RE: Go North East
The consultations have always been a sham, with questions phrased to get the answers GNE wanted. When they were online too many people from outside the area gave their views, some who knew what they were talking about like members of this Forum (haha). So then they distribute a few copies in libraries and perhaps on the local branded buses (which almost guaranteed they wouldn't be seen in the area they were intended for!). I completed a few on line ones and added quite a few comments which were all ignored. The only possible success I had with any of my views being taken into account was the one including the X3 (which I do use sometimes) and X36, which a friend managed to hunt down and found one copy in a local library. I said they needed to keep a Newcastle service via Fulwell Grange and East Boldon and pointed out the impossibility of their original plan for "connecting" a proposed 20 minute service 9 with a 30 min frequency via the 26 or X36 route at Boldon ASDA. The X3 continued, sort of, and the 9 remained every 30 minutes. Now GNE have lost the plot and ignore the concept of a overall bus SERVICE by cutting away at the edges odd journeys here and there ( the first journey from Durham on the 21 and the 1840 bus from Newcastle on the X21 being just two examples of many in the latest changes). And all these reductions at a time when Tyne & Wear ITA want any excuse to bring in the Quality Contracts, for which there is little logical reason and certainly no financial one, but Northern are playing into their hands.