(28 Dec 2021, 7:48 pm)L469 YVK wrote Yeah, but can't do nothing if all of a sudden out of the blue a surge of traffic hits the roads around the MetroCentre or tailbacks on the Redheugh Bridge.
No operator can reasonably foresee such events although they do happen. They can have contingencies in place when such events are a common occurance.
It's like before the A19 / Silverlink interchange was sorted, the 309 & 310 were a lottery. Some nights absolutely fine, others wall to wall traffic with very severe delays. And that was even with some generous running time added.
I know there's delays around the metrocentre on a weekend. Just as GNE do.
Ditto with delays around TVTE at home time on an evening or when DFS have a sale on.
Queues on the Redheugh Bridge aren't a new thing either. Early morning, early evening, when there's a gig at the arena or if there's a match on... They happen and GNE's answer is to divert a bus away from it along centrelink. It could be about finding out where the cars are coming from or going to. But it's not.
At Silverlink, the authorities that be realised there was an issue north-south. So they created an underpass. I've not seen a bus operator come up with an alternative or create new links which meant all that work wasn't needed. All I see is the same east - west routes connecting the town with the coast.
At the Redheugh, they built the flyover 25+ years ago. Yet the bus network in the area is pretty much as it was 35+ years ago...
Queues of traffic beyond accidents aren't a new thing. They're not an unusual thing and should be managed in a manner which is a lot more pro-active and positive than sticking a bus in to the PVR, reducing frequency, adding more running time or shouting for more bus priority measures.
There's a reason people are in their cars and it's time operators did more about getting them out of them.