(28 Oct 2023, 9:34 pm)DeltaMan wrote You can't just look at a population number and label it a good catchment area. It's about population density, where settlements are in relation to other places and the sociodemographic makeup of those settlements. There is more to this sort of thing than just getting a bunch of crayons out and drawing things on a map...
Drawing things on a map with crayons would probably produce more success for the operators than they've had by sticking with the same old.
You mention density, demographics etc and then there's the retail parks and a vast change in where people work. But the stubbornness or inability to connect the dots (nevermind lines) has played a huge part in the situation we see today.
(28 Oct 2023, 11:03 pm)Storx wrote Admit this is a bit off topic but not sure I agree with that, there's a fair amount of social housing / low car usage housing in the Portobello area which has an absymal service.
The 21 imo is way overbussed between Birtley and CLS aswell.
I'm not going to delve into the land of suggestions here but there's an 82 which serves all these areas and a 21 which is overbussed south of Birtley. Bolt the things together imo, then you'd have a decent destination at both ends of the route and open connections up to Washington across all of Birtley and connections to Newcastle in the opposite direction. It's the exact sort of network Arriva has up here pretty much. Not to mention the Low Fell to Washington connection which in turn then opens up the Low Fell to Sunderland connections, or Nissan, or Houghton Le Spring and so on.
The 21 is crying to be split up against like the Arriva 43/44/45, X10/X11 or X21/X22 imo which it was in the past. One thing I'll always give credit to Arriva is literally everywhere in Northumberland which they serve has a direct link to Newcastle.
There's no social housing at all in Portobello (not that it's an actual place, it lends it's name to a road, industrial estate and a school).
Car usage is high across Vigo (where I think you're referring to) and it's all private housing.
It's been awful since it was built in the 60s and 70s and other than the 23 that served the older part of the estate and variations of the 82/83 in recent years, there's not been a bus service that's penetrated the estate ever.
(28 Oct 2023, 10:29 pm)Ambassador wrote Indeed, Birtley gets mentioned a lot but outside the core Durham Rd area, most of the growth in Birtley is private housing (Northside etc) Even towards Newcastle Bank, it’s historically private ownership (long bank, northdene, crathie, hollys) with space for two car families
If Birtley hadn’t have by chance been positioned on Durham Road it would probably be getting a 30 min frequency,
A perfect example of operators not adapting to changing demographics or areas of development.
The core Durham Road service has had the southern options cut, seen Northern options remain the same and areas off the main road (Barley Mow and Elizabethville) cut.
Meanwhile those areas that are growing, see SFA.