Quote from previous thread: The 309 offers cheap travel for Tyne Met students - one of the main reasons why the service operates today.

Although quite a significant reason, the 309 mainly operates today because:
- Cobalt Business Park has expanded significantly.
- GNE took advantage of when the 306 was rerouted via Holy Cross for a short spell of time combining the old Centurion Services and the Cobalt Clipper.
- Popularity of the 309 is increasing not only due to the improved buses used, but also better reliability (most of the time) than other competing services.

I'd expect it to get even more popular when the roadworks start properly at Billy Mill and the chaos begins on the 306 / 308 with long queues at stand L at peak times resulting in people using the 309s that turn up (not all are worked of the 310 which could well be affected by the Norham Road works). Worst case, GNE can rely on one of the B7s to act as a backup for the Cobalt Clipper (or Riverside provide Percy Main with one of their B7s) and split the 309 / 310 (no interworking for most of the time) so that the 309 doesn't get affected by any roadworks as such bar the potential knock on effects from the Silverlink underpass works.