The petition for a dedicated bus connecting the towns of Alnwick and Amble to Alnmouth Railway station currently stands at 826 signatures, can you help it reach 1000? Please click this link to view and sign the petition: https://c.org/B4RwwtHnJc
An outline of the proposed route, as well as the service pattern is explained below.
The Route
The intended route of this service would broadly follow that of the existing Arriva operated X20, but it would be truncated to just the Alnwick – Alnmouth – Amble rather than continuing to Ashington and Newcastle, which should help the service to maintain time and avoid disruption caused by traffic elsewhere.
Alnwick Bus Station – Alnmouth Rail Station – Warkworth Castle – The Amble Inn
Starting from at Alnwick Bus Station, this route runs via Green Batt to reach the B6346 (Bondgate Without), passes The Plough, then Alnwick War Memorial, Barter Books until it reaches the A1068 at The Oaks Roundabout, and from there, the route continues along the A1068 Alnmouth Road, crosses over the A1 to exit Alnwick.
The route then runs past Alndyke, over the River Aln, then passes Hawkhill, then goes under the East Coast Main Line (ECML), passes Lesbury Road End, over the River Aln again at Lesbury, turns up Curly Lane to serve Alnmouth Railway Station.
Leaving Alnmouth Railway Station then down South View to Hipsburn Roundabout, from there rejoining the A1068 towards High Buston Road End, Shortridge Hall Road End, then Birling, Coquet Bridge, and into Warkworth, going along Bridge Street and Castle Street to reach Warkworth Castle and Beal Bank Top, leaving Warkworth via Beal Bank and continuing along the A1068.
Entering Amble via The Wynd, the route passes along High Street, Queen Street and Bridge Street, then joins Percy Drive to head towards the edge of town at the Amble Inn and the adjacent roundabout. At the Amble Inn Roundabout (Percy Drive-Industrial Estate), it is intended the service would turn around to form the return bus service to Alnwick, following the same route back to the bus station.
Service frequency and timings
Due to the high variation of train arrival and departure times at Alnmouth over the course of the working day, as well as potential for trains to be delayed, the buses will not be timed to meet specific services, but instead are proposed to run to a regular, half-hourly ‘clockface’ or ‘drumbeat’ timetable throughout the day so in a worst-case scenario of just missing the bus, the maximum waiting time is just 30 minutes. This is directly based on the highly successful Northumberland Line train timetable which runs to a 30 minute frequency most of the day.
The first and last buses are also early/late enough to meet the first and last trains, with an option for the last buses to hold until the last train has arrived, allowing passengers from the train to catch the final bus back to Alnwick or Amble.
The Monday to Saturday service is half hours with clockface departures from Alnwick Bus Station on the hour and half past the hour (i.e. 06:00, 06:30, 07:00, 07:30 and then at XX:00 and XX:30 until 19:30, after which, the service could reduce to hourly).
Journey time via the current X20 timetable is 13 minutes from Alnwick Bus Station to Alnmouth Railway Station/Curly Lane. That would result in a reasonable expected arrival times at 06:15, 06:45, 07:15, 07:45, and then at XX:15 and XX:45 until 19:45, after which arrivals would be hourly), allowing an additional two minutes for any delays en-route such as traffic congestion or roadworks.
Leaving Alnmouth Railway Station, the route to the Amble Inn takes slightly longer at 21 minutes, so a departure from Alnmouth at XX:17, and XX:47 (two minute dwell at Alnmouth Station), would give an approximate Amble Inn arrival at XX:40 and XX:10.
Therefore the full run, starting from Alnwick Bus Station, through to Alnmouth Railway Station and ending at The Amble Inn would take approximately 40 minutes to complete by each bus, allowing an additional four minutes than current schedules for recovery of late running.
Departures from The Amble Inn to return to Alnwick would therefore be likely to be at XX:15 and XX:45, fourty-five minutes after their departure from Alnwick Bus Station. These buses would then be expected to arrive at Alnmouth Railway Station at XX:38 and XX:08, departing Alnmouth Railway Station at XX:40 and XX:10, to arrive back at Alnwick Bus Station for XX:55 and XX:25, ready for the on the hour departure back to Amble.
Three buses needed
To run a half-hourly service, this route would require three buses, as each would complete a full Alnwick Bus Station – Alnmouth Railway Station – Amble Inn – Alnmouth Railway Station – Alnwick Bus Station circuit in c.85 minutes, based on existing timetable and a total of 8 minutes of additional running time to allow delays to be absorbed.
Draft Timetable
Based on the above information, and timed to arrive before the first/last trains, and for the last to potentially wait until the passengers leave the train and board the bus, here is a potential timetable that could operate using just three buses to give a half hourly service from 05:15 to 19:30, and hourly from 20:00 until 23:00.
Operator
The above service could be taken on by any willing operator, either large or small, this campaign doesn’t have any preference for the colour of the bus, or its operator so long as the service is cheap to use (low fares), ns is comfortable, clean and reliable.
The Northumberland Coast Loop 