(17 Nov 2023, 11:34 am)Jimmi wrote Proposed changes to Arriva Services 35 and X21 within Newbiggin & Woodhorn
with effect from Sunday 28th January 2024


What are we proposing to do and why?

Over recent months, the reliability and punctuality of Services 35, X21 and X22 have seen decline in the face of increasing levels of traffic congestion within the region. Arriva, as the operator of these services have an obligation to ensure that we provide a service that is as reliable and punctual as possible.

Our proposal is to revise the way in which Services 35 and X21 operate around Newbiggin & Woodhorn. There will be no change to service frequency, buses will still run up to every 20 minutes during Mon-Fri daytimes, up to every 30 minutes on Saturdays and hourly on evenings and Sundays, however the routes in which they may operate is subject to change.

(18 Nov 2023, 2:16 pm)L469 YVK. wrote Would Arriva be able to shave a few minutes of the X21 running via Stannington junction & A1 after Nedderton as opposed to A192 & A1068? The other issue with that being the level crossing defeating the object.

(18 Nov 2023, 2:28 pm)mb134 wrote Why would they choose to not serve one of the biggest employment sites on the route in the Cramlington Industrial Estates?

(18 Nov 2023, 3:18 pm)L469 YVK wrote Would still have the X22 although I get what you mean.

(18 Nov 2023, 5:19 pm)mb134 wrote Which is totally useless for anyone living around Newbiggin, Wansbeck Hospital, Millburn Road, Bedlington Station, Red House Farm, or Nedderton. 

The X21 serving Nedderton is as much to serve the multiple estates at that end of Bedlington as it is to serve Nedderton. As has been said multiple times, X21s pick up very decent from most/all of those estates.

(18 Nov 2023, 6:10 pm)L469 YVK wrote The proposed route through Newbiggin I guess is more logical. Only question is where will Arriva get the extra vehicles from unless just using classic E400s?

(18 Nov 2023, 6:48 pm)DeltaMan wrote Will the 35 and X21 change frequency at the same time of day? If so, the service will be lopsided in one direction.

(18 Nov 2023, 9:07 pm)Bazza wrote If the locals give it a chance it there are quite a few positives to this. 

Quicker journeys between Cresswell Arms / Seacrest Rd and the Colliery to the Hospital. 

35 from the turning circle at the Cresswell Arms will travel all the way to Morpeth. 

It should help with reliability and time keeping. 

The different numbers may confuse to start with, but at least Arriva are consulting and preparing well in advance for the change.  As long as they make sure the bus stops are well signed it should be fine.

(18 Nov 2023, 2:16 pm)L469 YVK wrote Nedderton Village has always been a headache. Dammed if running a 'secondary' service through it that barely breaks even (i.e the old half-hourly X33 or uncombined X22) or putting a more profitable service through like the X21 but makes the route too long.

Would Arriva be able to shave a few minutes of the X21 running via Stannington junction & A1 after Nedderton as opposed to A192 & A1068? The other issue with that being the level crossing defeating the object.

Also, there's money to be had along Ridge Terrace too which Arriva will need come the ABTRL.

• Faster journey times from Newbiggin to Newcastle
  
• New Newbiggin connection to Bedlington Station for train connections.
  
• New 2 BPH fast from Newcastle to Ashington
  
• Faster journey times from Milburn Road to Newcastle
  
• New evening / Sunday service to Newcastle from North Seaton
  

• Loss of Bedlington to Stakeford service
  
• X20 no longer direct via A189 but after the diversion around Ashington it's neglible.
  
• Longer journey times from North Seaton to Newcastle but gain evening and Sunday service.
  

(18 Nov 2023, 11:36 pm)Storx wrote See when the train comes in, imo you'd be better looking at more, maybe something like this:

X19 (Hourly): North Seaton - Ashington - Milburn Road - Stakeford - Bedlington Station - Newcastle
X20 (Hourly): Current route Alnwick to Ashington - Milburn Road - Stakeford - Bedlington Station - Newcastle

X19/X20 - Every 30 Minutes Ashington to Newcastle

X21 (2 or 3 BPH): Ashington - Wansbeck Hospital - Woodhorn - Newbiggin - East Sleekburn - Bedlington Station - Bedlington - Nedderton - Newcastle
X22 (2 or 3 BPH): Current Route

X21/X22 - Either 10/15 minutes combined depending on train changes.

Evenings / Sundays: X19/X21/X22 - Each hourly.

Map:


Benefits:

• Faster journey times from Newbiggin to Newcastle
  
• New Newbiggin connection to Bedlington Station for train connections.
  
• New 2 BPH fast from Newcastle to Ashington
  
• Faster journey times from Milburn Road to Newcastle
  
• New evening / Sunday service to Newcastle from North Seaton
  

Negatives for balance:

• Loss of Bedlington to Stakeford service
  
• X20 no longer direct via A189 but after the diversion around Ashington it's neglible.
  
• Longer journey times from North Seaton to Newcastle but gain evening and Sunday service.
  

(19 Nov 2023, 7:40 am)L469 YVK wrote Only other thing that could be done to solve the Nedderton problem out (and could maybe win a few over around Bedlington Station vs the ABTRL)

- X21 - via Hartford Road instead of Nedderton (every 30 mins).

- X22 - unchanged (every 30 minutes).

**X21/X22 would be every 10/20 from Ashington then a flat 15 minute frequency on other common sections**.

- 42 - Bedlington Town Centre clockwise loop starting from Glebe Road then after Front Street West > Nedderton > A192 > A1068 > B1318 Seaton Burn then as per 43 to Newcastle (every 30 minutes).

- 43 - Same route Morpeth to Newcastle but now every 30 minutes throughout.

No changes to 44/45 other than possibly timetables.

(19 Nov 2023, 8:27 am)Aaron21 wrote If I remember correctly the 43 was every 30 minutes back in the day when the 42 was a service but I believe the 42 got withdrawn when the whole Great North Road agreement came in for the 43/44/45 as that whole section was a mess when you had thr 40/41/42/43/44/45 and all the A/B/C/D Variation

(19 Nov 2023, 12:00 am)mb134 wrote Don't quite understand the fascination with rerouting two of the best performing routes within Arriva Northumbria? 

They've operated, very successfully, in their current form for around a decade, and in that time have had more sets of new vehicles (7522-8, then 7541-52) than any other routes in the region in that time bar the 7.  Lots of that success, I think, is likely down to the stability of the routes and them going to places where people want to travel to. 

This current proposal doesn't really alter the routes at all, obviously the X22 is untouched. The only difference to the X21 is that you're swapping which part of Newbiggin gets the quicker journey times.

(19 Nov 2023, 7:40 am)L469 YVK wrote Only other thing that could be done to solve the Nedderton problem out (and could maybe win a few over around Bedlington Station vs the ABTRL)

- X21 - via Hartford Road instead of Nedderton (every 30 mins).

(19 Nov 2023, 9:41 am)Storx wrote I agree, but the train, regardless to what people think, is going to have an impact on the X20 and X21 so it was about moving the benefits from the train station areas to the further areas. It's why imo, the Bedlington section shouldn't be touched as it's fine.

Newbiggin has always had a quite poor service to Newcastle really for the benefit for Ashington who has the fast train aswell, swapping it around surely has it benefits now where there's still the X19/X20/X22 for quicker buses to Newcastle for who actually wants them.

(19 Nov 2023, 10:38 am)mb134 wrote Regardless of the impact of the train, I don't think a total rework of those routes is what is needed. 

I imagine the X21 will have time built in to the upcoming change to allow it to loop the Wansbeck Hospital estates once they're completed, it should only take a couple of minutes extra. 

In terms of Newbiggin, lots of people already get a 35 to South Side and catch the X20 from there. I think the solution could be to do a 6am and 7am express (like the X30), which start at Ashington, loop Wansbeck Hospital, through Newbiggin, then direct to town. There is an Ashington 43 board which starts at 0655 from Newcastle which the first one could go onto, then the second could go onto one of the later starting X21s. In the PM peak you could use their school bus to do one out of town around 1630, and an early finish X21 board to do one around 1730.

(19 Nov 2023, 11:36 am)Storx wrote Not sure what the answer is but not sure banging more time onto the X21 and making it even slower for Newbiggin is the best idea personally.

(19 Nov 2023, 11:47 am)RobinHood wrote In the face of all local authorities in this area doing absolutely sod all in respect of bus priority schemes, unfortunately the operator is left to pick up and pieces and try to make it work, yet again...

Every one of the authorities and political leaders in this region, already do and will continue to beat bus operators with a stick for not running on time, but not one has done anything meaningful in respect of bus priority.

Congestion unfortunately continues to increase and blight our major towns and cities, with buses end up sat in the same traffic as everyone else.

To boil this down, this proposal is essentially Arriva trying to get these services to work reliably again, which unfortunately means extra time = slower journeys.

Local highways authorities need to play their part, but they never will, as politically it would be suicidal to go against the private motorist. 

Expect more of this type of thing to be honest, from all operators.

(19 Nov 2023, 10:20 am)mb134 wrote The X21 going via Red House Farm and Nedderton is literally an extra 5 minutes compared to it going down Hartford Road, that isn't going to be a deciding factor in whether people continue to use the bus or not.

(19 Nov 2023, 11:36 am)Storx wrote Alnwick Drive and Dunstanburgh in Bedlington is another area crying for a bus service if some bus stops were fitted, but again same problem with making other bus services slower, similar to Stead Lane.

(19 Nov 2023, 12:12 pm)XQ Zero wrote Both of the current Arriva consultations use the term TLDR.
TLDR - It doesn't matter where within Newbiggin or Woodhorn that you got on at, the bus you come back on will take you back to that same location.
TLDR - It doesn't matter where within Ingleby Barwick that you got on at, the bus you come back on will take you back to that same location.
What does TLDR stand for please?

(19 Nov 2023, 1:06 pm)Thomas12 wrote Think it means too long didn’t read

(19 Nov 2023, 12:08 pm)Andreos1 wrote Many local authorities have done this though. 
Whether it's bus lanes or bus priority measures - we've seen operators ignore them (Wardley Bus Gate and Centrelink as two examples) . Or, we've seen pollution increase (Newcastle City Centre being evident in many of the pollution hot-spot lists). 

It also pushes the narrative that public transport is only better, if travelling in the private car is made difficult. 
Isn't public transport strong enough to stand on its own two feet, without pointing the finger and acting like a petulant child? 
Don't they have enough nous in the industry to come up with something good - that doesn't involve standing with their begging bowl that helps fund new vehicles, a fancier ticket machine that links to an app or WiFi options?

(19 Nov 2023, 2:27 pm)RobinHood wrote The bus will always be slower than the car though, as it stops at various points to pick up and drop off, even if the route was identical. That kind of suggests that it does need 'help' to be a comparable option that the government and politicians keep shouting about, as it cannot fly over congestion (yet). 

That help needs to be major investment in bus priority (doesn't need to be to the detriment of the car at all, if it is considered and implemented with thought, it can compliment). Unfortunately, none of our authorities are that clever to devise such a scheme.

Public Transport can apparently stand up on its own two feet yes, as evidenced by London and Manchester.... (ignoring the sheer volume of subsidy from public funds needed for both of them, but nobody talks about that, only moaning about commercial operators with their 'begging bowl' instead). When the North East goes that way, which we all know it will, the viability and performance of the network both land at the feet of the authorities and we may see some change then.

Until that time, get used to slower bus journeys.

(19 Nov 2023, 12:17 pm)L469 YVK wrote So.......

ex Newbiggin
- B1331/A192 - need to give priority to S.Bound traffic
- A192/A1068 - need to give priority to N/S.Bound traffic

I'd imagine both junctions will be a nightmare at busy times.

ex Newcastle
- B1331/A192 - need to give priority to S.Bound traffic

(19 Nov 2023, 11:47 am)RobinHood wrote In the face of all local authorities in this area doing absolutely sod all in respect of bus priority schemes, unfortunately the operator is left to pick up and pieces and try to make it work, yet again...

Local highways authorities need to play their part, but they never will, as politically it would be suicidal to go against the private motorist.

Expect more of this type of thing to be honest, from all operators.