(13 Apr 2025, 6:25 pm)markydh wrote The issues in the outer west are that it’s a bit awkward to design a public transport network that doesn’t have lots of different bus numbers. Estates were never designed with public transport in mind and are mostly in/out via the same road. Stagecoach are pretty conservative when it comes to network reviews, so I don’t think they’ve ever really done an assessment of travel patterns in Newcastle and whether or not certain end to end routes make sense in the 2020s, always keeping in mind that the idea is to encourage people to use public transport, not a creeping managed decline. To be honest I don’t think anything major will change until about five years after a franchising scheme has been introduced because that’s when enough data will have been collected across all the services currently operated by all the various operators and informed decisions can be made. So, for example, who is to say that a route currently operated by Stagecoach in west Newcastle can’t be merged with a route currently run by Arriva up the Great North Road?
Yeah agreed there to be honest, the North / South routes are the routes which I'd be more interested in though, could you maybe look at merging something like the 21 and 43/44/45 together and give a massive cross city route just to pluck something out.
Similar case could be made for the Coast Road and West Road maybe, would open up space at the bus stations for more terminating routes, the likes of the 71 etc if they still exist. The 1/22 is the most obvious though for merging though since they duplicate each other between Howdon and Newcastle bar a small variant in the Walkergate / Walkerville area.
(13 Apr 2025, 6:41 pm)V514DFT wrote 62/63 go every 30 from Four Lane Ends
and combine it with the 37/38, I'd then extend the 38 to Killingworth via East Bailey, that then gives both Baileys a service to Central, then return route it would turn right onto Forest Hall Road, nit doing that bonkers routing the 356 does
I know this is a bit off topic but I'd be tempted to change the whole network around there and do something like:
62: Every 20 Minutes, Terminate at Longbenton (do a loop)
63: Every 20 Minutes, Additionally serve Benton Square, and terminate at Forest Hall (do the Meadway Loop)
64: Every 20 Minutes, Extend direct to Killingworth via Quorum and loop around Killingworth
37: Every 20 Minutes, Run direct to Killingworth via X63 route from South Gosforth
38: Every 20 Minutes, Extend to Killingworth via 63 Route from Four Lane Ends
18: Every 30 Minutes, Extend to Cramlington via 37 Route from Four Lane Ends
X37 (Current X63): Peaks only - daytime replaced by 37
There's no lost links but just tidies things up a little bit, there's an awful lot of duplication currently if you ask me, and gives a faster like from Byker and beyond to Quorum and Killingworth which is the only place they're likely to be going rather than having to wander around Benton or Longbenton and opens new links from Cramlington and Burradon rather than duplicating the X8 pretty much on a longer route.