29 Nov 2017, 7:23 pm
#857
(29 Nov 2017, 6:43 pm)Ex-conductor I’m afraid that my point is being missed here. I am concentrating on travel from North Shields, and my main point is that it is more likely that passengers will want to travel from there to Sunderland, rather than to any of the points offered beyond Jarrow. Currently service 9 goes through Boldon Colliery on the way to Sunderland. So through travel to North Shields and the Royal Quays will be new to people living between Boldon and South Shields; it is not an established link as you seem to imply.
No-one (except enthusiasts, perhaps!), would be likely to travel from North Shields to, say, Whiteleas Estate on the 5 (likely to be around an hour). It would be far quicker to take the ferry and a bus from South Shields (35-40 minutes). I feel this has only been done for operational convenience to ensure the cross-river link was still provided after the service changes with the diversion of the 9, and not primarily to introduce a new link.
I've travelled to Boldon and Sunderland a few times on the 9 from North Shields. Quite often I was one of very few people on board the bus in the Tyne tunnel, most of whom alighted at Jarrow.
