(27 Dec 2019, 3:56 pm)Michael wrote Hence why they've dropped the 57 in that section too, looks like its gone from a busy section to not as used.... peoples travel patterns are changing.

I'd say since Stagecoach started operating services between Cobalt & Newcastle that customers are just more thinly spread between all three operators now, such that the main players on the Coast Road (Go North East and Arriva) are taking a bit of a hit, running fuel-hungry double-deck buses around, carrying single figures worth of passengers, outside of peak times.

The withdrawal of the 57, the introduction of the 311, and the revised frequency of the 309/310/311, will see customers on Go North East's services distributed between the three services more evenly. It won't prevent the issues that Arriva are having, and there'll be times where Go North East misses out on discretionary travellers as a result (Arriva will have more of a chance of picking up these people if running a more frequent service), but in my view there probably aren't enough discretionary travellers to warrant Arriva to continue with their existing frequency, and a marginal reduction in frequency on their equivalent routes would be sensible.

It's really not in the best interests of Go North East having buses running round carrying fresh air - and really doesn't do anything to help our issues with congestion and air quality in Newcastle City Centre either!