(12 Jul 2024, 6:03 pm)Storx wrote Sounds like Stagecoach has got the funds which exist for Great Park (Arriva used to have it before - X46).

Surprised this didn't happen years ago, it makes much more sense than the Q3 which duplicates numerous Arriva services and the X47 is literally already sitting there.

The 49 will be just the Q3 though.

The link road between Great Park and Kingston Park hasn’t been open that long, so the opportunity wasn’t there years ago.

Stagecoach can presumably offer a Great Park to Newcastle link (as an extension of their X47) at a much lower cost than Go North East with their dedicated service, so re-allocating the S106 funding from Go North East to Stagecoach probably makes a fair amount of sense from a sustainability point of view.

Obviously gives Go North East a bit of a problem - there is already a surplus of electric buses following frequency reductions (hence two being used on the NHS Hopper contract), and a half-hourly Q3 from Haymarket to Wallsend via St Peters would only require three buses (which would mean six were spare - and that assumes the Q3 isn’t moved to Percy Main at that point).

Paired with the loss of some school contracts, hopefully that is an end to the driver-related short-notice cancellations at Riverside!