(25 Jun 2023, 11:17 am)V514DFT wrote Or they could just not do that, why do that when the obvious choice would be the 353, remember, it used to go to Whitley Bay, i dont know why both the 353 and 354 need to go to North Shields,or why one cant go to North Shields via Whitley Bay to offer a kind of "loop" service, a bit like what Arrivas old X8/X9 used to do,granted those didnt go to North Shields, then time the 51 (or whatever its going to become IF its being replaced) to connect with the 353
I always wonder if the 53/54 swap around was to cover the 57/57A cutting back at Whitley Bay.
Cramlington lost it's link to North Shields when the 57/57A was cut, so they moved the 53 there to cover it and then pushed all the Cramlington to Whitley Bay traffic onto the one route rather than splitting it.
I know it's off topic but I still think the 57/57A and 317 (or at the least the North Shields to Cramlington section) should be merged together. Then you wouldn't need a Cramlington to North Shields / Whitley Bay especially if you sent the 57A via Fern Drive which wouldn't add any time.
Could then do something like this to cover most of the remaining 317, 335, 53 and 342 and offer more links, there's arguably nothing lost - https://www.google.com/maps/place/Benton...?entry=ttu