(23 Jul 2025, 11:34 pm)logidoodah wrote I think the 38 is the underdog to the 355 in Forest Hall but the 352/353/354 are all the combined underdogs of the 37 from South Gosforth - Cramlington.
The 37 does require deckers even north of FLE at peak times and is VERY well used.
Additionally, the link to Freeman hospital from FLE has never been more accessible so we should be hoping that it stays imo...
In reality I hope the 37/38 get split evenly at 20/20 instead of the 38 (short)/38/37 combined every 10. If marketing is done correctly then passenger numbers can be grown and deckers be warranted at that increased frequency (north of Freeman Hospital).
But this is not a service suggestions thread, there are plenty of those so I won't comment any further on this...
Not sure I agree with that with the 37/38 personally.
imo the 18 should be extended from Longbenton upto Cramlington instead of the 37, it offers new links which the 37 doesn't which is basically just an extended X8 route wise. There probably isn't many people but someone might want to go to Byker, Heaton or Walker from Cramlington or Burradon, they don't want to go to Newcastle via the Freeman.
Personally I'd look at something like this:
which is this, all every 20 minutes bar the 18 which is every 30 minutes:
18: Cramlington to Walker (Purple)
37: Killingworth to Denton Burn via Quorum (Dark Green)
38: Killingworth to Denton Burn via Forest Hall (Light Green)
62: Killingworth to Throckley (Light Red)
63: Meadway to Callerton via Benton Square (Dark Red)
64: Four Lane Ends to Chapel House
X63: Peak Only, 37 is quick enough other times
11: Terminate short at West Denton
It means you get extra capacity on the 62/63 on the core which is overbussed and also moves some people onto the quieter 37/38 so splits the loads out better. I haven't worked it out but wouldn't be surprised if it's not far off being PVR neutral, even less during the day since the X63 is binned off which isn't really needed nowadays.
Edit: The 18/37/38 are meant to be going via the Freeman not Matthew Bank, can't be bothered to fix it.