(20 Nov 2023, 1:16 pm)RobinHood wrote There is a half hourly train between Darlington, Stockton, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Saltburn, yet the X66/X67 and X2/X3/X4 are equally very busy still.

There is no reason why the bus cannot compliment.

Aye can't disagree with that, just hope they try and make it work if numbers do drop rather than doing the old. Everyone uses the train now, we're not bothering approach. I know it was a big problem with First in the borders who pulled out completely after the Borders Railway opened, which is doing really well.

(20 Nov 2023, 1:30 pm)RMF1254 wrote I’m hoping the the new railway will attract more passengers to public transport, including a lot of car users who hopefully will use the new station car parks. Will passengers give up the bus for a longer walk to the station, I’m not sure? Where do they want to be in Newcastle as most people from the north of Newcastle are used to getting dropped in the Haymarket/Barras Bridge area not the Central Stn? Yes they can change to Metro at Northumberland Park with a walk and up and down stairs plus a wait of up to 12 minutes if they just miss a connection - even worse going north connecting into a half hourly service. I really hope it all works, we’ll just have to wait and see, bearing in mind the amount the railway is costing.

Personally (I live on it), I'd take the walk personally. It's more about timekeeping for me. If a trains says it takes 20 minutes, then I know it'll take 20 minutes, the vast majority of the time. Now if the bus says 35 minutes, it might take that but it might take an hour, or it might 40 minutes or whatever and you can't trust it, if you actually need to be somewhere.

It used to be a massive problem when I went to uni in town about 15 year ago as the bus was timetabled in for 8:40, but it never got in then, so you'd have to get the bus in at 8.15 I think it was which left at 7.20 in the morning then pissing about for an hour and cba. If there was a train which got in a 8.40 I'd take it with a heart beat, which left at 8.20 add the 15 minute walk I'm still 45 minutes better off and I get the free bonus of some exercise and not sitting on a bus at all.

Have a feeling that'll be quite common for a lot of people, who will choose to drive though instead. I ended up getting a lift to the Metro, at the time, as I was sick of the bus as an understatement. Looking at the bus times, it's all much the same nowadays - https://bustimes.org/services/x7-newcast.../505200141 that being the later journey and completely useless.