(12 Nov 2023, 2:42 pm)54APhotography wrote I think what is being overlooked here is the 685 is a very different animal to both South Tyne Valley services and the train.
It serves Blucher, Walbottle, Throckley, Hendon, Corbridge and Dilston.
Can see the bus appealing with Stagecoach day/mega riders, the 685 does offer pretty much Tyneside wide connections where they connect around Eldon Square.
Still not sure even during the strike 30 mins frequency would be worth while. Stagecoach would be better off registering a service from Blackett St via Central, Bensham, MetroCentre, Blaydon, Prudhoe and Stocksfield, run it via Askew and don't bother with the 100 at all.
They're all tiny hamlets though, it's an awkward area to serve because there's not much in the area. The 685 is technically 3 BPH between Throckley and Newcastle, if you count the X82 aswell which does the same route pretty much.
I'm not suggesting that Stagecoach should run it but a good service South of the Tyne would be
Prudhoe -> Crawcrook -> Ryton -> Blaydon -> NON STOP -> Newcastle and give those communities a quicker route skipping out the Metro Centre like the 604 used to do before GNE scrapped it.
Something like - https://www.google.com/maps/dir/54.97041...?entry=ttu
Then you could potentially scrap the 10B and have the 10 every 30 minutes aka 602 and 10A every 30 minutes, 15 minutes combined.