(27 Jul 2022, 11:09 pm)Rapidsnap wrote In most workplaces, people buddy up and get lifts off co-workers.Suprised you were able to use link up outside of your area. I worked at Doxford Park at the time and I wasn't allowed to use the Sunderland link up as my home address was South Shields and was restricted to South Tyneside only.
Example, my mam works at North Tyneside Hospital, she doesn't drive. We live approx 4 miles by road away from it. She either gets lifts from her collegues in the mornings, and usually home in the afternoon. If my brother finishes work on time (usually dependent on whether the electric knitting stays up on the East Coast Main Line) he usually picks her up. Rare occasions I may pick her up, but my shift patterns usually conflict with hers. Only as a last resort she gets a bus to work, and it's 2 buses there and 2 back, it is possible to travel to the hospital on a single bus, but the 317 goes all around North Shields before it goes anywhere near the hospital, and it even loops around the back of it before it gets there.
Another example is people I work with, if they are going in the same direction as me or live somewhere thats only takes a few minutes, I offer them a lift to near their home or to a location where they have more options for their final leg home (so they only need to get one bus instead of two).
I know from experience that Evening travel for a worker is a nightmare, especially before I learned to drive, I used to work all over Tyne and Wear for Coral, one location regularly worked in was Horsley Hill, I would finish there around 2130 and usually I would have to change twice. Usually it was a bus from Horsley Hill to South Shields, then Metro from South Shields to Jarrow or Gateshead, then bus to where I live from respective locations. When Nexus came out with the Demand Responisive LinkUp buses for everyone to use, it was brilliant, I signed up for it and actually booked it a few times from Horsley Hill to Jarrow because my Network Travelticket was valid on it, it meant I only needed to change buses once. The idea was good in theory, but they used Optare Solos, and cost cuts killed the service off. Tees Flex is a similar idea (don't know if it runs so late), but LinkUp ran up to around midnight, and as long as there wasn't a direct bus available at the time, you could book a journey on it with in a certain zone usually to a bus or metro station. They should look at bringing it back, using Sprinters or even electric minibuses.
If anyone needs reminding of a Link Up Bus, this is one of them not long after the service was launched - https://www.flickr.com/photos/gjm-photog...9857304481
Agree it was probably the best DRT service ever introduced