(29 Jul 2021, 5:14 pm)Kuyoyo wrote Since most other changes have been leaked now, having seen the Washington Briefing:
Little Pinks network is being simplified - the current 81/82/83/84/85/86 are replaced by:
new 82 linking Birtley, Portmeads, Ayton Dunnock Drive, Lambton, Galleries, Sainsburys, Glebe, Washington Village and Barmston Court every 30 minutes - Team Farm and Waterview Park are additionally served Monday to Saturday daytime
new 84 linking Rickleton, Harraton, Ayton, Lambton, Galleries, Sainsburys, Biddick, Barmston Waskerely Road, Barmston Village Centre, Peel and Spout Lane to Concord every 20 minutes - effectively replacing the 81 and parts of the 83/84. Heworth to Concord via Lingley Lane, Follingslby, Usworth and Donwell is withdrawn without replacement
new 85 linking Concord, Oxclose, Galleries and Sainsburys every 20 minutes (interworking with the 84 at Concord) - additionally serving The Drive between Concord and Donwell in place of the current 84
Washington will lose operation of the 5 to Deptford while taking on operation of the 26 from Riverside - the 26 will be extended to Lukes Lane via Hebburn replacing the 9 and reinstating the old 88 service (H1/H2 withdrawn as a result), the 26 will interwork with the 50 in South Shields (5 will interwork with the 9 at Jarrow)
One X1 an hour will be extended from Easington Lane to Peterlee via South Hetton, and one an hour to Dalton Park
So to take the positives out of that first:
- X1 having alternative terminus points is a bonus. although I'm not convinced how widely they'd be used. Dalton Park maybe more than Peterlee. I wonder if the changes are more out of operational convenience, than genuinely providing new links out of demand.
- The nonsensical arrangement of the locals being split at the Galleries being dropped. This was never thought through imo, because if it was, they'd have realised that Nexus won't publish the connections on their timetables at stops. Hardly a good way of encouraging bus use!
And the negatives:
- The new 82 terminating at Waterview Park makes no sense whatsoever, when between the Galleries and the terminus, it only serves Glebe (which already has the 8 to Waterview Park) and Washington Village. The Village is largely resident to those of a retirement age, who either spent their time in the village or make shopping trips. To give them a half hourly service to somewhere with nothing but a Civil Service office, in lieu of a service to the main high street in Washington, makes zero sense IMO.
- I'd have to see it on a map or something, but the 84 route sounds a bit odd, with what sounds like a loop of Heworth Road, Wellbank Road and the Drive being cobbled on. If the plan is to serve that loop between Spout Lane and Concord, then its a ridiculous diversion for customers travelling to Concord, so I wonder if the plan is to effectively serve Concord twice?
- 85 changes mean that Brady Square lose their bus service, despite once being a terminus. It also removes the travel connection between the three villages in the Ward.