(16 Mar 2014, 4:18 pm)aureolin wrote I'd hardly say that late buses are an occasional issue. Maybe they're not 'late' in the operator's definition of the word (up to 5 minutes late), but when you've got, in some cases, three buses due to depart the same stand in the space of 5 minutes, then it's a persistent problem.

The general rule for most bus stations is that there must be a 5 minutes gap between services off stands for companies (hence why one trip of Stagecoach on Teesside's 13 service goes off stand 19 in Middlesbrough during the week as there's a Hartlepool service 1 timed to leave the normal stand (20) at the same time).

And there lies another problem that could be mentioned about Park Lane but not Gateshead and Middlesbrough - there's little layover space there compared to Gateshead and a lot less than in Middlesbrough. Not uncommon for buses in Middlesbrough to sit in the layover bays while waiting for their stand to clear and that includes (the very limited) number of services that don't terminate there (which is now down to just 4 Stagecoach services and no Arriva services).