(20 Dec 2020, 1:02 pm)Andreos1 wrote 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.

When I was looking at moving, having access to good, frequent public transport (preferably GNE because of ticketing) was at the top of the list of priorities, and to be honest it was surprisingly challenging.

My mother lives in Crook, and despite it looking like they have pretty good links on the surface, from her house it's a 1 mile walk to get the bus to Durham, and a half mile walk to get the bus to Bishop/Darlington. That was enough to stop me using the bus at all for the couple years that I lived there.

When I was up in Gateshead and had a 10 minute frequency service with the 49, I'd use the bus all the time, it was often faster and easier than using the car, especially if going to Gateshead or even Newcastle on the half hourly X30, the fact that the bus stop was basically 30 seconds from the front door was great too! So like I say, when moving that was my number one priority.

So when searching for the house, I basically just followed the bus routes until I found an area that was tolerable (yes, I had my standards set quite low because frequent buses tend to run through dodgy areas!)