(13 Oct 2025, 5:38 pm)Shrek wrote We must see them at different times. The Q3 always seemed to have enough passengers on it when I see it, though granted nowhere near as many as the Arriva routes that do the GNR.
I don't often travel from Great Park, but on the three times recently I've waited for the X47 there's been big delays. Really the Q3, even with it's detour through Jesmond could be a quicker journey for those willing to walk to it.
I see them around 07:15-07:40, but even the ones I see outside my usual commute look to be the same. Appreciate there will likely be a couple later into the peak which might do better, but one or two trips a day with a decent loading surely cannot justify a 20 minute frequency for much longer.
The X47 has nowhere near enough time in it in the peaks, and is just about right during the day - but any delays and the entire thing is a shambles. The Sunday timetable may as well not exist, they run in pairs and neither of them are at the time they should be. The X47 does carry far larger passenger loadings into/out of Great Park than I ever remember the Q3 taking, the same cannot be said for the 49 though.
A walk across the bridge and an Arriva express from Brunton Lane tends to be quicker than both the Q3 and X47, time of day dependent for the latter. It's what I do after a match, as Stagecoach seem to be playing a game of allocating the smallest available vehicle, while Arriva run multiple dupes. Given the amount of people who get off with me at Brunton Lane and start the walk over the A1, I'd say it's a fairly common thing.
(13 Oct 2025, 6:13 pm)L469 YVK wrote If NGP does eventually get adopted by the council, are GNE & Arriva not free to run their own commercial services through Great Park?
Believe they would be, though I doubt Arriva would bother. Realistically they'd have to divert an express, or send a 44/45 on a detour to slow them down even more.
GNE could send the Q3 back over, but realistically the main issue with that was the Jesmond diversion - and that still exists.
There's probably not enough need for any more services from GP to Newcastle without harming the sustainability of the X47, so unless GNE/Arriva offered something which did something completely different I think it would be futile.