(27 Nov 2017, 2:11 pm)Jamie M wrote The 9 timetable is a mess. The short journey to Jarrow from North Shields is crazy. The evening and sunday timetables are higher specification and generally more frequent from North Shields.
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Apart from a short time, there has been a bus service between North Shields and Sunderland ever since the Tyne Tunnel opened in 1967, and even at that time the journey lasted 1 hour and 4 minutes. I used the bus frequently when I was a student in Sunderland. The route has also always been a merger of local routes serving housing estates on the south side of the Tyne. At first it was based on a former service 60 which, after Jarrow, went via Simonside, Brockley Whins, John Reid Road and Biddick Hall to East Boldon, now the 9 goes via a former service 26 via Hedworth and Boldon Colliery.
Any alteration which involved a change in Jarrow would only add extra time to the journey, as I can't see the demand for a more direct route from the south end of the Tunnel to Sunderland.
Agreed the timetable for service 9 is a mess; originally there were 4 buses per hour between Sunderland and Jarrow, with 2 being extended to North Shields. However when the decision was taken to reduce the frequency to 3 buses er hour between Sunderland and jarrow, maintaining 2 per hour to Shields would have meant a 20/40 split.
The alternative was always to use the ferry to South Shields, then catch a bus from there to Sunderland, but this was always messy, and the little time saved was outweighed by being on a direct bus. Also the ferry does not operate every evening, hence the need or a bus through the tunnel.
So even though the 9 is the best of a bad job, I would prefer it to stay, rather than lose it altogether. After all, Sunderland is the biggest city in the North-east, and why shouldn't North Tyeside have a bus service there, rather than using the Metro, which adds about 8 miles on to the overall journey?