(7 hours ago)PH - BQA wrote Having experienced the Coast Road services today for the first time in a while, my experience was such that I felt the need to get home and immediately write a big 'the Coast Road needs Olympians again' suggestion post.

The 1503 308, which I had boarded, and the 1458 307 left Haymarket together at 1505. The 308 followed the 307 out, and stayed behind until the routes diverged at Battle Hill. The 308 was certainly a full seated load, I'm assuming with standees downstairs, and the 307 displayed 'Bus Full' from Northumbria Uni (though kept it displayed until Battle Hill at least, despite there definitely being seats available by the time it got there!).

The traffic out of Newcastle until the Corner House was the main reason for delays on the 308 in particular, it lost about 10 minutes through that section and despite the high passenger loadings only lost another 2 minutes overall (arriving into Blyth +12 according to Bustimes). We stopped at virtually every stop to either drop off or pick up, or both, but mostly only a couple at each. The bus didn't really start to empty, at least upstairs, until Whitley Bay/Seaton Sluice.

I'm aware it's been suggested countless times before, but I think an express version of the 308 would go a long way to helping the corridor, and provide a better experience to both those using it for shorter and longer trips. My thinking would be all stops between Blyth and Whitley Bay (Foxhunters) as the 308 currently is and then express to Newcastle via the A192 and A1058, serving only at Silverlink/Cobalt on the way.

Thinking is largely summarised by the following points:
- Express bus to Newcastle for those living in Seaton Sluice, and the parts of Whitley Bay which aren't close to the Metro
- Express bus to Silverlink/Cobalt all day from Newcastle
- Makes the corridor more appealing for those working/living along it, as journey times reduce and reliability should improve.
- Similar to the Durham corridor, allow the 306/7/8/9 to act like the 21, and the 'X38' to act like the X21. People who are travelling further enjoy some non-stop sections and better journey times, and those needing shorter hops still have that option without the bus being full of people going virtually end-to-end.

Not sure whether it's just a tracking error but checking tracking it appears there's been:

• 14:40 308 - Cancelled
  
• 14:45 309 - Started short at New York
  
• 14:50 306 - Cancelled
  

I used to live on that corridor around 10 year ago and that doesn't sound normal at that time of day so wouldn't be surprised if it's the case. The buses are generally quiet beyond Whitley Bay normally (I live the next village across so always see them).

There's definitely no need for a 308, 309 and X38 beyond Whitley Bay, 3 BPH would be more than enough really, like it pretty much was (4 BPH) until the Cobalt Clipper came along.

Edit: Both of those we're 100% cancelled/cut though as:
6104 - https://bustimes.org/vehicles/gnel-6104?.../662329755 - Never got to Newcastle
7637 - https://bustimes.org/vehicles/anum-ane-7...2024-12-17 - Clearly dead ran to Tynemouth
7617 is the other bus but the Blyth leg is missing from tracking, don't see why it wouldn't have ran though tbh.