(06 Apr 2024, 9:44 pm)DaveFromUpNorth wrote See Battlehill Drive I would argue there is not enough to obscure destinations. It's a high frequency route.
Overtime create Battlehill shops area as a connector for multiple services it also means if you need to wait 15 min during the day a quick pop to greggs tesco Dickson lidl etc it's a quick connector as oppose to places like Willington Square or myshanghi or chilli Road and coast road with those underpassess. Even rake lane hospital tbh if you need to wait 30min for a bus there is nothing there least you can wonder round lidl for 20mins at battlehill.
I think there is also a lost opportunity and being brutally honest I wouldn't know how to get to cramlington hospital by bus!
A lot of North Tyneside can get to Rake Lane but that is a feeder hospital to Cramlington battlehill has links to freeman (although I would send that 653 to Hadrian Park to serve all of battlehill to freeman and give links to lidl for shopping for that estate it drives round.
In London the transport infrastructure is clever. It often has terminuses at supermarkets or name drops them as a specific location so customers immediately recognize I know where that is.
It's marketing that needs to be turned on its head so brand names are easily recognizable
Yeah some fair points to be honest, honestly I've always thought it should be at Silverlink instead though - it's quite a central point really for all the buses in the area and arugably where most people might actually want to travel to.
Just create a little loop around the top end of the car park, like so and create a new bus interchange in the middle. It's already got multiple services which practically pass it (19/22/306/307/308/309) and others which easily could be extended with a short extension (41/41A/335) and at least the last 3 would have a terminus point where people actually want to travel to rather than just from.
If we're being ambitious, you could easily use some of the BSIP or other future fund to create some slips from the Coast Road onto the bus link which atm is a complete waste of time and even more ambitious it's an ideal place for an interchange if the Metro line along there ever gets built - I do believe it's still in plans for the future currently.
Would mean there's links to:
Wallsend, Byker and Cobalt (22)
Cramlington, Cramlington Hospital, North Shields Ferry and Tyne Trading Estate (19)
Killingworth (335)
Whitley Bay, North Tyneside Hospital and Blyth (308/309)
North Shields (306/307)
Tynemouth (306)
Pretty much everywhere covered really, even better if the cross tunnel service could get there aswell. Never know someone from Jarrow might go shopping or the cinema there, it's only 10 mins or so if it was direct.