(26 Feb 2020, 11:19 am)Andreos1 wrote It's that word again.
It keeps cropping up over and over.
I bought a 24 hour ticket at the weekend. I needed to use the bus the following day.
A mate (who didn't need to use the bus the next day), bought a single for the same trip.
I paid just over £3 more to use the bus as much as I wanted the next day in addition to the one-off journey we made that day.
I've no doubt who got the bargain and who got ripped off.
Getting back to the subject of the 19. It has indeed slowly started to fall away over the years.
After the initial fanfare of 'special vehicles' and all the funding its attracted over the years at various points of the route, we are now seeing it operate as a shadow of its former self.
It's a weird one the 19, if I'm right it was the first bus to be branded in the newer styles (full branding). I might be wrong there, if so what was it? Yet nowadays it's just nothing really.
Bit off topic here but totally forgot about it until you mentioned it and it's still imo the nicest livery GNE has ever had as it was basic yet modern before they went stupid and overboard. Same with the original Cobalt Clipper.
These for those who can't remember:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stagecoachuk/10853794106 - Route 19
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ten6083/30188664468 - Cobalt Clipper
Pretty much the 22, 309, 310, X39, X6, 22X and the lot have killed it tho as you can get most places direct now without changing.
(26 Feb 2020, 12:02 pm)streetdeckfan wrote As I've mentioned before, for the one off journey, buses aren't exactly cheap, but I wouldn't say they're expensive either. Plus, with the changes last year it's often the same price for a return as it is for a day ticket.
I don't know about the figures, but I'd imagine the amount of people buying single tickets is quite low compared to buying returns or day tickets.
The last time I bought a single ticket was when I realised that I'd left my pass in the house and went back to get it (I got a lift to the bus station). Even before that I started paying for the monthly ticket, I would always buy day tickets because I'd be travelling on at least 2 buses to get anywhere (and unless you live in or only travel to a city centre, or happen to only travel along one route, you probably will too).
Plus, I'm the sort of person that would spend the extra to get a day ticket and once I've finished just go to Hexham, or the beach, or anywhere interesting really!
The problem is the 19 is it's £3.10 for a single and £5.30 for a return from Seaton Delaval to Northumberland Park. Once you then add on the metro on top of that at your talking £8.50 - £10.60 a day depending on where your going. Even with passes you can't get it down that much possibly down to the £7.40 mark. (It's upto £150 a month).
Until realistic multi operator tickets exist for the whole of the N. East your never going to sort traffic problems out, putting bike lanes in Gosforth isn't going to solve the issues with people driving from SE Northumberland and with prices like that it's not realistic to use public transport. That's nearly 2 hours a day of some peoples wages.