(06 May 2020, 12:23 pm)James101 wrote I agree expanding the journeys possible using Tees Flex would be good for the entire region. I get the feeling Tees Flex is very consciously avoiding any clash with Stagecoach's commercial operation. The current Hartlepool zone is very restrictive, so the zone would need to be more flexible, threatening Stagecoach's commercial operation. Or passengers would need to travel into one of the small pick up zones, being just as inconvenient as the current requirement to change in Norton or Stockton.
The idea behind Tees Flex was to give areas that don't have a regular bus service a link to either the nearest location to connect into the Teesside network or a direct link to their nearest supermarket/hospital/town centre. Hence the restrictive Hartlepool zone - those are 'secondary' destination. The only 'primary' ones in Hartlepool zone are Hart (which now has the hourly Arriva 57), Elwick and Dalton Piercy. Wynyard also falls in the Hartlepool zone (as well as the Stockton/Darlington zone - the only example of a cross-zone location). Some of the 'Secondary' Destinations do leave something to be desired however - people in Wynyard and Wolviston wanting to go into Billingham Town Centre can't book that as a journey but they can travel to Billingham Railway Station. Another one - Summerville Tesco is listed as a 'secondary' destination but doesn't have one of the 'Bus Station' icons on the map (it's only recently been included in the zone as well!) and at one point after the launch, North Tees Hospital wasn't included as a destination - making it the only hospital not included originally.