(14 Feb 2026, 1:49 pm)Storx wrote Plenty other corridors around which fit that criteria which isn't Gosforth High Street which would share electric buses out more evenly which don't only benefit Newcastle and Gateshead.
Coast Road - 306/7/8/9 (Blyth / Whitley Bay / North Shields / Tynemouth)
West Road - 37/38/39/40 (Killingworth / Wallsend)
Chillingham Road - 62/63 (Outer West / Killingworth)
Chester Road - 2 (Washington)
Ryhope Road - 60 (Seaham)
Shields Road (North) - 22/39/40/301 (Whitley Bay / Tynemouth / North Shields / Wallsend)
Shields Road (South) - 27 (South Shields / Jarrow / Hebburn)
Just to throw a few out there.
Cycling the same, where's the investment in the West and East Ends?
Sure but they can’t be all done over night so you have to prioritise.
Coast Rd does or did have high pollution levels and there had been hybrids and ‘micro-hybrids’ on the 306 & 308 before Arriva shipped them elsewhere, (the hybrids to Leeds to comply with their CAZ). Coast Rd certainly warrants EVs and bus priority measures. There was BSIP funding to implement the latter but no political will to do so, so the funding sits unspent.
West Rd did have hybrids on the 39 & 40 previously, and that corridor certainly could do with EVs too and other measures put in place to tackle congestion & prioritise active travel and public transport.
Gosforth High St however has been an Air Quality Management Area for a number of years now so perfectly understandable for routes through there to be prioritised.
Newcastle and Gateshead would obviously naturally be higher priority for EV buses, however to keep the rest of the region happy the operators in conjunction with NECA made sure the latest ZEBRA funding would be applied to routes covering each of the NECA area.
Cycling investment in the East and West Ends - see Heaton Rd and Benwell Lane.
Elswick Rd is in the works, and hopefully eventually Newton Rd one day. Unfortunately progress is slow due to peacemeal funding, lack of political will and the usual outcry from drivers causing resistance.