(16 Oct 2025, 8:07 pm)DaveFromUpNorth wrote interesting about the 56...

I would mix it up...

56 All stopping service as normal
N56 leave it as it is
X56 All stops Newcastle to Gateshead Interchange than Non stop to Concord then all stops from Concord to Sunderland (Driver can go any route dictated by management aka ticket machine)

x56 only runs 7am -9am and 4pm-7pm on a 3 month trial.

departs 2 minute after the 56 (slow bus)  so it follows in Newcastle city Centre basically  and gives the driver option to tell people get the bus behind it is quicker and by doing this you speed both services up in theory in terms of unloading

Please no. We need to stop this short-termism. You can't expect people to start using a service, when those who provision it don't even have any faith in it. I'm glad they're doing some proper planning for once, and hopefully they can develop a proper strategy, instead of the usual tinkering around the edges and guesswork.

(16 Oct 2025, 8:07 pm)DaveFromUpNorth wrote Running a dedicated college bus on a service route becomes a problem when college isnt there.

Same as school buses how many normal passengers board... 

if there is a dedicated public service bus everyone can benefit from the cost of £45ph it runs a bus service per bus (ish). creating College only buses means services tax payers have to fund I prefer to see services become popular enough for commercial buses to operate even with a part subsidiary  at least the operator has tried that is the key! 

creating bus services that are self sufficient or if may need a 25% or 50% or even 40% subsidiary but the evidence is there and it is to be reviewed

we need Nexus secured services model to change basically

The college is there though, 39 weeks of the calendar year.

I don't understand most of the rest of your point, I'm afraid. Colleges gain a new intake of students every year, and those students will always be predominantly 16-18, so they should be your 'low hanging fruit' for public transport usage, to coin a management phrase.

Maybe if you show them at that age that public transport can be efficient, instead of them sitting on a bus 45 minutes before changing on to another, for a journey that should (and could!) take 20 minutes max.