(11 May 2023, 11:55 pm)DaveFromUpNorth wrote 335 is actually a busy service with standing room only on occasions through Battlehill. It is a key commuter for Quoram and FLE although going through Longbenton estate could be chopped and go direct from FLE to Quorum would save time
East of Hadrian Park it serves estates and roads that no other services operate through
335 could possibly be on borderline a profitable service imo
Similar loadings to the 342
Aye I get what your saying but imo they could be better the 53/335 are too similar at the Eastern side and if both are subsidised then arguably it'd be better to merge it. Personally if I was trying to do something I'd try and do something like the below map:
Which is the following:
19 (Light Turquoise) - Every Hour, No Changes
19A (Dark Turquoise) - Every Hour, Replacement for sections of the 54 and 342 offering more fast Cobalt links.
51 (Red) - Every 30 Minutes, No Changes
52 (Light Blue) - Every 30 Minutes, No Changes
53 (Light Purple) - Every Hour, Merged with 335 at Eastern Side
53A (Dark Purple) - Every Hour, Partially Merged with 342 at Southern Side, restore all Wallsend to Cramlington links.
54 (Orange) - Every Hour, Partial replacement of 335/54. Offers new links from Howdon to Battle Hill, keeps the Gosforth to Killingworth links and offers links to Quorum from all the estates plus a bus service from Meadway to Newcastle albeit slow.
55 - Withdrawn, Meadway served by 54, rest has other services.
W2 - Withdrawn, 51 upped to every 30 minutes instead.
335 - Withdrawn, replaced by 53/54
342 - Withdrawn, replaced by 19A/53A
It imo offers much more than what's there now and keeps the core links between places. The only lost direct link is Killingworth to Whitley Bay but they can change onto the Metro. The 51 would also become much more attractive, the route has potential imo if it was actually pushed now the 54 duplicate from Shiremoor in both directions is removed.