Having started in 2015, NPTUG meets about four or five times per year, usually at Number One, Strawberry Lane, Newcastle (near St James Metro). The stated aim of the Newcastle branch is to “promote and improve local public transport to make the city a green and pleasant place for everyone.
The group campaigns on issues specific to Newcastle, while also conducting research and informing the public. This is done by dealing with highways, pollution and transport issues which affect residents in Newcastle.
What is a bus safari?
A bus safari is a journey around a city or town using buses, to ascertain what the experience is like for regular users. The bus safari around Newcastle was aimed at exploring the current challenges facing our local bus services.
Newcastle Public transport Users Group was hoping to find what issues there might be and whether there were any particular pinch points.
Bus safari 4 October
It was a windy afternoon, when I met up with members of Newcastle Passengers Transport Users Group at one o’clock at Eldon Square and began the great bus safari. Newcastle city centre was relatively quiet for a Saturday afternoon. What would NPTUG learn from the afternoon on the buses?
Taking bus number 63
Firstly, we took a number 63 bus from Eldon Square. We got to the bus stop at 13:02 and the next bus was due at 13:06. The 63 came at 13:03, either four minutes late or three minutes early, depending on how you look at it.
One of the NPTUG team was in a motorised wheelchair and the bus moved forward to help her get on. There was space for her available on the bus, but she said that the driver wouldn’t take her pass to “bleep it”. because they are not supposed to touch people’s passes. We left the stop at 13:07 and had a long wait at the zebra crossing near Eldon Square.
Blackett Street can be a logjam, but this day it was fairly clear. We soon spotted a number 62 right behind, so the buses were not staggered. The number 62 then passed the 63, it was supposed to be about 10 minutes behind!
The passenger in the wheelchair was sitting facing backwards and she commented on how she hates it. She later commented that she often can’t see important information at the front of buses. Every seat but one was taken and there was one person standing.
At 13:14 the numbers 62 and 63 were next to each other on New Bridge Street, while there was a message to the driver about Claremont Road.
It was notable that the bus lane at the bottom of Shields Road was useful, but there was a lot of traffic up Shields Road and traffic lights. However, the situation at the roundabout at the top of Shields Road was quite good, but the following bus was already on Shields Road.
On Chillingham Road it was busy and there were now three buses on the same route about five minutes apart, when it should be about twenty minutes. Two NPTUG members were on the preceding bus, and it was reported that it was unsurprisingly very quiet.
At 13:24, there was a delay at traffic lights, but it was noticeably quicker up the north end of Chillingham Road. Having crossed the Coast Road, Newton Road was quite quick except for traffic lights.
When we got off near the Four Lane Ends Interchange the driver was again very helpful. With our passenger in a wheelchair. The bus was 12 minutes late. The bus was then stuck in traffic at traffic lights at Four Lane Ends for about a minute.
Number 37 back to Newcastle City Centre
We got to Four Lane Ends Interchange at 13:44 and the notice said that a number 37 was due at 13:49. What was meant to be a major Metro and bus interchange was splattered with pigeon dirt and it was somewhat dilapidated and very deserted with a large queue of traffic outside.
The bus arrived a minute late and we made good time down Benton Park Road, before going quickly through the South Gosforth roundabout and up to Freeman Hospital. Our passenger in the wheelchair commented at this point that sitting backwards meant that she couldn’t see the next stop or bus stopping sign.
We then made good progress through High Heaton with only a few passengers getting picked up. The number 37 had been chosen to see how delayed it might be on the Coast Road around Cradlewell, as it can often get delayed here due to the volume of traffic. This day, however, there wasn’t much traffic, and it was quite quick and the same on down Sandyford Road.
The bus was quiet with not many passengers. It was slowed a little by a Just Eat cyclist in the bus lane at St Mary’s Place, but it didn’t make a great difference.
John Dobson Street was fine, until the City Library area, where there were problems due to buses turning sharply left and also a long distance Flixbus. Indeed there was quite a lot of congestion around the City Library, although I have seen it much worse.
There was also a car in the bus stop at Laing Art Gallery and another Flixbus standing outside the City Library.
We got to Theatre Royal stop at 14:19, which was 28 minutes from Four Lanes End and seven minutes late. The driver was again helpful with our passenger with mobility issues.
Number 31 to West Denton
The number 31 was due 15:23. At 15:09, I saw two Number 1 buses back to back at another stop on Market Street. It was noticeable that there were no bus shelters at all on the westbound side of Market Street, as it began to rain.
The number 31 to Whickham View arrived at 15:14 and again the driver was very helpful with our passenger with a mobility disability. It was noticeable that next to the bus stop was a very cramped pavement with a fence and chairs from a café on the pavement.
This bus was one of the new electric buses and it helpfully included a real time information board.
The journey was quite slow along Grainger Street with traffic lights, but otherwise the road was fairly quiet and there were no problems getting past Central Station with the bus lane helping us past stationary traffic.
The bus was quiet, not many passengers on board. It was a little slower around the Centre for Life. The bus jerked forward suddenly at a roundabout near Newcastle College which had traffic lights due to roadworks. There was quite a long delay. We then made steady progress through Elswick, before more delays due to roadworks coming into Benwell.
In Benwell, our passenger in the wheelchair got off and the gates around her on the bus had to be moved by the driver. However these gates had helped her to feel secure and safe.
The electric bus went very smoothly, although it was remarked that there was no Wi-Fi on board.
Number 1 bus: Scotswood to Heaton
The Number 1 bus arrived at the bus stop on Denton Road at 15:49; it wasn’t clear whether it was the 15.36 bus late, or the 15:53 bus early.
It was quiet through Scotswood, which was not surprising as there are not many houses still standing, but new houses are being built, and many of their residents will need a reliable bus service.
Then at St John’s Close we caught up with another number 1 bus and travelled in convoy towards Newcastle City Centre. At Cruddas Park shops the driver kindly waited for a man running for the bus. Number 1 in front got ahead again but we caught up again near Newcastle College.
The bus was almost deserted by the time we reached the bottom of Westgate Road, as the number 1 bus in front was picking up all the passengers. By Market Street I was the only passenger downstairs.
There was a short delay near the Tyneside Cinema and then we overtook the other number 1 bus. There was still a Flixbus at its stop on John Dobson Street but the journey up John Dobson Street was not too bad. My bus was empty downstairs except for me, from Market Street to John Dobson Street.
A lot of passengers, between 20 and 30 got on at John Dobson Street, suggesting that at least some of them had had a long wait but I couldn’t be certain that was the reason. It was however a relatively quiet Saturday.
At 16:22 we caught up with another number 1 bus at Sandyford Road, which presumably was the number 1 we had overtaken that had then overtaken us on John Dobson Street. Complicated stuff!
We went past it again at Shieldfield, before the other number 1 bus overtook us again on Heaton Park Road. Almost inevitably, we overtook it again at Molineux near Byker.
We arrived at Whitefield Terrace at 16:34, giving a journey time from Denton Road of 45 minutes, which was just about right.
Newcastle City Council must fund the Bus Service Improvement Plan
Alistair Ford, chair of the Newcastle branch of the North East Public Transport Users Group commented:
“Our bus safari was a fun day out, showing how easy, cheap and enjoyable it is to explore Newcastle by bus. But it also served a serious purpose, in showing just how difficult it is for bus drivers to keep to their schedule, given current levels of traffic congestion.
Almost every bus we took was late, and battling through busy city centre traffic, painfully slow at times. It really demonstrated the need for Newcastle City Council to urgently spend the money it has been allocated in the Bus Service Improvement Plan. ”
A quiet Saturday afternoon
This was an interesting experience on what was a relatively quiet Saturday afternoon in Newcastle, without any major events taking place. Even then we saw numerous examples of buses bunched together and as Alistair points out, not a single bus was on time according to the schedule.
None of the buses were particularly busy, but on a busier day with a major event taking place, or perhaps a Saturday nearer Christmas, I could well imagine the bunching up of buses causing those in the front of the convoy to be very packed.
It is to be hoped that improvements can be made soon to help Newcastle bus passengers and drivers have a better experience.
Newcastle Public Transport Users’ Group (NPTUG) is a branch of the wider Northeast Public Transport Users Group.
For more information on the work of Newcastle Public Transport Users’ Group please email newcastle@neptug.org.uk.
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