(06 May 2020, 12:28 pm)Kuyoyo wrote From a turn-up-and-go frequency to 4 buses an hour that won't be evenly spaced. You also fail to recall that the 35 and 38 swapped routes in Norton back in November and it's unlikely they will be swapped back over since the 35's reliability has seen an improvement since the change. So that means 2 stops (Red Lion plus another as the 37 will most likely have to go straight into Norton High Street) go from effectively 6 buses an hour direct to Middlesbrough (4 36s and 2 37s) to a bus every 30 minutes, while the rest of the stops go to 4 buses an hour direct effectively half what they currently have.
Not to mention the confusion this would cause along Norton High Street - instead of 4 buses an hour to Middlesbrough (6 an hour to Stockton) from one side, you'd have 2 an hour on the 38 to Middlesbrough and 2 35s to Stockton going from the current side of the road while the 37s towards Middlesbrough would be going from the opposite side to the 35/38. Not to mention in Roseworth - don't forget the 37 technically has the 15 for competition from Redhill Road Shops. People will use the first bus that gets there but if the 37 towards Stockton is going from the opposite side of the road to the 15, that's going to push passengers onto the 15 travelling towards Stockton (and connections for Middlesbrough in Stockton - another key area this 'idea' destroys, seeing as Arriva would boast the higher frequency from Stockton to Middlesbrough of 7 buses an hour vs Stagecoach's 6 buses whereas at present Stagecoach have the more frequent service).
Simple thing here - they aren't broken so why mess your regulars about for the sake of what might be a handful of passengers a week?
And as for the 36 replacing the 6 from Hartlepool to Clavering - just why? Why take that section off Hartlepool depot and give it to Stockton depot? The mess it would make of Stockton's duties (a shift on 36s during the week now can do 2 round trips in the maximum driving hours) plus the amount of route learning that would be needed. Was fine back when a handful of trips extended up to Clavering and Hart Village at peak time as the trips could be allocated to a set rota to reduce the number of drivers that needed route learning but if it goes up there all day, you're talking having to route learn every driver in the depot more-or-less. And what does that do for Hartlepool depot itself? It's already the smallest depot in the division in terms of allocation and PVR (South Shields' PVR and allocation pre-Covid-19 is only just higher than Hartlepool's - by 5) so by how much would having a 15 minutely 6 from Owton Manor to the Marina only reduce Hartlepool's 26 vehicle PVR down to? And if that is culled down further, is there much point in keeping Hartlepool depot open?
Simple solution is as I said - open North Tees Hospital as a destination on Tees Flex for the Hartlepool Zone as well as the Stockton and Darlington zone. If there are people wanting to travel from Hartlepool to North Tees, then that will give them a quick, flexible and direct link without messing with established corridors
Yes this is a down side but we are only talking about 5 bus stops over about a mile distance that still retain a high frequency to the nearest town centre. We're only talking about a reduction in service for passengers specifically wishing to travel to Middlesbrough. All stops still have a good service through to Stockton. Whilst I can see there's a demand for a turn up & go between Norton & Stockton and then Stockton & Middlesbrough I really don't believe a 6/7 min frequency for specifically Norton - Middlesbrough.
I understand your point re Redhill Road shops but I don't understand the logic behind claiming Arriva would be more popular as they offer connections to Middlesbrough in Stockton whilst also arguing the people of Norton desperately need all of their direct buses to Middlesbrough and wouldn't want to change in Stockton? I'm also not sure the frequency claims on the Stockton - Boro corridor would hold water as I don't think people would put the X12 in the fast bus category since the Teesside Park diversion. Every 10 minutes from the same bus stand in Middlesbrough Bus Station & Stockton (X66/7 & X22 are split across 2 stands) sells better.
Edit: is the current 37 through Redhill shops a genuine competitor to Arriva through to Stockton? It's journey times through Norton make it an impractical choice vs the 15. The proposed change at least makes the 37 a reasonable alternative to Arriva as a fast bus down Durham Rd whilst keeping the links to Norton and new links through to Billingham and Hartlepool.
I'm of the opinion that Stagecoach's operation in Hartlepool should be more integrated with Teesside. All of the reasons you've listed for not integrating the 36/7 into the town services are oriented around the business and not the customer. This is the attitude that has led to the stale and decline in the bus industry. Even so, the extension to Clavering seems no more complex than when they were extended to Park End on the other end. With Stagecoach having an office and break facilities in Hartlepool Market place drivers shifts ands breaks shouldn't be too much of an issue. The network in the south of Hartlepool could be more efficient if the 36 was integrated into the town services rather than overlapping them. Should this lead to PVR reductions then yes, I do think Hartlepool should be downgraded to an outstation of Stockton - if this makes the operation more sustainable in the long term. Hartlepool and Stockton driver duties could be pooled with breaks at any rest point on the network (depots, bus stations or high streets) as long as start and end points were in the driver's 'home' town.
(06 May 2020, 2:08 pm)tyresmoke wrote Let’s not forget that the hospital shuttle bus is still running albeit on a very restrictive timetable that is no good for staff who used to use the service. It’s an opportunity that I’ve looked at but the NHS seem reluctant to look at despite a better service being possible than the current funded minibus.
I don’t think the market from Hartlepool is that big but certainly linking Billingham in would work better to make it pay. You’d probably have to work a school in with it too to make it worthwhile which then negates the effect of a standard timetable.
This is the problem with a lot of NHS hospital shuttles. They tend to run directly between hospitals which is next to useless as very few staff or patients need to travel between hospitals during the same shift or appointment. If the point of the service is to provide access to jobs and services that have been transferred to another hospital, the service needs to pick up through the catchment area of the original hospital.
Do the CCAD (or whatever they're called now) still run student buses from Teesside into Hartlepool? This could be something for them do do during the day?