(06 Jan 2020, 8:36 pm)OrangeArrow49 wrote I would if only a few passengers used it! Admittedly I haven't used the 516 very much, but when I have the passenger numbers have been very low. There is one bus per hour, that is more than regular enough for the passenger numbers. Yes, if the service was more regular it might gain more passengers, I argue that with the 74 (even if curtailed, rather than full route to/from Hexham), but we can't know that unfortunately. Most services in South Shields are operated by Stagecoach, I am sure if the 516 was operated by Stagecoach it would gain more passengers.
Whenever I've seen the 516 it has carried nothing but fresh air. If Nexus ever withdrew the service Stagecoach could easily reroute some services, such as the 10/11, 12/12A & 30, or create a new bus service to avoid the roads only served by the 516 being left without a bus service. I'm sure one of the reasons the 516 (or the 16 as it used to be named) was created was so that there would be a bus service on the Coast Road between Redwell Lane and the New Crown as I'm sure there was lots of backlash when Stagecoach service E3 was withdrawn?
I've seen quite a lot of Nexus funded services ran by independent operators running with very low passenger numbers. I don't know how they can afford it? Maybe that's why they aren't ran by any of the "big three".