Is Public Transport in South East Northumberland fit for purpose?

Since joining the MAUD course 3 weeks ago, I have been refamiliarising myself with the provision of bus services from Morpeth in South East Northumberland to Newcastle, and considering the role public transport plays in the economic recovery of the region. So far, I have experienced late departures, unsatisfactory functioning of the Arriva App, timetables which don’t match departure times, and a lack of information at the bus station.  Whilst a service does exist, I feel it is far from reliable and can’t help feeling it should be much better.

In our lecture on Sustainable transport on Thursday, Alan Wann told us of a study of patterns of employment he completed in South East Northumberland. He found that most residents of Ashington who were looking for employment felt they were restricted to the job opportunities which were available in Ashington, as they couldn’t afford the bus to travel to work anywhere else. One solution in Alan’s study was to provide free bus passes to the jobseekers to encourage them to look for work further afield. This solution does seem a bit short sighted to me: a dependable and reliable public transport system is vital for people who want to work but don’t have a car. If we want to encourage people to engage with active travel, or to reengage with learning and employment, they should  be able to get to where they need to be quickly, reliably and safely. 

For South East Northumberland’s economy to grow, it needs more funding from Central Government, and I think investing in its public transport infrastructure would be a great way to stimulate that growth.