North East Buses

Didn't fall under any particular operator so decided to pop under this thread unless the mods know anywhere better to stick this. Some of the ideas amalgamated from various contributions as well as my individual ideas.

New & revised services:
ANE COAST EXPRESS X36 - Tynemouth - North Shields - Preston Road - Queen Alexandra Road - Hawkeys Lane - Chirton Green - Billy Mill Avenue - Verne Road - Norham Road - Coast Road All Stops to Willington Square then non stop to Newcastle Civic Centre, St Mary's Place & Haymarket (Every 20 minutes)

ANE COAST EXPRESS X38 - As per 308 now between Blyth and Willington Square then non stop to Newcastle Civic Centre, St Mary's Place & Haymarket (Every 20 minutes)

GNE - COASTLINE 309 - Whitley Bay - Marden Estate - Preston Grange - Rake Lane - New York - Cobalt - Silverlink - Coast Road All Stops - Newcastle (Every 30 minutes)

GNE - COASTLINE 310 - Whitley Bay - Cullercoates - Marden Estate - Tynemouth - North Shields - Chirton Green - Quadrant - Percy Main Redburn - Ridley Avenue - Windsor Drive - Churchill Street - Coast Road All Stops - Newcastle (Every 30 minutes)

GNE - COASTLINE 311 - Whitley Bay - Cullercoates - Marden Estate - Tynemouth - Fish Quay & Ferry - North Shields - Meadowell - West Chirton - Cobalt Park - Battle Hill - High Farm - Station Road - Coast Road All Stops - Newcastle (Every 30 minutes)

GNE - COASTLINE 312 - Churchill Street Loop (as per 41/41A) - Tynemouth Road - Ridley Avenue - Coniston Road - Battle Hill Drive - High Farm - Hadrian Lodge - Coast Road All Stops - Newcastle (Every 30 minutes)

GNE - 41/41A - As per now but Hadrian Park to Wallsend only

SNE - 22 - Same route as now (every 20 minutes)

SNE - 22A - Same as 22 to Byker Shields Road, then as GNE 1 route to Churchill Street continuing to Hadrian Park (every 20 minutes)


Withdrawn services:
- 1 - replaced in parts by 310, 311, 22 & 22A. 317 and Metro also covers some links too.
- 41/41A (High Farm, Battle Hill and Hadrian Park to Howdon) - replaced in parts by 22A and 312. Very small number of links lost from Hadrian Park to Howdon although link remains in some form.
- 51 - Replaced by 312 and 335 & 342 also maintain some links. Section between Whitley Bay and Holystone could potentially be bolted onto service 55.
- 306 - replaced by X36 and in parts by COASTLINE services.
- 308 - replaced by X38 and in parts by COASTLINE services
- 311 (Hadrian Park) - replaced in parts by 22A, NEW 311, 312.


Core Frequencies:
- Coast Road / Norham Road (or Tesco stop) to Newcastle (COAST EXPRESS) - Every 10 minutes
- Coast Road / Station Road to Newcastle (COASTLINE) - Every 7-8 minutes
- Coast Road / Willington Sqaure to Newcastle (COASTLINE 309 & 310) - Every 15 minutes
- Battle Hill Drive to Newcastle via High Farm (COASTLINE 311 & 312) - Every 15 minutes (10/20 split)
- Cobalt Park to Newcastle (COASTLINE 309 & 311) - Every 15 minutes (10/20 split)
- Whitley Bay to North Shields (COASTLINE 310 & 311) - Every 15 minutes (slight split with 311 route via Fish Quay & Ferry)
- Churchill Street to Newcastle & Throckley - Up to every 10 minutes

Just to confirm on this one... Arriva, Go Ahead, Northumberland & Nexus are all already in discussions around a Qualifying Agreement on the Coast Road.

All existing services reduced to every 20 minutes, with a common 5 minute headway Monday to Saturday planned. Evenings and Sundays also coordinated. No major changes to routes and no new limited stoppers unfortunately.

Joint ticket acceptance however. Planned to start from end of March.

(18 Dec 2022, 6:12 pm)RobinHood wrote [ -> ]Just to confirm on this one... Arriva, Go Ahead, Northumberland & Nexus are all already in discussions around a Qualifying Agreement on the Coast Road.

All existing services reduced to every 20 minutes, with a common 5 minute headway Monday to Saturday planned. Evenings and Sundays also coordinated. No major changes to routes and no new limited stoppers unfortunately.

Joint ticket acceptance however. Planned to start from end of March.

If that's the case, will Hadrian Park be covered by the 310 or will the 22 be split to Hadrian Park / Cobalt every 20 mins each?

Although the even headways and joint ticketing is a start, it's not going to do anything to get more people onboard. Just the same product packages slightly differently.

The 306 / 308 have always been the historic goldmines. So changing them both to limited stop variants covering the longer distances would be a start. Even though the 306 isn't exactly 'popular' these days, using the time saved to add a few extra area of North Shields en-route with the correct marketing (leaflets through doors) would increase patronage.

Then as for the COASTLINE SERVICES..
- 309 would open up new links from the Marden Estate and Malvern Road, also (with a very small walk) re-opening the Marden - NTGH link. Also having the Silverlink en-route would be handy.

- 310 would effectively allow the 1 to be withdrawn and also provide faster links from the Quadrant, Percy Main and High Howdon to Newcastle.

- 311 would maintain the Cobalt - Battle Hill link whilst opening a few other links up too including the Ferry & Fish Quay. Arguably, the 310 could go via the Ferry & Fish Quay instead of the 311.

- 312 would effectively take minibuses off the road with the Churchill Street loop covered, the Battle Hill / High Farm and Howdon link maintained. Most importantly, Hadrian Lodge could then be properly merged into the Coast Road corridor rather than an 'oddball' with supporting other parts of the route keeping it viable.

- 22A would solve the Hadrian Park issue and also maintain some of the links to Howdon and also serving Appletree Gardens. Journey time from Hadrian Park (the Bush) to Newcastle would be around 40 mins tops also taking into account the walking time fron Haymarket / St Mary's further down, there wouldn't be much in it.

I assume you'd still run the X39 service considering how popular it is and relatively appealing to commuters not fancying an endless Coast Road stop start

(19 Dec 2022, 10:36 am)Ambassador wrote [ -> ]I assume you'd still run the X39 service considering how popular it is and relatively appealing to commuters not fancying an endless Coast Road stop start

Could be run in partnership or using 'misc' workings. Don't exactly know what could be 'docked' or curtailed.

AM:
- 22A has 40 min gap to Hadrian Park with 1x dropping out in Newcastle positioning to run X39 then picking back up in Hadrian Park.

- X36 has a 40 min gap with 1x dropping out to run an X39.

- 310 drops out then picks back up at Churchill Street running rest of route to Whitley Bay.


PM I'd assume could be the same

If the partnership thing is true I assume the 308 would be in sync with the 309 every 10 mins. The 306 with the 310 every 10 mins - to have a combined 5 min headway. I wonder where that leaves the 311?

(19 Dec 2022, 11:45 am)DeltaMan wrote [ -> ]If the partnership thing is true I assume the 308 would be in sync with the 309 every 10 mins. The 306 with the 310 every 10 mins - to have a combined 5 min headway. I wonder where that leaves the 311?

Would it not more likely be like..........

- 308 - 309 - 306 - 310

That would leave an uneven headway between Billy Mill and Willington Square. Even if the 309 ran 5 mins behind the 308, that would at least even out between Rake Lane and Blyth with the 309 taking a little extra time via High Farm, Battle Hill and Cobalt.

I reckon it would most likely go:
- 306 as now but omits Battle Hill Drive (every 20 minutes)
- 308 as now (every 20 minutes)
- 309 as now but via High Farm (every 20 minutes)
- 310 as now (every 20 minutes)
- 311 withdrawn

As far as the 310 stands and based on the 309 also running via High Farm, two options could be available...........

Option 1.) Additionally serve Hadrian Park - directly replaces the 311.
Option 2.) Omit Hadrian Park as now but operate via Hadrian Lodge & Wiltshire Drive to replace the 51. Whitley Bay to Holystone bolted onto the 55, Hadrian Park served by 22 every 20 minutes with the other still serving Silverlink & Cobalt every 20 minutes.

(19 Dec 2022, 11:45 am)DeltaMan wrote [ -> ]If the partnership thing is true I assume the 308 would be in sync with the 309 every 10 mins. The 306 with the 310 every 10 mins - to have a combined 5 min headway. I wonder where that leaves the 311?

306/308 and 309/310 surely otherwise Battlehill will have a 5/15 service. The 309 takes a few minutes longer than the 308 so they should even out for where they duplicate each other making it every 10 minutes or so from New York to South Beach.

No-one will use the 306/310 from North Shields (Metro much quicker) unless they're sad and it's two different routes other than that so no real gain timing them together. The 310 is also much longer.