(05 Aug 2013, 8:14 pm)gtomlinson wrote But again Daniel it comes down to the Stadium of Darkness being in relatively inhospitable location whereas St James Park is dead bang in the City Centre. It's far easier for 52,000 people to get into a city like Newcastle using their own means than a city like Sunderland, this isn't a dig at Sunderland but its not in the same league in terms of City status as Newcastle
Why use park and ride when you have every major town and city in the region served into 2 bus stations that are a free kick away from the stadium and a train station that ain't much further?
I think you're rather overplaying the 'unhospitable' location of the SoL and the 'free kick away' location of SJP.
Your examples - Eldon Sq & Haymarket are a 12-13 min walk from SJP. Central Station is 19 mins.
Let's look at the obvious comparisons in Sunderland - Wheatsheaf which is served by a fair range of services, 8 mins walk (4-5 mins shorter). Sunderland Station is 21 mins (2 mins longer).
Yes, the walking time from the Interchange is longer, but a number of services stop en route there at the Wheatsheaf, and for those that don't, the Interchange is still only a 27 min walk, which is not substantially more than the 19 mins from Central to SJP, that you indicated to be not an unreasonable distance).
(All walking times derived from Google)