Hi everyone,

I’ve recently moved to Newcastle from the North West, and I’ve been quite surprised by how public transport information is presented and communicated here.

Back in Greater Manchester, even before the Bee Network launched, Transport for Greater Manchester ensured that every bus stop had clear, high-quality timetables. You could (and still) pick up printed timetable leaflets for every route from local travel centres - simple, accessible, and very user-friendly.

Neighbouring authorities like Lancashire County Council and Blackburn & Darwen Borough Council follow a similar approach, and it certainly helps that they allow operators like Transdev to produce their own high quality publicity and materials.

So I’m wondering: why isn’t this the case in the North East?

From what I understand, Nexus is meant to promote and coordinate public transport in Tyne and Wear, but they don’t seem to be doing that effectively. If a small borough council like Blackburn can maintain good-quality passenger information, why can’t a large body like Nexus?

At the roadside, information seems minimal and often poorly formatted, with no real effort made to present data clearly or consistently. Printed materials are almost non-existent, even though I realise this is technically up to the operators. Still, the absence of even a basic network map not even a PDF version online is quite disappointing.

It makes me wonder how new or occasional users are supposed to get to grips with the local transport network at all - as its actually decent if you know what you are looking for. 

Frankly, apart from Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, Nexus seem among the weakest in the UK when it comes to publicity and passenger information.

Appreciate there is bus reform on the horizon, but that is years off