This will sound stupid as an idea however in my head a Boxing Day ticket should be made £4.00 however available all day on any mode of transport

Within the core Newcastle and Gateshead area aka the metro system route....

Create special short local services which connects to metro stations and then allow the metro to take the blunt of the core services....

FOR EXAMPLE

A bus service could do a Kenton loop (10/11 6/7) short 30 min loop to Regent Centre...

Another service could have a short loop to Great park and loop back to Regent Centre

Create the Xservices to Northumberland to curtail at Regent Centre to save time

By forcing passengers onto the metro we make useful use of buses of time and effort

Afterall they are already subsidised so a £4 allday ticket is to ease the strain as the metro already operates on a fixed cost

Key Metro Stations hub like

Kingston Park
Regent Centre
Four Lane Ends
Whitley Bay
North Shields
Wallsend
Byker
Heworth

Create a forceful short service but you must connect with the metro to continue key journeys

Technically you could have one bus do a few short local loop services to a metro station as oppose to having them commuting into the city centre

You could technically have the 308 operating a Blyth to whitley bay metro as an example