PB0003954/1221
Variation GO NORTH EAST LIMITED 301 (301A) Whitley Bay Metrocentre


PB0003954/285
Variation GO NORTH EAST LIMITED 53 (54) Newcastle Newcastle

(3 hours ago)Michael wrote PB0003954/1221
Variation GO NORTH EAST LIMITED 301 (301A) Whitley Bay Metrocentre


PB0003954/285
Variation GO NORTH EAST LIMITED 53 (54) Newcastle Newcastle

Interesting, I hope it's an amendment of route and frequency for the 53/54 as the reliability of the service in it's current guise is utterly shocking given I use both on a daily basis to/from work and change has been long overdue. 

Personally I would remove the circular nature of the 53/54 and have them no longer serving the Newcastle/Gateshead Quayside as since this change a few years back it has had a negative impact on the services and I wouldn't have them run over the Tyne Bridge as they used to either.

I would them run normal route between Gateshead Interchange and Market Street and a loop around Pilgrim Street, New Bridge Street, John Dobson Street and back on Market Street where they would have layover.

You could keep the PVR of 6 and have a frequency of Every 10 Minutes in each direction which would better suit demand and frequency that is actually required on these services as they're operating below the minimum required service level at present.

As for the 301/301A changes I'd imagine this will be timetable related to improve reliability as I don't think running up Bensham Bank to Gateshead Interchange to the double back along Askew Road and over Redheugh Bridge is an acceptable routing to simply to avoid City Centre Works when you have other services that are following normal routes over Tyne Bridge without issues but then on the flipside of the coin in the morning peaks they're doing this in both directions to provide students with better connectivity to Newcastle College which does make sense however I do think perhaps introducing a NC301 Service starting and terminating at Newcastle College in the peak period thus providing less inconvenience to other passengers across the route as clearly there is demand there to do would be beneficial.  

I also can't see why prior to this routing change Go North East could not of served one of the stops on Pilgrim Street/New Bridge Street due to being unable to serve the usual stop on Market Street rather than adding an extra 10-15 minutes onto the journey and an extra bus/driver to the PVR to compensate for this on the MetroCentre-Whitley Bay Services.

Hopefully all in all the changes are positive ones but I am not going to hold my breath as it is Go North East with Ninky Nonk Nigel in charge.

I’d be very surprised if the route omits the Quayside