The Tyne Ferry Between South and North Shields

[stuartmoss]

I've just spent a week in the North East, and had a good ride around as some of you may have already seen. I visited Newcastle on the Wednesday and found out that a day ticket on the Metro was only £2.70 on a Wednesday, and this included unlimited use of the Tyne Ferry, which is shown on the Metro Map as an addition to the yellow line between North and South Shields. If anyone is interested here's a bit of footage from there:

South Shields Ferry Dock:
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Ferry Ride from South Shields to North Shields
[youtube]jrEaCQD7dzc[/youtube]

And yes, before anyone asks, there was fog on the Tyne, but the sun broke through and it turned into a beautiful, but rather chilly day.

 

[spoony]

Used to go the long way round to get the ferry home from work sometimes when I lived in S Shields. Much better than the stinky metros.

 

[Oracle]

I have 'done' the Metro connection either side of the river, via the ferry and found that we had a bit of a walk and a search to find the ferry terminal on the south side.

 

[142094]

Once you've found it, it isn't too far. Only about 10 minutes from the Metro station. However, at North Shields, before the free bus was in place to the town centre, the walk up the hill used to be a nightmare.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

Hmmm. You've got to admit, though, that if you don't know the way, its not at all clear, and the ferry and Metro are certainly NOT well integrated.
Locals know that, but anyone looking at the T&W Metro maps would think they are very closely integrated. The lines on the map representing ferry and Metro join each other.
Misleading?

 

[Oracle]

We found it very misleading..the impression is that the Metro is right by the ferry. The signing seemed to be non-existant. On the north bank the free bus seemed to also take its time to get to the station.

 

[142094]

It's been a few weeks since I was last in South Shields, but I do remember seeing some signs pointing the way. North Shields is probably worse, if you didn't know about the free bus, which doesn't have a great deal of capacity when there are a lot of people coimg off the ferry.

 

[DannyBoy]

We found it very misleading..the impression is that the Metro is right by the ferry. The signing seemed to be non-existant. On the north bank the free bus seemed to also take its time to get to the station.

I do agree about the signage to the ferry on the South Side, there are signs all the way to the ferry, but you really have to look!

Regarding the bus though, the service that connects to the ferry leaving North Shields goes straight to the ferry terminal, and takes 2-3 minutes. You must have gotten the service that goes past the fish quay first (taking 8-9 minutes), which connects to the ferry terminal at the 'wrong' time, so to speak.

EDIT: It became apparent after I posted that you were going in the opposite direction, but the post still applies the other way as well; the fish quay bus takes slightly longer.

 

[sprinterguy]

I always used to have more of a problem with finding the ferry landing on the north side personally, and that hill really was a killer before the shuttle bus!

I was raised and lived in the area for the majority of my 20 years, so on the South Shields side I always knew just to aim towards the river and not the beach from the Metro station, but I can definitely see where there would be a problem for those who don't know the area so well. With it all being TW PTE run you would think there would be better integration. I still reckon signage on the south side of the river is marginally better than that on the north, but still not really sufficient.

I was back in the north east over christmas and had a go on the ferry whilst I was up, they've got a posh new ferry now

 

[142094]

I guess the signs would be the responsibility of South Shields MBC and North Tyneside Council. I never really check as I have no need to but I guess there are maps at both Metro stations. If there isn't, I'll send an email along to Nexus. They are usually pretty good at getting things sorted when they know about it.

 

[ronshirt]

We went to the fish quay today for a meal. Went via South Shields and then across by the ferry. On the way back on the Newcastle side of Gateshead Stadium station there was a man in a hi-vis standing next to the track. The driver tooted his horn and the man waved back. I wondered what was going on and then noticed that there was a pronounced buckle in the track. The train went over this section at about 5mph and even at this low speed there was a noticeable sideways motion. I imagine that if a train had taken this section at any kind of speed it would have been derailed.