(24 Oct 2023, 1:58 pm)Rob44 wrote Just think how much GNE would have saved in upgrading buses if they had turned around at gateshead ( i think the bus station was outside the zone, correct me if Im wrong though?)

Until you have truly integrated ticketing you can't do it but it's not 1970s, public attitude to public transport isn't intermodal. They want the easiest option. They don't want to get off, hike down the endless stairs in the uninviting, mobile phone signal-ess tiled hell hole of Gateshead Metro station where they might not even get a seat on a jam packed metro.

The Metro doesn't offer access to the infamous Microbus/Askew Road area or the southern entry areas to the City 

Metro's problems aren't limited to it's rolling stock. You'd need to address safety and access issues first and the general capacity. 

It's why we still have Metrolink and the bus network duplicating and running side by side in Manchester

- In terms of Gateshead - they need to realign the signals so buses can flow through Askew Road and onto the Tyne Bridge - there's far too many traffic lights down there that impede the bus journey