(17 Jul 2019, 12:12 pm)ifm001 wrote My gripe with the new zones is South Tyneside still has been kept to a minimal link with Gateshead and Newcastle. A Boldon to Heworth journey still requires a 2 zone ticket for a journey time of less than 10 minutes. But a journey from Blyth to Washington via Newcastle can still be done on 1 zone taking nigh on 90-120 minutes. The re think of the zones is still not just quite right.

Totally agree with your sentiments.

Miss the 50 from Boldon, need to get to Washington - pay the additional surcharge to go via Heworth and then back in to the red zone or wait for the next 50?

Not too bad during the day, but painful at other times.

(17 Jul 2019, 12:22 pm)streetdeckfan wrote But realistically is anyone doing that journey going to buy a day ticket?

No matter what they do, it's always going to be bad for some people, that's just the nature of splitting the area into zones.

I think I made the point previously about there being some sort of overlap between zones. A 'no-mans zone' for want of a better phrase - not too dissimilar to Washington, but on a smaller scale.

I'm not sure how it could be policed or managed, but allowing a red ticket to travel in to the next zone would go a long way to appeasing those who live on or near a border.

The boundary between Chester and Tyne & Wear (using the 71, 78 or 8 as examples) doesn't benefit any passengers. Particularly on those evening trips.

Stick an overlap in of sorts and travelling between the points can become viable.