(29 Jul 2021, 5:56 pm)Adrian wrote 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.
My reading of the changes is that the Heworth Road-The Drive-Wellbank Road part of the current 84 route will move to the 85 (with presumably a change on Wellbank Road with the 85 bus heading to / from Blue House Lane rather than to Donwell?). The new 84 route will simply terminate at Concord. If this is correct it means that the 85 will be rerouted away from the bottom part of Blue House Lane and therefore will no longer serve the stops opposite the Miners bungalows.