(28 Sep 2021, 12:28 pm)ne14ne1 wrote Note I was talking about bus users on those three corridors. I didn’t claim general traffic was all heading to the city centre.

Newcastle City Council is rightly prioritising buses so that bus passengers within the City of Newcastle (& no doubt beyond too) can have a quicker more reliable journey into the city centre where they are either heading to alight or connect to onwards travel.

In the wider region hundreds of millions has been spent in recent years on the Silverlink junction, Testos junction, A1 Team Valley to Metrocentre and now A1 Metrocentre to Great Park and A1 Team Valley to Coal House(?).
I don’t see why spending a little on bus priorities on three key bus commuter corridors within the city isn’t being welcomed, especially here on a bus enthusiast forum.

To say there shouldn’t be bus services on the Coast Rd is rather odd. Communities in Sandyford, North Heaton, High Heaton, Cochrane Park, Station Rd, Battle Hill, Norham Rd, Billy Mill, Preston Village etc aren’t all within walking distance to Metro stations, and therefore need buses along the Coast Rd. The same applies to communities along the West Rd and Great North Rd corridors.

Those road improvements (which actually delivered improved infrastructure and reduced journey times for all road users) weren't done at the detriment of others.  If the bus priority measures meant an extra lane added which buses could whizz along with those who have to use them, I'd have no issue with it.  The reality though will doubtless be some hairbrained half arsed attempt like the Felling bypass, which turns an already congested pollution hotspot into even more of one.  A key issue is that these the bus priority measures are stated as being done to discourage cars.  It is madness since, as you acknowledge, a proportion of those cars wont be heading to the City Centre so wouldn't switch anyway.  Also makes something of a mockery of the Big Bus Conversation...if they really want to know what would make people get out of the car, maybe they shouldn't assume they already know the answer (I'd wager more will have said convenient links, direct services etc than bus priority measures).