(23 Jul 2021, 12:38 pm)Storx wrote Yeah agreed with that if I had to be honest, the services in parts of Whitley are a disgrace and it's no wonder bus usage is high. Monkseaton, Marden and Red House Farm must have some of the worst services in the North East especially the Southern Parts of Monkseaton which has the 57/57A and that's pretty much your lot, similar with Red House Farm which has the hourly 51 and that's your lot it's no wonder car usage is through the roof.
That's why I don't see the point in more expresses to add to the other 7 buses doing the same route through Whitley to Newcastle/Blyth (308 / 309) or the 5 buses between Whitley and Tynemouth doing pretty much the same route (1 / 306).
It's crazy how difficult it is to get to Silverlink, Tynemouth / Shields Morrison's, Monkseaton Sainsbury's and Norham Road Tesco from pretty much everywhere in East North Tyneside, argubly places where people need to get to if they want to shop. Sadly services which used to exist until not too long ago with the 75/76/85/86 before the 310/311 came along which are no better than the services they replaced (or in the case of the 311 cart around fresh air).
If they were instead of, rather than as well as - then an express between the coast and the town might be an idea.
Adding them alongside the existing network is a no-no imo.
However I think the priority is to improve the network across North Tyneside. At some point operators need to realise that not everyone lives and works in the same places their parents or grandparents did 30 years ago.
Bus operators have the advantage over the metro in that case. They can change their network a lot easier and cheaper than the train can.