(24 Jul 2022, 8:10 pm)F114TML wrote Tbh, the stop should probably be called "Birtley Morrisons" in that case? We already have "Murton Co-Op" and "Leechmere (Road) ASDA", and probably many others I can't think of.

This implementation just feels a little tacky though and feels like it's being sponsored by Microbus and Axis. With MG's constant plugging of it on his Twitter, it's quite easy to call bs on this, at least a little bit. Would be a bit weird hearing "Next stop: Gateshead - Ocean Road; for Machine Mart and The Alexandra Steakhouse" wouldn't it? Especially considering there are other businesses in the immediate area.

In any case - what if I was going to Hungry Shack, heard the announcement plug Microbus and Axis, think "it's not here" before watching it sail past the window  because I was relying on the NSAs to tell me where it is?

Birtley High Street would be better. If you started naming stops after shops, then how do you decide which one to name it after? Birtley Snooker Club might have something to say, if it was renamed Birtley Morrisons...

The leisure and hospitality industry is likely to be a huge draw for a bus operator, so there's got to be benefits to working like this in order to try and convert some of those taxi journeys into bus journeys. I'm not saying it's the magical solution to all their problems, but it seems like they're damned if they do and damned if they don't! 

Gilbert might be plugging it a lot on his twitter, but I'd say he plugs Beamish just as much, which again GNE have a working partnership with and have done for many years. Plus, it's his personal twitter feed, so it's really up to him what he wants to babble on about.