(26 Jul 2024, 3:45 pm)omnicity4659 wrote Q3 will no longer serve Great Park, instead terminating on the eastern side of the A1 doing a one-way loop via Brunton Lane, Netherwitton Way, bus gate, Queensway, Princes Road and Polwarth Drive.

The service will operate every 20 minutes, and will remain serving Osborne Road in Jesmond.

At peak times, there will be a Q3X service operating via the Great North Road.

They continue to not listen to the actual feedback regarding the service, if that is the case. 

From what I gather, the biggest issue residents of Great Park currently have with the Q3 is the diversion around Jesmond. Indeed, had they just re-routed via the Great North Road permanently then I'd think it would likely still be serving the western side of Great Park (which is still growing) as of September. 

Posts on Great Park pages suggest that the services operating to the estate do need to become viable without S106 funding sooner rather than later, and I doubt that the Q3 can achieve this operating on a 20-minute frequency to that side of the estate and continuing with Jesmond. 

I used the service today, and my experience was far from ideal. The first bus didn't turn up, the next was a late running 13 year old B9 with NSAs for the "Voltra Q3" - I thought the brand was "Quaycity"? Either way, the clapped out B9 wasn't either and continued to lose time. Majority of passengers used the service from the western side of Great Park, which the service will no longer serve, with only a few from the stop the other side of the A1 bridge. On the way back I paid some attention to loadings through Jesmond, around 6 got off but I think it would be safe to assume that none were fare paying, only one got on, and they all could have made the same journeys with the 35.