(16 Apr 2022, 8:31 am)MurdnunoC wrote If the BSOG becomes directly linked to the BSIP then competition along the Coast Road will cease as funding won't cover the duplication of services and I can't see either ANE or GNE retaining a service for the reasons of pride or as an attempt to save face. If Percy Main becomes an untenable prospect, GNE won't think twice about shutting it down.

Other than the 308 & 309 common section between Blyth and Rake Lane, there'd not really be much duplication with partnerships & integrated ticketing, with the common section between Haymarket and Station Road forming a core 5 minute frequency (based on all routes running every 20 minutes) with all routes then doing their own thing after.

The 308 & 309 would combine up to every 10 minutes between Blyth and Rake Lane, with buses towards the Coast between Newcastle and Station Road combining every 6-14 minutes due to the timing differences between the 308 & 309.

If GNE really wanted to try and takeover the Coast Road back in the day, the then 'new' 58 back in 2008 should've been what it was between Heworth and Newcastle then at the time, the 309 route to Blyth (via Selby Gardens, Willington Square and Silverlink) as it was back then. As for the other routes, the 315 & 316 not re-numbered to 75/76 but revised to omit Hadrian Park with the 305 kept.