(07 Nov 2024, 5:42 pm)Malarkey wrote One of the things I would look at doing during the demolition of Gateshead Interchange, which I do agree with as it is far to big for what it is required for is to open a 2nd Bus Gate from Bensham Road across onto Walker Terrace leading onto Jackson Street to High Street, Buses coming from Old Durham/Durham Road would go via High Street direct into Newcastle which additional shelters installed and in turn still bring close connectivity to the Metro/Retail Areas, it would also quicken existing journey times on various routes that go into Newcastle.

There are a few units available on Trinity Square where the likes of the Interchange Newsagents, Dicksons and Carters Butchers could move into, the Greggs in the Interchange can close as you have the bigger unit on Trinity Square, Iceland & Heron Foods would be offered New Units as part of the Interchange Redevelopment Plan.

To be honest I am surprised the local authority have not decided to do the same with Park Lane Interchange in Sunderland, as again it far to big for what it is used for.

If we are going to look at going down the Rapid Transit Route I think only way that would work would be if you closed existing City Centre Multi Storey Car Parks and had those spaces located at sites such as Great Park which are out of the city, it would also strengthen demand of existing services along those corridors and perhaps encourage the switch from car to bus.

Shutting car parks and forcing people to use public transport is not the way to sort out the problems. It's the easiest way to completely kill Newcastle City Centre though.

Park Lane and Gateshead aren't too big either, they're the right size. Haymarket and Eldon Square are too small hence the congestion, overcrowding of stands etc. The rebuild is a complete waste of money but that's nothing new up here where we like wasting money on pointless things rather than fixing the real problems.