(27 Mar 2023, 5:15 pm)tvd wrote People can always be critical or suggest different routes, but at least the local councillors have fought to try to improve things.
As for the suggestions of working with Arriva to change current routes - well, it would require more than one service to be changed, and you begin adding to already lengthy journey times which puts off more passengers.
IMO, Arriva have consolidated their services gradually over the years, to the extent of often trying to serve too many places per route. Take a town like Redcar for example, which was perfect for a 'town' service. Something like Dormanstown - Redcar - Redcar East - Marske Estate or New Marske. They used to have a local service, but got rid and diverted longer routes. The X3/X4 have to go via Dormanstown, the 62 goes all over the place. Almost everything has to go to Middlesbrough.
If they don't want to commercially operate local services going round the villages, their current network is about as good as it can get in terms of where they can reasonably serve without journey times and 'going round the houses' becoming ridiculous.
The thing is though if you worked with the X3/X3A it wouldn't impact anyone like that. The routes literally end half way around both sides of the loop so it won't really impact journey times similar with the 28 if they chose that as it terminates at Lingdale.
I think all of us would agree that extending the 5 or X4 to go around the blocks would be silly.
Instead what your doing is your taking passengers off already struggling services by the lack of services in an evening and Sunday's and potentially putting other services in the red so your doing the complete opposite of what you intended.
Subsidised services should never duplicate commercial routes and these duplicate them way too much. It's more a tick box exercise by TVCA and the councillers than actually really doing anything to really improve public transport. The evening services in that area are dire, the last bus from Middlesbrough to Lingdale for example is 17:25 that's unacceptable imo and that's where money should be spent instead.
Personally I'd rather the money was spent on something like extending the 29 to Lingdale doing the 28 route in an evening and Sundays and give parts of Guisborough, Lingdale and Boosbeck a bus service and also a link from the James Cook to all. That's useful routes.