(22 Apr 2023, 9:08 am)F114TML wrote This is the same in Sunderland - you get loads of people getting on and asking for a single to the town - you'll sometimes enter fawcett street with over 20-30 people on yet four is a lot of people staying on through (16 is the exception cos of the hospital), yet apparently no one goes there. If that were true, surely the 18 and 99 would be well used?
The problem is you also can't get a parking space at all the retail parks and supermarkets which is an awful lot more than 30 people.
The simple fact is people aren't using the buses at all because they can't.
The 18 is infrequent and doesn't serve the places either so it no use same as the 99. People don't want to go into Sunderland unless they have no choice there's nothing there, same as Hartlepool (which is even worse).
If people want car usage down and people using public transport a good start would be to have the public transport going to the place where people actually want to be.
Why not have a bus station at Teesside Park instead of Stockton / Middlesbrough. Why not have a bus station at the Tindale Crescent instead of Bishop Auckland. The Metro Centre does well there's no reason why they can't either and all arguably more central for people changing anyway. Same as Silverlink.