(01 Jan 2024, 3:43 pm)L469 YVK wrote To be honest, I think the big issue we're battling is the Uber / PCP Rangey Brigade.
Could have a fantastic bus or metro service from an estate into Newcastle....but convincing people in that category yo make the switch is another thing. High car ownership / low deprivation areas are always going to be an uphill struggle.
Prime example although not a housing estate....someome staying at the Village Hotel and wants to head into Newcastle for a few drinks........
- 309 to the City in less than 30 minutes and £2 per head
- 23:45 last bus back to the Hotel
Yet.....see plenty of Nearby, Uber, Blueline cars pulling up outside.
To be fair.....GNE should really be pushing this from their end and engaging businesses. When Sam Fender and Pink was on......plenty of taxis being phoned but no direction to a bus stop literally across the road.
These aren't the problem though, it's a few people going out once a week when the roads are completely dead.
If people want to use taxis that's their choice, it's keeping an industry in place.
It's people using cars to get to work who pretty much have no alternative. Nissan for example is one of the biggest employment sites around, try getting there from Heworth or Fellgate around 2 mile away - it's impossible. Cobalt is the biggest business park, try getting there from Jarrow again around 2 mile away.
Going on the make driving worse to improve public transport better is the wrong approach, what should be done is looking at ways of getting cars out of the centre of Newcastle. For example does it really matter if the A1/A19 loop has 100k cars all around free flowing but the city centre is car free?