17 Jun 2016, 1:05 pm
#391
(17 Jun 2016, 12:42 pm)samwise As a regular user of the 11 I will be very sad to see the service go.
I will always go out for the 11 over a 10 as the service seems to be more reliable than a 10. For me the main advantage of the 11 was that it was quick! Leave Blaydon on time then belt it to Newcastle along Scotswood Road with the change of it missing out the Business Park I was able to do my journey in 25 minutes! I liked the route into Newcastle City Centre no waiting for all the taxis and pedestrians on Newgate Street or queuing to get into Eldon Square. The stop on Grainger Street was more convenient for changing onto the Metro at Monument.
The fact I had a choice of a bus that doesn't serve the MetroCentre will also be missed. Apart the terrible congestion on Saturdays it's great to get on a bus that doesn't pick up all the charvers.
I miss the Omnicities but part of the 11 was the attraction of not getting on the same old Ten B9s. The dual door B10BLEs are passed it but sometimes you can get a Versa or a Citaro.
The peak time extras- not sure if we are losing more of these? The previous Bendy and now X66 Streetlite journeys always well loaded and the evening extras were the ones I will try and catch home as these runs have OmniDekkas and Vykings.
As much as I would like a faster, reliable, direct bus service to Newcastle I'm sure I will be able to live with the increased journey times and the loss of 2 buses an hour on the corridor.
Still a good service from the days of 602 / 604 and these changes are like the old 610 route.
Living in Rowlands Gill, I tended to use the 611 (forerunner to today's 47) for similar reasons as the route along Scotswood Road seemed a lot faster than the route through Dunston and Metrocentre which every other bus to the area took. However, and granted this is going back over 10 years now, I don't seem to recall that many people boarding/alighting on Scotswood Road aside from the odd person at either AA or BA in Newcastle Business Park.
During peak times, the Scotswood Road service was replaced by an extended 32 and, out of novelty, I used to sometimes get this bus into Newcastle in the mornings while attending uni. Once again, even with passengers from both Blaydon and Winlaton, it was only a handful of people who alighted at Newcastle Business Park with only one travelling from Rowlands Gill despite decent loadings. Needless to say, this service was eventually withdrawn.
While I would love (and therefore choose) a Metrocentre-avoiding bus, travelling patterns sadly dictate that there's no business case for GNE to provide one. Unlike the 604, and now the 11, there have been no strong views or petitions created to save (or resurrect) either the 611 or the lengthy peak-time 32.
