(10 Mar 2015, 2:37 pm)Malarkey wrote From looking at Google Maps, Passengers wanting to catch a 10 to Newcastle from Moor Road for example have to walk either to South Road an catch the 686 which runs on an Hourly basis through the area at "15 Minutes Past Each Hour" to Stonyflat Bank where they can catch the 10/10B and 11A or continue on walking down to South Road and getting on the 10 on Prudoe Front Street, or they can walk even further along front street and catch the 10B/11A also.
Far from ideal for the residents who live in that area at all, surely it cant be that hard for a Single Decker or a Double Decker to go along Redwell Road/South Road, looking at Google Maps it looks pretty similar to the Toonlink 31/32 and the Blaydon Racers going around the Housing Estates in Winlaton, could also put money on a Scholar Service or two using Deckers going around this area of Prudoe, would also put money on 5210 or one the Tynedale Express branded Solars having appeared on the 686 on a few occasions in the past also.
In the article, it mentioned the local circular service wasn't popular.
It begs the question as to whether NCC and GNE asked passengers if they wanted to faff on changing buses or if the choice was made for them.
The streamlined model, with buses following the same core route, has benefits, but in this case a whole estate, on a hill is missed out.
Rather than divert or extend an existing service, is it worth creating a new service, which complements the existing offer?
Or, because the fleet and workforce is a lot smaller than in years gone by - maybe this isn't possible?