(28 Jun 2025, 11:12 pm)Storx wrote Replying here as it's the right place, personally I'd do the opposite and split the 301/97 again and merge the 96/X32 into it so you'd end up with a network something like this:
6: Newcastle to Stanley, additionally serving Laburnum Drive (Every 30 Minutes)
96: Gateshead to Metrocentre (Every 30 Minutes)
97: Gateshead (only) to Metrocentre additionally serving Lobley Hill (Every 30 Minutes)
X97: Newcastle to Whickham Loop via Dunston Hill (Every 30 Minutes)
X30/X31/X70/X71: All via Lobley Hill serving all stops until Saltwell Road
X32: Omit Lobley Hill and join A1 at Team Valley and give a true express from Stanley to Newcastle (Hourly)
96/97: Every 15 minutes combined
There's more than enough buses crossing the water from Gateshead to Newcastle, we don't need more. What you do with the 301, is open and it sorts the mess of the X30/X31/X32/X70/X71/X72 all going different ways and being generally quite confusing.
But still absolutely nothing from Whickham or Sunniside along the Scots wood Road and the various employers along there.
Sick of sounding like a broken record, but operators need to think differently and not just adapt or tweak the existing network that existed since the year dot.
Sending a bus left or right at a junction and replacing it (or even not) shouldn't be the important factor here.
It's surely about looking at what isn't connected and opening up those new opportunities.