(27 Dec 2021, 2:47 pm)OrangeArrow49 wrote Hub and spoke makes sense in some cases, the city centre is the centre and is therefore naturally a hub. Many services need to pass through, such as for Byker/Walker/Wallsend and onto Cobalt and Killingworth. Equally buses need to serve all of the different areas, terminating in the city centre. However Blaydon not having a service is an odd thing as the 6/7/8 all serve Scotswood Road and the 6 and 7 continue to Metrocentre, Stagecoach and GNE both serving Metrocentre and Scotswood Road and I only realised from the 792 and 941 that Blaydon is quite close to Cowgate, Fenham, Denton Burn etc and could be reached from West Denton or Westerhope perhaps. There obviously mustn't be the demand, but it's a real shame as Westerhope is quickly reached from as far away as South Shields and Hexham, but only the 74 utilises the link.
I would love to see West Newcastle linked to Gateshead and this could be a good opportunity for A-line and GNE to expand and enter new territory. Henry Cooper should run a service from Kingston Park into North Tyneside, maybe Wallsend or Tynemouth, via Fenham.
I don't think there needs to be as many buses through the city centre as there is - following each other east to west or vice versa.
I don't think any operator would know what the demand from the west end to Blaydon or the metro centre is to be honest.
Unless they knock on people's windows whilst they're stuck in the widening works or stand on slip-roads off the Western Bypass and speak to all of the drivers making those trips to find out where they started their journey and where they're ending it.
Not sure many people would prefer to make the journey to those places from various parts of the west end by bus (in to and out of the town) for a trip that could be done a lot quicker via other means.
