(04 Jan 2020, 11:01 pm)S830OFT wrote With the Clean Air Zone in place from 2021 here is my suggestion for services...
Services at Gateshead operating to Newcastle will only Set Down at Stand N in Gateshead Interchange, passengers from Gateshead will be able to use an affordable £1.00 shuttle service which will operate every 5 to 10 minutes via the Sage & Swing Bridge to Newcastle Market Street & Central Station offering frequent links to the Quayside. The service will return via the Redheugh Bridge, although the services will operate both clockwise & anti-clockwise.
To enforce the Set Down rule a staff member will be present to instruct potential passengers to use the Shuttle service from Stand H. Services 1/1A/1B will also offer the £1.00 deal for any passengers travelling to Newcastle only.
Exceptions will apply to Coaster services 1/1A/1B which will continue to allow passengers to travel to and beyond Newcastle.
Service Q1/Q2 will be replaced by the shuttle services, this will offer an increased amount of buses to the Quayside from Gateshead and Newcastle.
The Gateshead | Wrekenton | Heworth section will revert back to services 51/52, these services will be similar to how the 93/94 operate...
The Shuttle service will operate using Electric Euro 6 vehicles...
Currently it's not confirmed what services are not going to operate to Newcastle when the CAZ is put in place, although the shuttle service should assist with transporting passengers just wanting to cross to Newcastle from Gateshead, this should take the load off long distance services which are usually already busy before reaching Gateshead.
Additionaly, if Nexus were agree to this proposal they could use their Interchange Staff & Security Members to enforce the Set Down rule. Although this may have problems for Arriva if they are still operating the X12 to Newcastle in 2021...
A £1 shuttle would put me off travelling to Newcastle. If I'm paying £95 a month (or even £110 a month), I expect to be able to travel to Newcastle. Nobody wants to go to Gateshead
(05 Jan 2020, 12:48 am)BusLoverMum wrote I'm often a double seat hogger on the X21. Yeah, you can sit with me, I'm sure you'll be quite comfortable huddled up here with me and my 4 bags. Park a cheek, why don't you.
Exactly. Even a 10 year old bus can't be as polluting as 40 cars.
Hmmm. Hundreds of passengers per hour, walking from stand N to stand H. What could possibly go wrong? (Not saying that this is how Saturday's incident happened, but what are the odds?)
I usually take up the full table on the X21, there's nothing worse than having someone sit opposite you! I also usually take up 2 seats on a bus without tables, that's mostly because leg room is absolutely atrocious so I have no choice but to sit sideways unless I want my knees shattered!
The issue with Newcastle isn't the amount of buses, it's the amount of time they spent sitting at traffic lights! The X21 has to go through 8 lots of traffic lights to get to Eldon Square, and from my experience it stops at all of them, the X30 has to go through 15!