(18 Nov 2023, 11:36 pm)Storx wrote See when the train comes in, imo you'd be better looking at more, maybe something like this:
X19 (Hourly): North Seaton - Ashington - Milburn Road - Stakeford - Bedlington Station - Newcastle
X20 (Hourly): Current route Alnwick to Ashington - Milburn Road - Stakeford - Bedlington Station - Newcastle
X19/X20 - Every 30 Minutes Ashington to Newcastle
X21 (2 or 3 BPH): Ashington - Wansbeck Hospital - Woodhorn - Newbiggin - East Sleekburn - Bedlington Station - Bedlington - Nedderton - Newcastle
X22 (2 or 3 BPH): Current Route
X21/X22 - Either 10/15 minutes combined depending on train changes.
Evenings / Sundays: X19/X21/X22 - Each hourly.
Map:
Benefits:
- Faster journey times from Newbiggin to Newcastle
- New Newbiggin connection to Bedlington Station for train connections.
- New 2 BPH fast from Newcastle to Ashington
- Faster journey times from Milburn Road to Newcastle
- New evening / Sunday service to Newcastle from North Seaton
Negatives for balance:
- Loss of Bedlington to Stakeford service
- X20 no longer direct via A189 but after the diversion around Ashington it's neglible.
- Longer journey times from North Seaton to Newcastle but gain evening and Sunday service.
Don't quite understand the fascination with rerouting two of the best performing routes within Arriva Northumbria?
They've operated, very successfully, in their current form for around a decade, and in that time have had more sets of new vehicles (7522-8, then 7541-52) than any other routes in the region in that time bar the 7. Lots of that success, I think, is likely down to the stability of the routes and them going to places where people want to travel to.
This current proposal doesn't really alter the routes at all, obviously the X22 is untouched. The only difference to the X21 is that you're swapping which part of Newbiggin gets the quicker journey times.