(10 Oct 2019, 2:45 pm)JP6004 wrote
Waste of a B9? I would hardly say the ex-London ones are the best.
I think it depends what section of the route its on. The 94 is always busier on the way to the valley and felling rather than Heworth. The 93 always generally busier towards the QE and the valley as opposed to coming into Gateshead. Overall I think they have fairly decent loads and warrant a DD allocation if being reduced to every 20 minutes.
But I have always thought that the route into the retail park is a bit odd. It passes the entrance/ exit to the bus stop and gets stuck in traffic at the roundabout. Then loop back on to the roundabout to continue down the valley. Why not just use the other entrance to the retail park bus stop?
Even if the 93 turned left prior to the roundabout and used the 'bus station', it would save time.
To be honest, I've no idea why the road behind Mothercare can't be adapted to suit the buses and make it bi-directional for the entire length.
(10 Oct 2019, 3:11 pm)streetdeckfan wrote
I must say, whenever I've been on The Loop (after all these years, I still can't remember which way is which!) during the day between Gateshead and Team Valley, it's been dead, maybe a handful of other people on but that's about it.
I've never understood the stops, surely it would be a lot more convenient for the bus to actually serve Retail World rather than having to walk miles (well, what feels like miles) to actually get to the shops
It used to stop on the main road outside Retail World, but was curtailed to its current route a while back, due to the traffic heading in and out.
The stop was just shy of where Mcdonalds is now, on the left hand side.