(28 Apr 2026, 9:12 am)Nerd4321 wrote I dont see how that is the problem or even make use of the station. Bebside area has always been horrible for traffic even before the station opened. The way Bebside is designed is just horrible in a lot of regards with the way the traffic lights & roundabout and going from two lanes to 1 lane its just a mess
In fairness with proper integration there's an argument the 1 shouldn't really exist. All the local links in the Bomersund area (bar Blyth) are covered by the X21 and the Blyth to Bedlington links are covered with the 2. Everyone else should be changing onto the train since it's just duplicating it.
Imo in a proper integrated world, you'd have buses waiting for the train to pull in to take you to your final destination doing the last mile in Blyrh - even the yanks do this. If the fares were integrated can't see many people really complaining about it since you can't stick a railway to everyone's front door. ]
It's a way to reduce cars as people can travel via bus to the station rather than driving there (like now) which causes traffic in Bebside. Right now you've got a fantastic rail service but you can't connect to it because there's no last mile links.
Ironically the 434, 'Northumberland Line Connect', leaves 2 minutes before the train arrives which is just moronic at both Ashington and Bedlington Station, knock the thing back by about 12 minutes and it would connect perfectly in both directions at both stations so there's not exactly much hope.