(16 Jul 2023, 9:44 pm)Andreos1 wrote I've done the O2 to Embankment before. Purely from a tourist perspective and you're right, there are many quicker journeys.
However, other than peak, I don't think there's any/many express services. 

However, I think you're comparing apples and pears. 
London has a fantastic public transport system compared to what we have up here. 
There are many alternatives, depending on need. 

However, they've also got bridges. 
They've also got high levels of pollution and are expanding the public transport offering, along with emissions/congestion charging. 

The bridges you mention across the Tyne, are struggling to cope with traffic. 
Buses are getting stuck. Cars are getting stuck. 
One of them is so knackered - they made it one way and removed the ability to cross it going north. 
They're also consistently appearing in the lists of pollution hot-spots. 

I've lost count how much money has been chucked at bus priority measures.
I've lost count how many times we've seen roads narrowed and bus lanes squeezed in. 

I doubt many will be travelling from Blaydon to South Shields. 
I do reckon there will be many doing short-hops, maybe two or three landing stations and probably passing a 10 stuck in traffic around the Metrocentre or crawling over the Redheugh Bridge though.
Maybe even going to places on one riverbus, that would take 2 or 3 buses.

I'd also hazard a guess that all those people living in the new houses on Smiths Dock, are getting stuck in the tunnel or going the long-way round on the way to work too.
East of Gateshead, you're looking at potential landing spots not far (short walk or a quick bus ride) from several metro stations (Bill Quay/Pelaw, St Peters Basin/Byker, Hebburn, Wallsend, Jarrow, Willington Quay... 

The Tyne is sitting there totally underutilised, whilst everything alongside it, under it or over it is struggling.

When it comes to public transport and infrastructure, I look at some of the European cities and am constantly amazed at how far ahead they are of us. Toto on the Amsterdam trams for example. It's been in place for donkeys years. 
Then look at the Dutch and how they're using their waterways successfully. Making the most of the resource that's there and not finding the long way around or over it like we do here.

I don't think the comparison is too dissimilar. The network on both sides of the Tyne, formed of buses, Metro and Rail, is not a bad service at all. In my example above, I quoted somewhere the size of Newburn having a 10 minute frequency to the town, with a journey time of just over 15 minutes. 

There's always ways to improve transport networks and infrastructure, but I really don't think the suggestion of more services on the river does that. In the places you quote East of Gateshead as potential landing spots, you've probably answered your own question; they're a short walk from several Metro stations. When the maximum journey time on that section (from Shields) is about 25 minutes, I don't think you're going to beat that across the River. Even still, the Metro gets you into the centre of Newcastle, whereas landing at the Quayside is either a steep walk up or a bus ride if you have mobility issues.