(25 May 2021, 9:05 pm)logidoodah wrote Thats actually a good idea,
my only critiques would be that
- the 1/1A (1A/1B new routes), would be at a combined frequency of 15 mins, and they would still have to fair against the stagecoach's 22 between Newcastle and Wallsend even more so at a 15 min freq.
- Also you would keep the 311 as the number even though there's a lot of bad stigma around it, as well as it couldn't interwork with the 309/310 as it would be a mismatch of singles vs deckers.
Overall a sound Idea.
Yeah I was thinking about the 15 minute service issue but there's not much you could really do as it's two 30 minute services combined. The PVR shouldn't be too different when you account for the 11 duplicating part of the route atm giving 5 buses between Howdon and Wallsend so it's a small decrease there, plus the 1 bus less between Howdon and Shields on the current 1A/1B but it's partially covered by the new 311. Capacity wise it should be about the same though as it's just gone from DD to Singles.
The 311 doesn't seem to be interworking atm bar a few morning journeys so should be possible in theory to split it off vehicle wise, I'd keep it part of it though just to keep it combined on the Coast Road. Not sure whether it's possible to get the morning ones working though - https://bustimes.org/vehicles/138307?date=2021-05-25 see what I mean there.