(13 Apr 2025, 10:00 am)Coastliner700 wrote The way I’d do it is as follows::
61: Chapel House - Hillhead - Westerhope - Fenham - City Centre - Shields Road - Heaton - Four Lane Ends
Replacing 72
(Every 20 minutes )
62 as now (every 20)
63 as now except via Cowgate ( every 20)
64 : Newbiggin Hall - Westerhope - Fenham - City Centre - Shields Road - Four Lane Ends
Replacing 87 and every 20 minutes
This way you’ve increased the core of 62/63 in frequency and ammended the 72/87 to hopefully improve performance. You’ve also got further options by making the 62/63 direct from Killingworth - Four Lane Ends and allowing 61/64 to cover those parts as was the case in mid 90s 61 went to Longbenton 64 to Forest Hall
Yeah must admit I was thinking something like that but didn't want to suggest it as I thought someone might get the knives out as I removed the West Denton to Fenham link (unsure how well it's used though).
Mind that 63/64 is well setup for the future and could easily join each other when they bother to finish off the link for the new housing estates around Callerton. They pretty much terminate at both ends.
I was also thinking of binning the 87 route entirely, is it actually needed? The 6/7 do most of it or is there such a massive demand from Stamfordham Road to Newbiggin Hall? It's all it does really.
Could you maybe look at something totally different and do something maybe like - https://www.google.com/maps/dir/55.01288...50!1m0!3e0 which would open new links and take over the M71 subsidy. Whether the demand is there, who knows but there's arguably 2 destinations at both ends where people might want to be.