(17 Sep 2013, 3:57 pm)mcoyne wrote Arriva currently do not have a link with the Cobalt Business Park from Blyth.
The nearest bus is the 308 but you have to walk from North Tyneside Hospital.
A new service or re-routing the 308 would be ideal. I used to get the Cobalt Clipper 309 but they have cancelled the early bus from Blyth so i am unable to get to work for 7.00am unless I get the 308 and walk up from the hospital.

(17 Sep 2013, 3:57 pm)mcoyne wrote Arriva currently do not have a link with the Cobalt Business Park from Blyth.
The nearest bus is the 308 but you have to walk from North Tyneside Hospital.
A new service or re-routing the 308 would be ideal. I used to get the Cobalt Clipper 309 but they have cancelled the early bus from Blyth so i am unable to get to work for 7.00am unless I get the 308 and walk up from the hospital.

(17 Sep 2013, 4:23 pm)citaro5284 wrote To save you walking from the Hospital, could you not catch the 308 to Whitley Bay and from there catch the 309 at either 0629 or 0643?

(17 Sep 2013, 4:34 pm)cbma06 wrote Arriva changing some of there bus services again in northtyneside/northumberland area again on October 27th 2013

(17 Oct 2013, 12:52 pm)aureolin wrote Simplest suggestion yet. Increase the frequency of the X1 between Boro and Durham. I've been using it quite often lately, and it's jam packed both ways. It does completely die down after Durham on an evening though.

Perhaps retain the 30 min frequency on the X2/X1 interworking, but run two X1 only runs an hour.

(17 Oct 2013, 12:55 pm)tyresmoke wrote There is a plan to improve the X1 further but we have a problem with the running times at the moment.... they're looking into it I'm told and should be sorted properly next time!

EDIT: The X1 is definitely the stronger of the two though so I would imagine this will be picked up on!

(03 Nov 2013, 2:40 pm)Ian foster wrote Can we have service 44 Hazelrigg -Whitley Bay re instated.This service was foolishly axed in 2010 and since then bus passenger numbers from Marden Estate have decreased rapidly.We now have the 306 which is still useless for getting to Newcastle as it goes via Tynemouth,North Shields & Battle Hill which is already well served by buses.We would like to have a quick direct service like what the 44 provided and not one of these via the roundabouts to get to the swings services that we have been provided with since.Ever since 2010 all my journeys to Newcastle have been by car along with alot of other people along the old 44 route.
Ian Foster

(03 Nov 2013, 2:40 pm)Ian foster wrote Can we have service 44 Hazelrigg -Whitley Bay re instated.This service was foolishly axed in 2010 and since then bus passenger numbers from Marden Estate have decreased rapidly.We now have the 306 which is still useless for getting to Newcastle as it goes via Tynemouth,North Shields & Battle Hill which is already well served by buses.We would like to have a quick direct service like what the 44 provided and not one of these via the roundabouts to get to the swings services that we have been provided with since.Ever since 2010 all my journeys to Newcastle have been by car along with alot of other people along the old 44 route.
Ian Foster

(10 Nov 2013, 3:08 pm)Davey Bowyer wrote ARRIVA COAST ROAD AND NORTH TYNESIDE SERVICE ANALYSIS

Back in May 2010, the 44 serving pretty much the same route as the 308 between Whitley Bay and Rake Lane but serving the Marden Estate. After Rake Lane, buses served New York and Norham Road before continuing directly to Newcastle only calling at Willington Square. It must be said that serving the Marden Estate and Norham Road was not feasible and due to low profits, service 44 was withdrawn. Several attempts at similar buses have been made since then until September 2013 but they all didn’t work out.

On the 1st September, service 306 was extended from Tynemouth to Whitley Bay Town Centre via Beach Road, Preston Road, Harrington Road and the Broadway. Although this reinstated a bus for the residents in the Marden Estate to Newcastle, realistically speaking, service 306 is too long of a route and many people are only using the route between North Shields and Whitley Bay since the link was created and many of the residents who live in the Marden Estate are now either using the Metro or using the car. Also, although service 308 is very popular, too many people are using it due to the fact that the 44 no longer exists and as a result, the journey times on service 308 are increasing consequently causing much unnecessary inconvenience to passengers.

What Arriva now need to look at, is to balance the interests of the shareholders, to the interests of the passengers.

Service 308 should remain the same as it is despite minor timetable changes to accommodate a newly revised service 306. Service 306 would operate every 15 minutes between Newcastle and Whitley Bay. Buses would operate via the current route between Haymarket and Preston Road. Instead of serving Christ Church, buses would serve North Shields Metro, Bedford Street and Howard Street. Buses towards Newcastle would serve Northumberland Square. From Howard Street, buses would continue to Manor Road via the normal 306 route and from there, buses would serve the exact same route as Go North East’s Coaster service between Percy Park Road and Whitley Road in Whitley Bay. However, from Whitley Bay, one bus every 30 minutes from service 306 would continue to Newcastle as service X38. Service X38 would serve all of the 308 stops between Whitley Road and Billy Mill Post Office. From Billy Mill, buses would then operate limited stop to St Mary’s Place and Haymarket only calling at Willington Square. Service X38 buses to Whitley Bay would terminate at York Road before changing back into service 306 to Newcastle via the Coast and North Shields. Evening and Sunday buses would operate every 30 minutes to Whitley Bay and 1 bus per hour would continue to Newcastle as service X38 every 60 minutes.

If Arriva implemented these changes, the benefits would be massive:
• Much unnecessary pressure would be taken off service 308, thus improving reliability at Blyth Depot due to the option of a faster express service for people on the 308 route and people who usually get on services 306 and 308 at Billy Mill and Willington Square.

• The residents of the Marden Estate despite there not being much money in it for Arriva, would have a faster bus service to Newcastle. Also, the residents who need access to Rake Lane Hospital wouldn’t have to change buses and would have a direct service to the Hospital on the same bus. Through fares would be available for services 306 and X38 between Tynemouth and Newcastle via Whitley Bay. Journey times from the Marden Estate to Newcastle would take no longer than 45 minutes and journeys to Rake Lane Hospital would take no longer than 25 minutes.

• If Arriva timetabled the 306 to arrive a couple of minutes before GNE’s Coaster service between North Shields and Whitley Bay, many free pass users, Network One users and people who by single and return fares would use service 306 and as a result, services 306 and X38 would certainly be profitable providing that the fares would be reasonably competitive.

• Services 306 and 308 would still offer the convenience of a frequent bus service for people who need convenience and service X38 would provide a point to point service for people who simply need to get from A to B.

• A newly revised service 306 and new service X38 would certainly balance the interests of the shareholders at Arriva whilst increasing passenger satisfaction and convenience. Services 306 and X38 would be very profitable for the user groups and categories described above in this report. The profits of service X38 between Whitley Bay and Newcastle plus service 306 between North Shields and Whitley Bay, would over mitigate the losses a standalone service would generate only serving the Marden Estate. The cost of passenger satisfaction and convenience would be almost minimal in return for healthy profits and much needed convenience.

(26 Nov 2013, 9:50 pm)Davey Bowyer wrote The idea of the changes back last year meant that people between Alnwick and Berwick on the X18 had the same journey time to Newcastle as what they would've done on the 501 but it meant that people would have to change in Alnwick onto the X15.

My suggestion to the above problems stated by posters would be:

- More layover time in Alnwick for both services to allow people to make connections. Make through fares available on both services to use. An example would be Newcastle to Seahouses via Alnwick using the X15 then the X18.

- Extend peak time journeys on the 20 to Alnwick. This would give people between Widdrington and Alnwick a bus roughly every 30 minutes at the peak times to and from Newcastle on Mondays to Fridays.

- Increase the X14 to every 20 minutes during the peak times Monday to Friday and every 60 minutes on evenings and Sundays between Morpeth and Newcastle. Off peak Monday to Friday journeys and during Saturday daytimes, buses would continue to operate every 30 minutes.

- Services X15 and X18 would operate strictly limited stop to Barras Bridge and Haymarket from Morpeth either via the Central Motorway or Great North Road. This would apply during the peak times Monday to Friday. Off peak Monday to Friday journeys and during Saturday daytimes, buses would continue to operate every 30 minutes combined between Morpeth and Newcastle.

- The changes above would mean a direct bus between Morpeth and Newcastle during the peak times Monday to Friday every 30 minutes and a bus for all stops between Morpeth and Newcastle every 20 minutes during the peak times Monday to Friday. At all other times bar evenings and Sundays, buses would continue to serve all stops between Morpeth and Newcastle every 15 minutes combined.

- A new 30 minute combined frequency for evening and Sunday journeys would apply serving all stops between Morpeth and Newcastle with services X14 and X18.

- Unless stated, no other frequencies would change. What I mean by all stops is the current express route between Morpeth and Newcastle serving Great North Road, Regent Centre and Gosforth only. These stops mean "all stops".

(24 Jul 2013, 10:22 pm)Adam Malarkey wrote Yeah Edinburgh was a bit much, just a thought on a new link.

Sunderland to Berwick would be ok using this route.

Sunderland Interchange - Queen Alexandra Bridge - A19 via Heworth Bypass Nonstop to Gateshead - Newcastle Haymarket - Then Normal Route to Berwick with a few adjustments to make the service quicker.

To Carlisle would be Sunderland Interchange - Queen Alexandra Bridge - A19 Direct to MetroCentre via Washington Galleries and The Angel of the North then follow GNE Service 10 to Hexham then 685 to Carlisle

(13 Dec 2013, 9:34 pm)Brampton Trev wrote Regarding the long trips - have you tried the X95 Carlisle <> Edinburgh? About 3.5 hours each way and hourly service. Have yet to try it - will be a summer day out next year so the return can be in daylight and on a Friday as the last working into and out of Carlisle is about 2 hours later on a Friday.

(02 Jan 2014, 11:15 pm)tyresmoke wrote It would certainly solve the remote relief issues with the 23 in its present form!

(02 Jan 2014, 11:17 pm)Tom wrote What's the current issues like?

(02 Jan 2014, 11:22 pm)Kuyoyo wrote Until they changed the Peterlee services into the current guise (back when the 22 avoid Peterlee, and the Peterlee-Hartlepool services were 23/24a/24b) the 23 was interworked with the 22 to enable driver changeovers to take place in Durham on the 22. Now, as the 2 are combined to give a 15 minutely Peterlee-Hartlepool, this doesn't happen, nor does the 23 interwork with the 24. As such, driver changeovers happen in Sunderland using staff cars from Durham.

Extending the 23 to Middlesbrough would then allow the operation to pass to Stockton and enable drivers to change there (although, depending what route they took from Hartlepool to Middlesbrough would then depend on driving hours).

(02 Jan 2014, 11:24 pm)Tom wrote Oh right, well It'd be good for that, and for new links.

(03 Jan 2014, 12:34 pm)VolvoMarkII wrote It would also cause a serious ruffle in Stagecoach's feathers by competing directly with arguably their most profitable service on Teesside!

Given that and the fact Stagecoach park up a few double deckers during the day between schools, Arriva likely assessed that the retaliation from Stagecoach using these spare 'off peak' buses would have the potential to hurt them more than any benefit gained from linking down to Middlesbrough.

That is why I suspect it hasn't been done as of yet.

(03 Jan 2014, 1:02 pm)andreos1 wrote Passengers in Hartlepool are very insular, in that they stay in the town unless they need to go somewhere else.
I have even heard stories of residents from The Headland, never leaving The Headland.

Those who do use the current buses to Stockton, Middlesbrough etc complain they take too long.

Going back to the previous point on handovers, is there nothing via Hartlepool that could work?

Haven't looked at timings here, but:
Durham - Hartlepool. Hartlepool - Sunderland. Return - rest period.

Or

Durham - Sunderland. Sunderland - Hartlepool. Hartlepool - Durham - rest period.

(03 Jan 2014, 2:07 pm)cbma06 wrote When Stagecoach took the reigns of Hartlepool and Cleveland Transit, Arriva/United struck a deal with Stagecoach, the deal was Stagecoach was given Hartlepool area but Arriva/United kept the Northern side of hartlepool 230 242 etc.. while some Cleveland Transit areas down Cleveland were given to Arriva/United as an exchange.

The agreement saw Transit give up services in Yarm, Eton and much of Thornaby, but gain large areas of Hartlepool, Billingham and Hemlington.


The 23 will never go to Middlesbrough as Hartlepool to Middlesbrough is Stagecoach area now.

Years and years ago the 230 used to go to Middlesbrough from Sunderland hourly

(03 Jan 2014, 2:07 pm)cbma06 wrote When Stagecoach took the reigns of Hartlepool and Cleveland Transit, Arriva/United struck a deal with Stagecoach, the deal was Stagecoach was given Hartlepool area but Arriva/United kept the Northern side of hartlepool 230 242 etc.. while some Cleveland Transit areas down Cleveland were given to Arriva/United as an exchange.

The agreement saw Transit give up services in Yarm, Eton and much of Thornaby, but gain large areas of Hartlepool, Billingham and Hemlington.


The 23 will never go to Middlesbrough as Hartlepool to Middlesbrough is Stagecoach area now.

Years and years ago the 230 used to go to Middlesbrough from Sunderland hourly