(Yesterday, 3:01 pm)Adrian wrote Chronicle article has a quote from Stagecoach: "A Stagecoach spokesperson said: 'We have developed a proposal in collaboration with Nexus which could provide a half-hourly bus link to Cleadon Park. This would be delivered through a combination of two bus routes, services 12 and 13 (each running hourly).'"
So they've cut the service, resisted the uproar it's created locally, and then just been handed public money to provide an additional service to make up the half hour frequency? Has this even gone through a competitive tender exercise?
To be fair isn't this the point of the partnership though? If it does involve the 516, then it's a good move imo. There's plenty other contracts around which don't go up for tender, especially evening and Sunday services.
It's certainly better than the other operator who just drops everything and then wins the contracts back on routes they ditched. To make it even worse, then when they lose the same contract, miraculously the bus is commercially viable again like the 67 and 69.
Personally I wish we seen more stuff like this, a partnership has to work both ways imo.
Mind that said, if it does go in that direction, I don't really understand why it's not being ran as a loop rather than two buses terminating in the middle of nowhere. The links to the seafront, could be popular from areas it serves.