(22 Sep 2024, 7:00 am)Andreos1 wrote Yeah, there's those ones. But I was referring to the huge site being built on the old bus depot/pit.
Right where this proposed 164 passes.
500 homes and a pub/supermarket and all the footfall that brings.
Ah, sorry! That development had completely slipped my mind!
Yes, I'd agree there's significant potential there. The X1 and 35 is a decent start, but hopefully it has enough potential to reform the 35A into a useful service again, rather than one that simply plugs the gap of GNE cuts over the years. The main missing gap for me is a stopping link, what once existed with the 194/294.
Given that Kepier, like most secondary schools, is at capacity, you'll continue to have kids of that age group that are educated and socialise in Washington. A problem that was of course raised and fell on deaf ears when the M1 was axed.
(22 Sep 2024, 11:24 am)DeltaMan wrote I suppose the question is.....will an operator recoup the extra 200k a year needed to stick an extra bus in the cycle to serve that area alone I don't think they would.
I dunno how much the 79 contract costs, but how would people feel if the local authority used the money for the 79 on sticking an extra bus on the 4 instead?
Well, this is the golden question, isn't it? Operators always want to be seen as part of the solution, but never prepared to be part of the solution.
I'm not sure the 79 is the answer in it's current format. Let's remember that this is a service, cobbled together by Nexus, in order to service as many abandoned areas as possible. From my observations, most of the people served by the service are quite elderly, so I've no doubt it acts as a lifeline to those people to at least change to/from other services, but it doesn't actually go anywhere apart from that.
If we're serious about getting people out of cars, then we have to be serious in providing them a bus service to do so. Someone happy driving to/from Philly into town is going to continue to do so, if the alternative is a change at Houghton or Shiney Row for a second bus, or the direct bus goes on a grand tour of the Sunderland estates.
Authorities haven't got the cash to continue to throw money at operators to plug gaps, because they've zero idea how to develop business. It'll eventually dry up, as is the situation when they rely on Section 106 monies. If operators aren't prepared to play the game and act as a hinderance to regeneration, then it's no wonder so many areas are looking into other options.