoughts on “Welcome to routes X22 and X43”

  2. Seeing pictures of the buses head on they look like Arriva buses. I’m not sure that is a good thing. However, they did look smartly turned out.

    MotCO

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  3. The fares are the regional Mayor’s initiative of course (BSIP funded £2.50 local cap and under 22s £1 single/£3 day ticket) but well done Dan for introducing these direct links that are otherwise a lengthy journey.

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  4. Good initiative, but hourly services on tight schedules in busy areas are always going to have punctuality/reliability problems which risk deterring users. Hope they succeed though. Graham L.

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  5. Roger, it always amuses when you take a dig at ‘Mayoral controlled bus networks’! Maybe an alternative view in this case would be ‘commercial operator withdraws service during pandemic; takes five (?) years for the service to be replaced’…..

    Anyone out there know whether these new routes are comparable in terms of headway to the previous offering?

    Nevertheless, this venture deserves success because there’s an appreciation of the importance of publicity.

    Dan Tancock

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    1. it always amuses when you take a dig at ‘Mayoral controlled bus networks’!

      And when Roger implies that a Mayoral controlled fare cap is a commercial offer.

      Of course, these services having been introduced by one of Roger’s ‘chums’, he’s going to big it up. He does unfortunately seem rather partisan that way.

      Maybe an alternative view in this case would be ‘commercial operator withdraws service during pandemic; takes five (?) years for the service to be replaced’…..

      Precisely.

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    2. And we’re quick to forget that the commercial network up here has been decimated during deregulation, so anything short of a Mayoral controlled obliteration, would be seen as an improvement!

      Nonetheless, great on Dan showing that commercial operators can show initiative, and without public money being spaffed on them.

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  6. Presumably, when the less commercially minded Mayors “take back control”, thus “giving passengers the London-style services they deserve(!)”, such excellent initiatives will be banned? One might hope that whilst this is merely using vehicles that would otherwise be on schools, it may develop into a more permanent service. Certainly fills a gap and looks successful already.

    It does seem unfortunate that the chosen livery, whilst pleasant and professional, to the untrained eye does very much resemble Arriva.

    Terence Uden

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    1. Another one! ‘Such excellent initiatives will be banned’? How about, ‘services like this will be integrated into the wider network so won’t be subject to the whims and pressures of the commercial marketplace?’

      Running buses between school duties is something bus companies and LAs have been doing forever, so I’m not sure this is as revolutionary as you appear to infer.

      Dan Tancock

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      1. if I was a Combined Authority Mayor looking to take control of my local bus network I would want excellent bus professionals such as Roger and Dan involved from the planning stage. A publicly controlled bus network still requires marketing and an ability to develop new markets and opportunities. I would also seek advice from other countries for best practice, Switzerland, Netherlands, and if I were a Shire Authority considering franchising I’d investigate Jersey and Guernsey.

        On the subject of network redesign Jarrett Walker is visiting the UK in September, and would be well worth engaging with by Mayoral Authorities as he has been active in Ireland with network redesigns on Dublin and other cities for TfI.

        https://humantransit.org/2025/06/coming-to-the-uk-in-september.html

        Peter Brown

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      2. Strongly agree with this, Dan Tancock. Nothing worse than getting used to a bus route and relying on it, just for it to vanish one day. We all expect bus networks to change from time to time, but publicly controlled ones never leave any place cut off like private bus companies regularly do. We need bus routes to be stable, to grow the number of people of using them. I’m sure the market can do some great things, but we can’t fully rely on them to run buses at all times we need them.

        Also very interesting, Peter Brown. I’m personally really impressed by the new bus networks all across Ireland, they seem to have really effective and widespread coverage, even to villages! Just they need to make a bus map for Dublin!

        Aaron Smith

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    1. Good to see new operators restarting previous routes. Long may Dan and his team prosper.

      Tony Burns

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  8. I dont think you can trademark a colour on its own and thus there may be some mileage in having a shade of livery that might give an association of the solidarity of being part of a bigger company. Alternatively if that company is not considered reliable there is a negative risk too. But to me the livery suits the vehicles and the area,

    Roger cannot really have tight times and AI flexi times as the same time, better to advertise a departure and run a couple of mins late on the odd journey that to lose the clock face simple publicity. Folk are fairly accomodating up to 120 sec late on an arrival and it only really matters if one is depending on a connection to somewhere else.

    JBC Prestatyn

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  9. The leaflet shows two deckers, but all Roger’s snaps feature SDs in use…. Is the intention to use deckers if the service takes off sufficiently to require them?

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  11. Polite observation the Northstar website hyperlinks to routes X22 and X43 don’t work.

    The Nexus website has a timetable only for X43 in house style with no start or end dates.

    https://www.nexus.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/bus/x043-nsr-200725.pdf

    The search for maps and fares on Nexus rekindled memories of a stay in Newcastle where I bought Travel North East day tickets from Metro stations now priced £7.50 available for travel on buses in Durham, Northumberland, Metro trains and also Northern Rail to Sunderland. It’s hidden at the bottom of a long list of products on the Nexus Ticket Finder page that introduces users to the four zones of the Metro.

    Major Bus Operators have their own tickets too!

    There aren’t even area bus maps available on line!

    Mayor Kim McGuinness seems to have a greater challenge than Andy Burnham did in Manchester to deliver a user friendly integrated network to the North East region.

    John Nicholas

    Coventry

    One sky blue bus left pending repaint in preparation for transfer to Birmingham!

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  12. I don’t think these buses look like Arriva buses, they are clean, shiny and well looked after. I hear whispers that the North East Combined Authority’s attitude towards SMEs like Bluestar may be a little more friendlier than other authorities, I hope this correct and I wish Dan Graham and team well for the future.

    David Potts

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    2. If the trade press reports are to be believed, TfGM have realised they screwed up and are looking at very different tendering rules for the next round.

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  13. It’s Rogers blog and he can say what he likes, it’s not a public service announcement.

    Disappointing criticism from the armchair bus experts. Anything new is to be applauded, when did we see any commercial initiatives from Arriva,Stagecoach or First?

    Dan may have to change his timetable to ensure reliability but at least he is having a go and will learn by his mistakes

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    1. How do you know the criticism comes from ‘Armchair Bus Experts’, especially given you’re anonymous yourself?

      I’ve been critical and I also work in the industry. No armchair until I retire!

      Dan Tancock

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  14. Great to see a new initiative being tried – presumably this is making use of vehicles that would be running school buses and would otherwise be sitting idle – if it is successful, I wonder if there would be scope to run it year round on Saturdays, and maybe even weekdays off-peak between school journeys?

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      1. That’s good, on a phone the timetables are pretty small so I didn’t notice that, Roger’s text said “Dan’s two new routes operate on Mondays to Saturdays during the school holidays” so I took that as meaning that they only ran during school holidays.

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  15. Yes, a little ambiguous, but every Saturday throughout the year, and Monday-Friday in school holidays.

    On another issue, that of ‘purely commercial’ bus services, the National Audit Office noted that “around 50% of operator income now comes from the public sector.”DfT quizzed by Public Accounts Committee over bus spending [Paul Halford, routeone, July 22, 2025 with links to NAO report]

    The pertinent question would thus seem to be: With this level of public money supporting bus services, which is the best structure to ensure value for money? Deregulated on-road competition, with non-competing ‘infill’ services for areas not covered ‘commercially’? Partnerships with operators in control? 100% contracted (franchised) services?

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    1. I’d argue the status quo is poor value for money with limited positive outcomes. Even worse that buses remaining fully deregulated means money from government can’t even be targeted to places that need it, fill in gaps in areas where buses can’t be profitable/ commercial. I wonder how much public money has been lost to DRT, covered time and time again by Roger’s blog. To me, it’s clear outsourcing wastes money, so even though franchising means public oversight and control of networks, I wonder if it’s better to cut the private sector out altogether, at least with the main bus companies. I’d prefer to see municipal bus companies with boundaries that broadly align with the new strategic authorities if I’m honest. And I want the government/ councils to focus more on the outcomes of their decisions, not just the cost.

      Aaron Smith

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      1. @Aaron Smith

        I share your view of deregulation.

        I can, however, see some benefits of outsourcing. Competition for the right to operate, coupled with contracts which contain effective bonus and penalty measures, can provide incentives to ensure the operator delivers a reliable, good quality bus service and to tackle problems which occur.

        I think back to the days of London, before tendering (40 years ago now). London Transport operated the buses. It had high costs, and no shortage of excuses for the bus service being very unreliable. Tendering demonstrated that private operators could deliver better quality, more reliable bus services at lower cost. Admittedly, not every private operator made a success of London tendered work. But operators such as Ensignbus/Capital Citybus, Metrobus and Grey-Green certainly helped deliver a step change in service reliability.

        Malc M

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        1. Fully agree Malc, and what’s more, they forced LBL (as was) to recognise that running well and cost-efficiently not only could be done, but needed to be achieved to save itself from elimination.

          Too often people resent an operator making a 10% profit, even when it represents a 20% saving from when the public sector did things directly (not just confined to bus services).

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    2. Of course that 50% will include a significant amount that operators cannot effectively refuse even if they wanted to (operators must accept concessionary passes and those passengers are a significant enough proportion that not claiming reimbursement could lead to financial failure) and a significant amount that would be a PR disaster to refuse to accept (such as student travel on commercial bus services). We don’t consider the purchase of food by government for their purposes to be a subsidy to the catering industry but we consider every pence spent on buses as a subsidy of the industry regardless of what is being paid for and much of it is part of a commercial arrangement to pay for services as you would any other goods or service.

      If concessionary reimbursement is correctly calculated operators should be no worse of if the scheme was removed but in many parts of the country in fact operators would probably be better off as reimbursement rates are so poor (because councils were never properly funded for the scheme in the first place) that even if there was a significantly bigger drop of than expected if free travel was withdrawn the income would be higher (there were parts of the country where formerly free passenger numbers could halve and operators would still see double the income if they paid full normal fares).

      Dwarfer

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  16. It’s a free blog that Roger does not charge for.

    I have seen plenty of criticism in previous posts of commercial operators who do not do a great job. As well as of public sector bodies that do a poor job with our tax money too.

    Regards,

    Stephen

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  17. Go North East’s X22 & X43 only ran hourly, although they also ran inter peak on schooldays.

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  18. Any chance if Dan can provide the full X88 reborn in weekends…GNE now only operates the X88 to Washington but not to Sunderland…

    Kal

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