(12 Sep 2016, 8:02 pm)Andreos1 wrote It has been said repeatedly, that links from Washington to Team Valley are poor. Apart from secured/contracted services early doors and after work, there is a minimum of two services that need to be taken (assuming a passenger lives in walking distance from the Galleries).
So...
Concord - Galleries - Springwell - Harlow Green/Allerdene - Kingsway - Lobley Hill Road/Bensham Bank - Cuthbert St - Teams and then the common route to Metrocentre.
As well as improving links to TVTE from Washington, it will create links from parts of Gateshead that are without a direct connection to TVTE, despite them being relatively close together.
By extending the service to the Metrocentre, the service will have 'through' passengers to supplement margins in addition to any passengers using it to/from TVTE only.
I'm unsure if that'd work. We previously had the 183, which was arguably quicker than the route you've described to the Metrocentre, and that was withdrawn due to low usage.
Harlow Green/Allerdene is an interesting one. Parts of it are, I'd say, in reasonable walking distance of the Loop. That will get you to/from Team Valley, and you've also got the Coaster and Angel connections too. Parts of it are perhaps not, but a more likely solution would be to adjust the Loop route.
Looking at reasonable routes on a map, I really don't think there is one that will work from Washington, which is probably why it doesn't exist. Your best bet would probably be routing the Red Arrows away from Old Durham Road, but that would not go down well with existing customers, due to increased journey times.