(23 May 2021, 10:56 pm)GNE6312 wrote Placed this in the wrong place earlier so I'll move it to save the admin team a job
Looking at services like the 710 & 131 which run once a day/afew times from the South Scottish borders and Newcastle I was thinking about GNE operating something similar however on an hourly basis here is a route I was thinking:
CB1
Galashiels
Tweedbank
Melrose
St Bothwells
Jedburgh
Byreness village
West Woodburn
Chollerton
Low brunton
Wall
Acomb
Hexham (5 minute layover time/driver switchover)
Corbridge
Heddon
Newcastle Eldon Square
The service will call at all stops it passes between Galashiels & Jedburgh then from Jedburgh will call at Carter bar summit, byreness village, West Woodburn school, Chollerton-the Shieling, low Brunton Crossroads, Wall-The hadrian Hotel, Acomb garage, Hexham bus station then to Newcastle Via the X85 route & stops to Newcastle this service will operate
This service should take about 2 hours & 43 minutes which will operate at a PVR of 6This service will operate hourly on Mon to Fri with the first run being a short journey Hexham (this service is purely to for to get to Galashiels for the first service to Newcastle as opposed to a 90 minute dead run, they might only make acouple of pound though even still is better than running dead for 90 minutes from Hexham depot or 103 minutes from Riverside depot) leaving at 05:30 with arriving into Galashiels at 07:20 with the first southbound service interworking off that leaving Galashiels at 07.30 (hourly from the to Newcastle till 17:30 followed by the last 3 hexham shorts at 18:30, 19:30 & 20:30) arriving into Newcastle at 10.13, the first full northbound service will leave Newcastle at 7.37 and after that will run hourly till the last northbound run at 17.37 arriving into Galashiels at 20:20. The last full service off Galashiels will be at 17:30 arriving into Newcastle at 20:13 there will be 3 short trips to Hexham at 18:30, 19:30 & 20:30. Additionally there will be another 2 other northbound short leaving Hexham at 6:30 & 7.30.
Ticketing:
All normal GNE fares/pass acceptance will apply on the England part of the route however In Scotland there will be an extra zone added, 5-25 fares will be the same for each side of the border but will increase for cross border journeys, passengers with regular GNE day tickets for England will only be able to travel as far as byreness village with special adult day tickets being available for cross border journeys
Your suggestion could easily be merged with the 680 which runs from Hexham to Bellingham via Acomb and Wall and then onwards up to Galashiels, I would also potentially look a second service following the same up to Jedburgh but then going via Kelso to Berwick-Upon-Tweed. I'd also have these as local services with a few journey's a day in each direction.
I also have this suggestion:
75 - Rothbury - Whitton - Low Hesleyhurst - Nunnykirk - Netherwhitton - Meldon - Walton - Ogle - Ponteland Non Stop To Newcastle
Service would operate 3 morning journey's departing Rothbury at 06:00/07:00 and 8:00 enabling those who work in Newcastle but don't drive a better option to get to/from work, The 3 evening journey's would depart Newcastle at 17:00/18:00 & 19:00 with an approximate journey time of 66 minutes.