With it raining this evening when I finished work I it would be good idea to get on the 1 from the Cobalt into the City Centre rather getting the 309 like I usually would, worst choice I have ever made given the length of the journey which was approximately 50 minutes with it not being a particularly smooth one either.
The journey was alright until we reached Heaton Estate where navigation of the street became very challenging for the driver due to badly parked cars across several streets, this resulted in the driver having to stop and reverse on more than one occasion.
This made me question whether a double/full sized single decker is a suitable vehicle of choice on this section of the route, would of been no bother if the driver was driving a minibus. These black spots on this section must have a big impact on reliability, I'll be honest I have never seen an area so highly populated by cars.
I personally think Stagecoach need to review this section of the 1 before a major accident happens, best option would be to split the 1 in half at City Centre and again split the City Centre to Cobalt section into two routes given the current number 1 a more easy to navigate route, with the Heaton estate being served by a highly frequent minibus service between the City Centre and Coach Lane Campus.
So the routes would be as follows.
1 - Slatyford - Buddle Road - Central Station - City Centre
37 - Coach Lane Campus - Heaton Estate - Jesmond - City Centre
23 - Cobalt - Holystone - Benton Asda - Coast Road - Cradlewell - City Centre