New year new bus services for South Tyneside

Following customer feedback and to meet travel demand and improve reliability, Go North East will be introducing a number of improvements to its routes and vehicles in South Tyneside in the New Year.

In light of increasing traffic congestion and roadworks which have negatively impacted some services and in-line with customer requests for new connections and in consultation with Nexus and local councillors, the region’s largest bus operator has undertaken a thorough review of its South Tyneside services.

While the changes remove the direct link to South Tyneside Hospital from Luke’s Lane, Hartleyburn Estate and Hebburn North, passengers from the Monkton Lane, Campbell Park Road and Station Road areas of Hebburn will still have a direct service to the Hospital, and Hedgeley Road will also gain a bus to it.

Stephen King, head of commercial and retail at Go North East, explains: “We don’t make changes to our routes lightly and have agreed to make these improvements to help cope with increased congestion and to improve reliability especially following customer feedback regarding delays to our 88/88A services.

“We recognise some of our customers travelling to South Tyneside Hospital may be adversely affected by these changes, which is why we’ll be trialing a new H1 service for the first half of 2018, to see if there is sufficient demand for an ongoing service to cover this area.

“We hope our customers see the benefit of these changes, particularly those who will appreciate more services to Newcastle, the new connections and enjoy the investment we have made in upgrading some of our South Tyneside vehicles.”

From Sunday 28^th January 2018, changes will come into effect, including:

• Increased frequency of the Crusader 27 service, which will operate every 10 minutes between Newcastle, Gateshead, Hebburn and Jarrow. From Jarrow towards South Shields, buses will operate every 20 minutes on the current 27 route via Tyne Dock, and every 20 minutes on the number 26 via South Tyneside District Hospital, replacing service 88/88A.
• The 26 service via South Tyneside Hospital, will also provide new direct links to Newcastle and Gateshead from parts of Jarrow such as Primrose and Scotch Estate.
• Service 9 will no longer operate between Jarrow and North Shields and will instead run from Jarrow to Luke’s Lane via Hebburn; providing a much-requested direct route to Sunderland from Hebburn.
• Those travelling from Jarrow to North Shields will be able to join the newly-extended 5 service.
• The current 88/88A will be replaced between Jarrow and Luke’s Lane by service 9, and between Jarrow and South Shields by the new 26.
• Following a £2m investment in upgrading its vehicles, the 9 and 26/27 services will run newly refurbished Mercedes Citaro vehicles featuring leather seats, next stop announcements and free WiFi.

More details, including new timetables, will be available in the New Year and via Go North East’s dedicated customer services team. For more information about Go North East, visit www.gonortheast.co.uk.