(16 Oct 2025, 4:36 pm)Storx wrote You'll never convert people to bus users, because of the simple fact it's a bus.

Unless it runs direct, people aren't going to be sitting on there going around the houses and if it doesn't go round the houses then it has no people. P&R at Rail and Metro sites are the long term answer for this imo.

You just have to look at how well the stations on the Northumberland Line are doing for that and Callerton Parkway on the Metro is also always well used. 

Sadly there's not really any sensible P&R South of the Tyne as by the time you get to the Metrocentre and/or Heworth you're past most the traffic and might aswell do the rest of it. Similar discussion at Regent Centre, Four Lane Ends and Northumberland Park which are generally pretty poorly used. The last which has been shut for months now.

The fact is though that these workers are literally being forced into converting to bus users, and the improvements which will be required to accommodate them all are the same improvements which will persuade other car users onto the bus. There isn't a choice for most of these people, they cannot continue driving to work, and if buses are to cope with the demand this will cause then changes will be required in some shape or form. 

There are a significant number of routes in the NE which go directly into Newcastle, pretty much using the route you'd take in a car, with only an initial 5-10 minute walk to a stop. The GNR, Durham Road, and Coast Road corridors (and the extensions north/south from some of these) are core examples. These corridors all serve large populations of people, and realistically much more could be done to improve their services. Be that additional express services (maybe a Coast Road express...), additional measures to improve timekeeping, or additional capacity.

I'd also be surprised if this is the last big jump in increased patronage into/out of the city centre. The housing and/or industrial projects at The Helix, Forth Banks, and the CAV/General will all have more people living or working within the city centre within the next few years - and most of those people will need transport.