(06 Jan 2022, 8:52 pm)MurdnunoC wrote But if these long withdrawn services didn't work in the period between 1990 and 2000 when the service existed outside of providing workers with transport to a place of employment; and at a time when car ownership was lower and internet shopping didn't exist; why might people suddenly want to travel to Blaydon now? West Denton has a Morrisons. Slatyford has a B&Ms (as well as a Lidl, a Wickes, and an Iceland). Kingston Park has a Home Bargains (and a whole host of other things). I can't see Boyes or Cooplands being that much of a draw where people would be coming to visit in their droves; and the rest of the shops in Blaydon Precinct are nothing to write home about either.
Creating infrequent links is not sustainable for a place like Blaydon. Now just supposing people did want to travel there to shop, would people really be prepared to go shopping then wait potentially hours for the bus back to Westerhope? Probably not, right? What would actually happen is people would travel into Newcastle then onto Westerhope in order to save time (and possibly sanity), thus doing the opposite of what the infrequent service sets out to achieve.
It's another dead horse suggestion I'm afraid.
There is more to life than shopping, people might have family or friends in different areas. Also tickets are problematic as Blaydon is GNE and Westerhope is Stagecoach (apart from the 74) so it costs more in this case travelling into Newcastle and then on to Westerhope. Sometimes the demand hasn't been explored (a service could run from the Metrocentre to Blaydon or Elswick and it makes little difference).
For my journey to Blaydon I believe I can get the 941 to Scotswood Road and then get the 12/12A from Scotswood Bridge towards Winlaton, so it avoids going into Newcastle unnecessarily.