So I had my first experience of the new services today in the Stanley Area, I was for the changes to my service and very positive about the whole changes. Ive seen a few negative posts on Facebook etc, which is fully expected when any business changes something it provides.
For the past 2 years Ive used the 8:28 X31 from Lanchester to Newcastle. A service which on occasions would be late, usually coming in to Lanchester after dropping off students at St Bedes and the result would be the service being terminated at Gateshead every so often.
I chose to use service 30 which left Lanchester at 8:35 (as its the closest to the time the old service left) with around 3 passengers on board, apparently A few of the passengers who used to use the X31 to Greencroft now get a earlier service to the top of Maidan law bank and now choose to walk along that way. (its a shame there isn't a peak time service 30A which could operate the old X31 route to Stanley for the few passengers that need it, maybe in the future?)
By the time it got to Stanley at 9:04 (running only 2minutes late despite the tedious journey into Quaking Houses and dodging car mirrors) the Venture Solo was full with 2-3 Standees.
My next task was to use the interworking service. None of the boards in Stanley are working and say 'Please Use Timetable' ... thankfully the X30/X31 stand is still the same and a guy from Go North East was directing a few older passengers (a lot of which, including the 1 or 2 on my bus from Lanchester, didn't fully understand the changes)
The X31 leaves Stanley for Newcastle along its old route at 8:57 which unfortunately leaves too early for me to catch. So my next option was the revised service X30 at 9:11. Again it left Stanley with around 4 passengers on (not very many at all) .... once the service got past Sunniside and turned towards its new route it began to stop at every stop and picked up more than 1 passenger at each stop. (which is obviously a good sign)
Im not too familiar with the Dunston area but the service looks like it going to be a success. By the time the X30 got to Newcastle it was full with at least 4 Standees (arrived at Eldon Square at 9:57, baring in mind I start work at 10). It made me questions why the Omnidekkas weret kept on the service, I'm not too sure how the 6 is faring using Omnidekkas, but I also noticed that the Venture service that left Stanley around the same time as the X30 this morning looked packed.
Overall I'm judging this on 'ONE' Journey, so its a first impression on the overall experience. Nobody really likes change, I know I don't! I just made it too work on time this morning, which over the corse of the next couple of weeks I may have to use a earlier journey, although I have a feeling once the drivers get used to the services the pace may pick up a little. The X30 arrived late into Newcastle but the Omnicity on the service didn't seem to go very fast for whatever reason.
This is just a observation on my first journey, I will be using this exact interworking for the next 2 weeks to see if i can get to work for 10 on time as per with the old route. I think the fact the routes have been split is going to make them a lot more reliable, I only wish that more of the peak time workings went all the way through, if it wasn't for the branding on some of the services it may of been an idea. Obviously you can't make every bus service work for every person to get where they want to be at the exact time, I understand that, as Ive said its just a observation on one journey, nothing is intended as a Criticism.
