(9 hours ago)Andreos1 wrote I personally thought the Chester Road corridor was over-served by routes basically following each other and very little in the way of actual destinations. 

If you live anywhere other than Sunderland City Centre or Shiney Row, there's nothing to attract you to make that modal switch to/from the hospital.

Why bother getting 2 buses and the inevitable hike from one part of Park Lane to another (or worse, another part of the city centre), when you can use the car, get a taxi or utilise patient transport?

Or, in the case of the Pennywell offering - those living there, have a better choice of routes/destinations with SNE. 

I'd have thought all the forecasting they did in preparation, would have identified those issues myself mind.

Chester Road Is the Gosforth High Street argument. It looks over subscribed with buses, but it isn't as those buses are using the quickest route in to Sunderland from various places which cannot be connected themselves in a reasonable manner.

Everyone wants a direct link to the hospital *just incase*. Most people don't go to hospital on a regular basis to justify direct links from everywhere. The most important bus journeys to/from Hospitals are for workers - not patients or visitors. Operators should concentrate on that, for example, I don't see why they can't divert the 32 via the Hospital at shift change times