(17 Jun 2024, 1:30 pm)stagecoachbusdepot wrote Yet they seemingly managed to run an efficient service (or at least more efficient than the current operator), on the same timetable.

(12 Jul 2024, 3:51 pm)V514DFT wrote The 49 sounds pretty pointless to me, Stagecoach need to sort out their entire network, it's a farce

(12 Jul 2024, 3:51 pm)V514DFT wrote The 49 sounds pretty pointless to me, Stagecoach need to sort out their entire network, it's a farce

(12 Jul 2024, 6:03 pm)Storx wrote Sounds like Stagecoach has got the funds which exist for Great Park (Arriva used to have it before - X46).

Surprised this didn't happen years ago, it makes much more sense than the Q3 which duplicates numerous Arriva services and the X47 is literally already sitting there.

The 49 will be just the Q3 though.

(12 Jul 2024, 7:54 pm)Dan wrote The link road between Great Park and Kingston Park hasn’t been open that long, so the opportunity wasn’t there years ago.

Stagecoach can presumably offer a Great Park to Newcastle link (as an extension of their X47) at a much lower cost than Go North East with their dedicated service, so re-allocating the S106 funding from Go North East to Stagecoach probably makes a fair amount of sense from a sustainability point of view.

Obviously gives Go North East a bit of a problem - there is already a surplus of electric buses following frequency reductions (hence two being used on the NHS Hopper contract), and a half-hourly Q3 from Haymarket to Wallsend via St Peters would only require three buses (which would mean six were spare - and that assumes the Q3 isn’t moved to Percy Main at that point).

Paired with the loss of some school contracts, hopefully that is an end to the driver-related short-notice cancellations at Riverside!

(12 Jul 2024, 5:13 pm)L469 YVK wrote Sort out what? By no means a perfect......but a very stable network compared to GoNE and ADC / ANOR

(12 Jul 2024, 8:34 pm)Storx wrote Must be at least 2 years now? Feels like it, at least, anyway but I'm probably very wrong there.

(13 Jul 2024, 6:55 pm)PH - BQA wrote Believe the Roseden Way to Spine Road junction which Stagecoach are planning on using only opened in November 2023 (https://www.newcastlegreatpark.com/roseden-way-spine-road-junction-6-opening-date/). The Spine Road fully opened, connecting to Kingston Park, in October 2022 so they could have sent it up there and used a different junction to do a smaller loop. 

Regardless, I imagine they were likely waiting for the current funding for the Q3 to end. 

There seems to be some discontent with the proposed changes from those living in the parts of Great Park on the Gosforth side of the A1, mainly as this leaves them with the 49 which looks like a pretty useless service. From what I gather the main issue with the Q3 is the pretty pointless Jesmond diversion, which causes reliability issues during the peaks and extends journey times to Newcastle on every trip. These changes address that in a way, and do provide better connections with Kingston Park and much improved evening services, but the 49 needs to run earlier and later.

(18 Aug 2024, 10:22 am)DeltaMan wrote Great Park latest

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/more-600-sign-newcastle-great-29753904.amp

I like the line about those against the changes being asked to leave. Dirty protest?

They should just be honest and say they don't want to share a bus with people from Cowgate rather than Gosforth. Snobs, the lot of them

(18 Aug 2024, 12:10 pm)PH - BQA wrote Total storm in a teacup stuff. 

The X47 is quicker and more frequent (during both the day and the evening!), and ultimately the majority of people using the Q3 from Great Park do use it to get to Newcastle - not Gosforth High Street. The 49 covers Gosforth High Street, just not on Sundays.

I notice they're quoting people who are 77 and 78 years of age, people who do not pay for their bus travel and likely have nothing better to do than complain about service changes which are significantly better for the vast majority of working/school aged people.

(18 Aug 2024, 10:22 am)DeltaMan wrote Great Park latest

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/more-600-sign-newcastle-great-29753904.amp

I like the line about those against the changes being asked to leave. Dirty protest?

They should just be honest and say they don't want to share a bus with people from Cowgate rather than Gosforth. Snobs, the lot of them

(18 Aug 2024, 3:17 pm)Shrek wrote I can understand that to a point. I was speaking to a woman I know on Friday who said she will feel less safe going that way. I have to say, on occasions I've used the x47 on an evening, I have been a bit more wary than when I use my normal evening services.

(29 Aug 2024, 7:59 am)logidoodah wrote https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/we-deserve-better-over-2000-29818568.amp


As many people have said I don't know how people can be so privileged to live in a new estate and own a car who clearly don't use the bus hence why the Q3 has been cut and cut since it was the X40 same with the 46 (now the X46) which went from 15 mins Freq to hourly. To then reject BETTER bus services for everyone (and the west side of Great Park actually having a bus), I mean come on in 2024 someone is actually trying to improve and create new bus links instead of having minimal hourly services - this is RARE! I mean why does it have to be one or the other...

Why couldn't they demand for the 49 to go to other places for better links which depending on how far would only be a PVR +1. Or just the Q3 at a half hourly frequency to go to through Brunton Park both ways and connect to the P&R site giving what looks to be the 'needed' connections to Gosforth (not sure about Jesmond) or even the X46 to extended which would also suffice. 

They have either signed the petition expecting a decrease in services and jumping on the bandwagon (just look at the state of privatisation) or genuinely will give up everything to be able to connect to Gosforth High Street and Jesmond!

Nonetheless they have gone from an abysmal 3x Q3's an hour, to 4x X47s, 1x 49 (extended at peaks) & Q3X (at peaks) so up to 6 buses per hour. Yet people are stupid enough to demand the 3 buses and hour and an hourly service after 6pm and on Sundays.

I have no words.

(13 Jul 2024, 1:44 pm)V514DFT wrote Well the 62/63 for a start

(29 Aug 2024, 8:49 am)PH - BQA wrote Those organising the petition seem to either be deliberately spreading information, or are too thick to understand what the changes actually entail. 

The changes represent a significant increase in daytime and evening frequencies, an improvement in journey times to Newcastle, while maintaining the link with Gosforth through the 49. 

These frequency and journey time improvements are nowhere to be seen in any of the posts by the people most actively promoting the petition, who seem more bothered about getting home from a pub in Gosforth on a Sunday night. 

Of the 2000 signatures, I genuinely believe a significant amount of them will be due to people believing that the bus service is going entirely because of the 'cutting us off' claims peddled constantly on Facebook pages and the Chronicle. 

They've also started to be annoyed at the fact that Stagecoach will operate diesel buses, without grasping that they meet Euro 6 emissions standards and that they live on a new build estate with lorries driving around constantly...

The Q3 as it stands is essentially worthless as a service to anyone wanting to get to or from Newcastle, which is surely the predominant use case for it.

(29 Aug 2024, 11:43 am)toward6931 wrote Well the extension to throckley didn't help and a lack of double decks isn't a help either, the 62 was the longest route by far and it has a couple of bottlenecks which really slow it down and bunch them up,

There was an idea of a 64 route which I heard floated about but never seemed to get off the drawing board, from the sounds of it, it was a quicker loop service of shields road to west Denton park I believe, I don't know whether it was envisaged as a higher frequency route or a express route.

(29 Aug 2024, 11:43 am)toward6931 wrote Well the extension to throckley didn't help and a lack of double decks isn't a help either, the 62 was the longest route by far and it has a couple of bottlenecks which really slow it down and bunch them up,

There was an idea of a 64 route which I heard floated about but never seemed to get off the drawing board, from the sounds of it, it was a quicker loop service of shields road to west Denton park I believe, I don't know whether it was envisaged as a higher frequency route or a express route.

(29 Aug 2024, 2:37 pm)V514DFT wrote Yup, thats the 64 idea i heard, but it was only going to do F.L.E- West Denton Park, personally i'd re-introduce the 64 in its entirity, Forest Hall (Glebe Road)- Chapel House, thus allowing the 11 to revert to being West Denton- North Kenton, i do believe the proposed 64 was going to serve Central Station, but that wouldnt be needed now the 38 serves Forest Hall, the 63 could be sent back along Two Ball Lonnen to Stamfordham Road, and the 64 take its place along Netherby Drive, Silver Lonnen to Stamfordham Road