A BUS company has extended its Newcastle service to a County Durham village - with services running twice an hour.
Go North East has said its Angel 21 service will now operate from Newcastle all the way through to Brandon.
The service will travel to the village after stopping at Gateshead, Chester-le-Street, Framwellgate Moor, Durham City, Langley Moor and Meadowfield.
This is the first time the well-known 21 service has been extended beyond Durham, with the X21 operating between Newcastle and West Auckland.
Stephen King, Commercial Director at Go North East, said: "We've extended our popular Angel 21 service from Durham to Brandon twice every hour, to give new, direct links from Brandon to key destinations such as University Hospital North Durham, Framwellgate Moor (for New College) Arnison Centre as well as Chester le Street, Gateshead and Newcastle without the need to change buses in Durham City Centre.
"These links were proposed prior to Covid but were postponed when passenger numbers fell because of the lockdown."
“The new link is an important aspect of making buses better and reacting to changing travel demands and patterns as we emerge from the pandemic. “
The new route comes as Go North East received backlash for changes to bus services in rural parts of the region earlier this year.
Read more: Concern over cuts to rural bus services in County Durham
A plan to make changes to the 28, 28A, 34 and 78 buses prompted residents and local councillors to raise concerns.
At the time, residents complained of being unable to make connections including to Roseberry Primary School in Pelton Fell.
Meanwhile, Durham County Councillor for Pelton Alison Batey, has written to the leader of County Durham Council, as well as Go North East and Liberal Democrat councillor Elizabeth Scott, the cabinet portfolio lead over the changes.
A statement on the Go North East website said the pandemic has had a detrimental impact on the usage of all public transport and is changing the way people work, shop and travel.
To view the route and timetable - click here
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