(24 Apr 2021, 8:25 pm)mb134 wrote Saw a post on Facebook about this earlier, which noted the journey time from Central Station to Ashington as 35 minutes. 

ANEs X20 service is 44 minutes from Haymarket to Ashington Bus Station, bang on 35 minutes from Newcastle to North Seaton. 

If we assume that Bedlington Station to Newcastle is roughly 30 minutes on the train, compare that to the 42 minutes on the X21. 

Then looking at Blyth. Anyone who lives in Blyth will either need to get to Bebside or Newsham, both stations will be at least a bus journey from the town centre while also being a reasonable walk from the nearest 'large' housing area (a longer walk than the nearest bus stop, in both cases). 

I've said it before, but now knowing times and the actual route, I can't grasp why groups have spent years campaigning for this. I have in the past supported the project, but as details become clearer it seems more and more like a waste of time and effort. Realistically, unless you live slap bang in the middle of Ashington, or in Bedlington Station/Bebside/Newsham then I don't see how this is more appealing than a bus - especially given buses on routes in those areas will likely be of higher spec than whatever Northern put on it. For those living in Blyth and Bedlington, the bus seems like a no-brainer, I'd argue similar for those living nearer the south side of Ashington. 

Looking at Morpeth. They have a station served by pretty top-spec Azuma trains (approx. 15 minute journey time), and a Northern service (approx. 20 minute journey time). I have never seen a huge amount of people use the Northern train from Morpeth, certainly nowhere near as many as I've seen pour onto ANEs express services to Newcastle from the town centre (which are slower). 

I've seen many people excited about the B&T, but I've absolutely no idea who it's even for.

Your missing one big thing here and comparing times at 2pm in afternoon or whenever which isn't commuter times. The X21 from Bedlington Station in the morning takes 52 minutes and that's if there's no traffic at all. If there's the usual chaos through Gosforth High Street or an accident on the A1 then start adding time on and it's unreliable and useless so you end up having to catch a bus 30 minutes earlier for the X21 now than you'd need to.

Using a train on the otherhand if the trains say it'll take 25 minutes, it'll take 25 minutes so if you start work at 9am and the train gets in at 8:38am then it's a route if you could take. If you start work at 9am and the bus gets in at the 8.38am then you'll have the catch the bus that gets you in at 8.08am to account for the traffic issues mentioned above so it starts to add up considerably as you won't have enough time to get to work if it's 10/15 minutes late which happens regularly.

Even known the time difference on the actual bus/train isn't too different once you account for getting to a station. The train would leave at 8.13am but the bus leaves at 7.16am and that's a considerable difference for a commuter.

Also I believe the fares are going to be integrated with the Metro zones so it means if you work on the Metro route you can change at Northumberland Park / Central and go to a massive area of Tyne and Wear with one change on one ticket rather than the £10.90 you pay daily currently.

This railway is pretty much unheard of up here but it's more comparable to the lines like the Manchester to Glossop Line where Glossop has 1.12 million users a year and about 5 other stations each have about 100k - 200k users a year or the Manchester to Buxton Line which each have roughly 200k passengers a year on average bar 2 which are much much lower.