(09 Jun 2023, 2:47 pm)DaveFromUpNorth wrote Possible suggestion to change 41 41a and integrate with 51 to sort out the "Wiltshire Drive Debate"
What about spinning the 41 and 41a on its head and completely changing the route.
On a map think of a letter P from Wallsend design with a few bumps
Wallsend up to Station Road 41 goes via Wiltshire Drive then up to Range along to Asda then a left at the roundabout onto great lime road but a right into Wesley Drive basically through the industrial estate placing bus stops as close as possible to create a Palmersville metro station link through the industrial estate and out the other side serve the stops at whitley Road but turn right back to the roundabout then left and a loop round the new estate from there the bus goes via Northumberland Park and down via Cobalt Middle engine lane round Hadrian Park loop then out along Battlehill Drive high farm then back round Wiltshire Drive back to Wallsend
41 goes one way round Asda Northumberland Park cobalt into hadrian Park and 41A does the opposite loop
Immediately this creates a lot of new links especially Shopping to Asda Northumberland Park shops linking Wallsend metro to Palmersville and Northumberland Park metro there is also creating a cobalt link. It could also be quicker to go by bus from Wallsend to Palmersville Metro then using the metro which will also benefit when metro has their issues
There is a 335 does part of the route however it ends very early around 6ish however most people finish work after 530 so this would create a evening and Sunday service too
The link to Newcastle from Wiltshire and benton to be lost HOWEVER a ticket can be purchased to be used to connect to a bus to Newcastle call it Coast Road plus ticket for an extra 50p you connect to a Cobalt and Coast route
Making a loop clockwise and anti clockwise
If there is an issue about ECNTS wouldn't it be beneficial to market to attract more ECNTS users to assist in funding the gap...
Market so the bus goes to Asda the Bingo the local community Centre Nitter Natter group The pub etc...
Even encouraging users to say pop to the pub for tea or a coffee all generates additional income and bums on seats and not carrying fresh air
If you have a cheeky marketing campaign you could also suggest that all buses are a "Warm Space" and run from early morning until last bus
The problem is it's ignoring the white elephant in the room and that's Whitley Bay to Holystone which isn't covered by any other services especially North Whitley Bay who want a route to Newcastle. Also no-one wants to go to Wallsend as there's nothing there, it's basically just the old 42 which failed miserably and is the 342 now (it used to serve Wiltshire Drive).
Wiltshire Drive is the most useless part of the 51 imo. The 6 buses from New York to Blyth is the biggest problem as it's complete overkill and most the time there's barely anyone on especially North of Whitley Bay - it's the same number of buses as the 21 which is one of the busiest corridors around.
If we ever get franchised services, hopefully we might see changes to make them actually more useful because there's no need for more than 4 buses max North of Whitley and even that's questionable.