(20 Dec 2020, 12:45 pm)Ambassador wrote The starting prices of some of those new Northside homes is upwards of £260k - it's unlikely that no matter how many initiatives the council have that they'll ever make the switch and that's the problem.
There's no incentive to use public transport - you're talking 45 minutes from Birtley's new estates to Newcastle but the counter is even if an all singing dancing express came in, people still wouldn't use it.

I think we'll see some form of DRT up here (outside of Teesside) - it'll fail  but they'll trial it.

But operators can do their bit locally. It doesn't have to be an all signing, all dancing express service which goes between Northside and Newcastle - it just needs to be something which works for the residents.
As an example, the kids can't get a bus along to Lord Lawson on a morning and they can't get the bus home. So mammy and daddy take them in the car. Then the habit has the potential to become ingrained. 

Mammy can't get the bus to the shops or post office to return her latest asos delivery, after dropping the little un off at Ravensworth Terrace, so they use the car instead.

Daddy would leave the car and get the bus to his office job on Team Valley, but the trip is two buses in each direction and can take twice as long as it does in the car.

If that situation is repeated half a dozen times, in the various parts of Birtley (which it can quite easily be), then that's 30/40 extra cars on the road (on top of the traffic travelling to or through Birtley) causing issues to the various bus routes in Birtley.
Look at replicating a similar situation across T&W and no wonder we see all sorts of traffic problems and delays.
Ah and the endless harping on about needing bus priority measures.

If the operators served the market and potential market in the way passengers and potential passengers need, want and expect - maybe we wouldn't see the endless harping on about needing bus priority measures.

I was doing some consultancy work with a company who were struggling to identify and therefore meet their customers needs, wants and expectations prior to lockdown.
It was amazing to see the measures we put in to place kicking in and the subsequent adaptations they made once lockdown kicked in.