(06 Jan 2020, 8:50 pm)AIG20 wrote Whenever I've seen the 516 it has carried nothing but fresh air. If Nexus ever withdrew the service Stagecoach could easily reroute some services, such as the 10/11, 12/12A & 30, or create a new bus service to avoid the roads only served by the 516 being left without a bus service. I'm sure one of the reasons the 516 (or the 16 as it used to be named) was created was so that there would be a bus service on the Coast Road between Redwell Lane and the New Crown as I'm sure there was lots of backlash when Stagecoach service E3 was withdrawn?
I've seen quite a lot of Nexus funded services ran by independent operators running with very low passenger numbers. I don't know how they can afford it? Maybe that's why they aren't ran by any of the "big three".
Whenever I have seen the 516, it has indeed been carrying nothing but fresh air, but when I have used it there has been a few passengers on with me. I was actually going to question if Stagecoach could re-route a service to replace the 516, Nexus seem to waste money funding services that are hardly used and could be withdrawn and replaced by re-routed services by the big three. Strangely the 32A and 84/84A have good passenger numbers sometimes, but even Nexus has told me passenger numbers are higher when a Nexus service is operated by any of the big three compared with independent operators. Does Stagecoach operate any Nexus contracts these days?
When did Stagecoach withdraw the E3? When did the 16 start operating and why did it become the 516? I would like to see another service run alongside the E1. Is the Coast Road in South Shields a continuation of the Coast Road on North Tyneside?