(07 Jun 2020, 1:25 pm)Storx wrote What's your obsession with cutting services from Tynemouth, Whitley and Blyth (noticed I didn't mention the Coast Road there). The 306/308 has been every 15 minutes forever and nothing, I repeat, nothing has changed anywhere to suddenly make the demand decrease on both the services, if anything it should have gone up with the new large housing estate outside of Blyth. The 309/10 are a different route and have no impact on both services, if anything there should be more demand now due to their decrease.

The reason for higher passenger numbers on service 308 is down to the fact that towards Newcastle between Billy Mill and Willington Square, there is a 5 / 10 gap due to the 306 serving Battle Hill Drive. Therefore, the majority of users end up on service 308. Demand is changing and will most certainly change post Covid19. How much I don't know but I'd imagine a 20 minute service would be more than adequate. And with reference to the new developments in Blyth, most users would use one of the 'X' services to Newcastle over service 308 if in easy reach.

The 306 doesn't need deckers whereas the 308 does need deckers, what's the point in messing that up and also where are you going to get these 3 extra DB300's from I'm sure hope to god your not planning to take them off us again on the X7/X8/X9 as we badly need them as it is at peak times.

Given the fact that PVR reductions will likely happen around the country, I'm sure Arriva would be able to source an extra suitable 3x Geminis or E400s if needed. Wouldn't advocate taking from X7/X8/X9 though. And going forward, Arriva are going to need to invest in new vehicles with the ULEZ coming into force in the near distant future. That would provide an opportunity for Arriva to upgrade services 306 & 308 with 13x new vehicles plus 1x spare at each depot. Furthermore, the 306 becoming double deck would also coincide with a 10 minute frequency along the Coast Road and would also come in handy for capacity towards the Coast as the 306 can get popular if the weather is nice with people heading into North Shields & Tynemouth.

The 306 is the only bus route in large parts of North Shields / Tynemouth similar to the 308 is the quickest way from most parts of Whitley / Blyth unless you live closer to the metro. At the same time your also removing the link from Tynemouth or Whitley to Morrisons at Preston Grange.

Whitley Bay to Preston Grange Morrisons is covered by service 11 (GNE & Nexus). The only reason why the link between Tynemouth and Preston Grange Morrisons was established was due to the fact that the original X6 that served the Marden Estate was a big failure and the only feasible option was to extend service 306 at the time. GNE's 1A & 1B provide most links for the Marden Estate.

The 306/308 isn't there to serve the coast road, it's there to serve beyond Billy Mill.

The Coast Road is a core element of both routes. 

You've also decreased the 308 from every 30 mins to hourly in the evening which is a big negative.

Not a negative on most evenings. A 30 minute service ex Newcastle would operate until 2025 Mon-Fri and 1925 Sat-Sun. Whilst the 30 minute frequency is handy, it's not exactly cost efficient most evenings particularly in the times that we're in. Also, departures ex Newcastle when hourly would be @ xx:15 with the last bus of the evening @ xx:20.

From a passenger point of view, there are absolutely no benefits to your changes and if Arriva are happy to run it at 15 minutes why would you want to decrease it. It makes no sense.

From a passenger point of view, going from every 15 minutes to every 20 minutes is hardly a big decrease. Quality of service would also improve with newer vehicles (reduced number required which makes case more viable) and a more consistent service along the Coast Road with buses running at a straight 10 minute even interval most of the time. And from a cost perspective, what is the point of having 5x extra full size vehicles (single or double deck) on the road for the sake of 34x extra seats per hour? If Arriva were to eventually purchase the 10.9M E400MMC, the capacity would be the same as now but with a reduced PVR and significant cost savings.

Also merging the 2 routes together, if you have a problem on the 308 that makes it 25 minutes late at Whitley heading towards town, you've got no way of regulating it until it's been to Newcastle back to Tynemouth back to Newcastle then back to Blyth with a lot of late running, keeping Jesmond with the 306 and Blyth with the 308, you've got a chance to sort that out once it get's to Blyth or Haymarket so there's less late running. I know some on here hate the way that Blyth and Jesmond do that but I think it's one of the best things they do, even known it seriously messes branding up but personally I'd rather have a bus with the wrong brand than the right branded bus 35 minutes late or cutting services short (GNE).

There will always be a risk of that with services interworking. But the 306 would benefit from more running time due to no longer serving Battle Hill Drive as well as up to 8 minutes in Tynemouth and 8 minutes in Newcastle. The 308 would also receive an extra 2 minutes towards Newcastle and an extra 3 minutes towards Blyth with both layovers mostly 8 minutes.