RE: Go North East: Service Suggestions
(21 Jul 2015, 8:13 pm)Tom wrote No the Diamonds will only operate every 30 minutes between Stanley and Newcastle if the proposals go ahead.
Not how i have interpreted it.
"1. We know Diamond services 43, 44 and 44A aren’t as reliable as you need them to be. The main cause of this issue is traffic congestion in Newcaste city centre, Metrocentre and Durham. A problem at just one of these locations means that the whole route is affected.
Therefore to improve reliability we propose splitting the route at Stanley bus station, so it would run between Newcastle and Stanley and between Stanley and Durham as two separate services. This means that some passengers might need to change buses, but overall reliability on the service would be improved for the majority of passengers. What are your views on this?"
As i think you are aiming at my 'possible withdrawl of the 43' comment, i may have misunderstood it completely and if so, apologies. I shall attempt to explain why i think this:
"5. As we would be providing more fast buses to Metrocentre and Newcastle from Stanley, we would need to change the route of the Diamond between Newcastle, Metrocentre and Stanley. It would be revised to continue to provide a service between
Newcastle, Metrocentre, Whickham, Sunniside, Burnopfield, Tantobie, Flint Hill, Dipton, Catchgate, Annfield Plain and Stanley. All of these local communities and key destinations would be connected by a regular half hourly service. This means there would be more buses through White le Head.
The Diamond would continue to serve Tantobie, but no longer serve Tanfield Lea, which would instead benefit from the increased frequency of service X43. The route and frequency of the Diamond between Stanley and Durham would be unchanged. What do you think about this proposal?
"
The first bold section is routes 44 and 44A only (minus Burnopfield which is currently on the 43 route). However, the 2nd bold service states that the service would still serve Tantobie (through the 44A) but no longer serve Tanfield Lea which is where the 43 serves and is why i think they are planning to withdraw the service completely.. Either the 44 or 44A could be rerouted around Burnopfield to replace it.
As i said, i could have misunderstood the question completely but without the 43, providing the 44/44A frequency is not changed, it would be every 30 minutes combined.