A rude shock awaited me on my way to work this morning, 6 weeks in to my new job at Percy Main. Bus 19 from Bedlington to Percy Main has been cut. No warning. No notice on the bus stop which is still showing an hourly service. Only when the bus didn’t show up as I waited at Bedlington Station Co-op did I realise something was amiss. Later in the day, I observed bus stops in Tyne & Wear were showing the new timetable – only those in Northumberland were not updated. The route has been cut back to Cramlington, with only one journey per day starting from and returning to Ashington. But leaving Bedlington at 06:40 is too early for my 08:30 start, and returning from Percy Main at 18:09 is too late for my 17:30 finish. Of course, if such a thing as integrated transport existed, this crucial bus from Ashington and Bedlington to Northumberland Park would have been retained until The Northumberland Line opens, to give those who have got jobs at Cobalt or Silverlink and are reliant on public transport a chance of keeping their jobs. But no. Chop the bus 2 years before the replacement rail service is in place. As for me, it’s now a new, and more expensive route to work namely train to Manors, then Metro to Percy Main. A chance to witness for myself how disconnected the interface between National Rail and Metro is at Percy Main. A real opportunity here for a quick win improvement with proper signage and integrated ticket, perhaps with full physical integration of the two stations later.
2 thoughts on “Manors Interchange”
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I really empathise with you on this. I grew up in London where the buses, trams, Tube (Metro) and trains all wove an intricate pattern criss crossing each other an making most parts of London and the Home Counties accessible for jobs. When it is like this here, disjointed and unreliable it forces people into their cars. I love the Northumberland life because its not like my previous life of misery, sitting in nose to tail traffic 24/7, with cars parked nose to tail on every street and damned if you can park outside your own home. We have the space to create a seamless 0% carbon emissions transport system NCC, so let’s start getting folk off the roads before its too late and we end up like did down south in one big, ugly and soul destroying car park sucking the life out of our beautiful green lungs up here. One can only pray. Happy Easter Senruggers!
There was once a Commission for Integrated Transport, established in 1999 under the Integrated Transport White Paper of 1998. The commission spent much money but achieved nothing and was abolished on 14 October 2010.