(22 May 2022, 10:33 pm)BusLoverMum wrote I can't think of anything more offputting than having to walk even further to catch your bus or from your bus to home with heavy bags of shopping.

This is another batshit idea that only considers the start and end of the route. If the people in between are served even less well than they are already, then the rot will spread.

I totally agree with this. When we're supposedly trying to encourage modal shift towards buses, making it even less convenient to use them is not going to go in your favour at all. You generally don't have a 10-15 minute walk either side of parking your car, so why should you for a bus.

The problem imo is that too many routes try and do too much. We don't really have an express network outside of the Tyne/Tees X10, and even that now is becoming more and more a local bus service. Whereas ideally you'd have local services feeding into interurban express links.

If there's a genuine end-to-end travel pattern from say Newcastle to Sunderland for example, then a limited stop express service should be provided. If it's more a case of travel patterns looking like Newcastle to Washington, Gateshead to Wrekenton, Washington to Houghton, for example, then you end up with a pretend express service like the X1.