THE article “Bus firms to blame for axing services” (Echo, Oct 12) did not reflect the effort that Go North East has made to both invest in bus services in east Durham and reduce the need for support from Durham County Council.
From October 28, we will be operating our Monday to Friday daytime services in and around Peterlee on a fully commercial basis, saving the council about £200,000 a year on its transport budget.
At the same time, we have invested £1.3m in new state-ofthe- art buses for our X9/X10 Tyne Tees Xpress that links Peterlee with Newcastle and Middlesbrough every 30 minutes.
At a time when local authority budgets are tight, the county council has some difficult decisions to make.
As your report rightly pointed out, four out of five bus services in County Durham already operate without any support from the county at all.
Martin Harris Commercial director, Go North East.
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