I travelled once on this service (from Newcastle) as the Stagecoach service that I had tried to get was full.
There was one other passenger (who got off after 6 miles). No more joined and I got chatting to the driver.
I asked him what the turn-around time in Newcastle was. (The Stagecoach bus had arrived
after it was scheduled to leave, so the driver had no break, despite having driven two-and-a-half hours non-stop with the same ahead to reach base.)
He said that he arrived 08.45 (having driven 1hr 45mins) and stayed until departure at 16.15.
He said that there was rarely many passengers. I reckoned I could predict why, as anyone travelling to Newcastle for 9am would have to leave work at 4pm!
In November 2008 they rescheduled the Newcastle departure to 17.15 - but the damage was already done IMO and potential passengers had either made other arrangements (probably car-sharing) or had abandoned the idea of working in Newcastle (especially as the retiming was 'for six months only' - not the basis on which to plan employment).
The carrier is a long-established family firm that nowadays concentrate on private hire.
http://www.wrightbros.co.uk/ (click on 'History of Wrights' and 'Wrights in the news')