I think I first went to Newcastle and first rode on the Metro in 1983 when I was 8. In those days it was a 5p flat fare for children!
Also in the early days, until bus deregulation in 1986, the buses and Metro were integrated and there were interavailable tickets covering both modes.
That was amazing, travelling from Birtley to Newcastle for 5p (mother paid 45p)
Mind you, they STILL to this day "we paid for that with our rates, why didn't it come out to Birtley?"
I did actually think of a great idea years ago.
When Leverton at Birtley closed, that could have been converted to an interchange, the 2 'freight' lines from Pelaw Grange to Tyne Yard had just been removed, the line could have run along there into Gateshead (how it joined up with the underground section I have no idea. Going the other way, it could have run along the Consett- Follingsby line from Barley Mow, across Victoria Viaduct into Washington to put them on the network and also split just before the viaduct to join on what is now in situ at South Hylton.
My first memories of the Metro are of the construction of Monument station and the hoardings in the centre of Newcastle while shopping.
Walking along Grainger Street under the scaffolding while they strengthened the existing buildings while cutting the tunnels, it took forever to get anywhere, my parents developed ingenious ways of moving round the town to avoid them (they always parked at Manors multi storey when we went to Newcastle)
That is very very interesting! Wonder if any Tyne Tees archives from back then still exist, and where? Not as if we could nip across to City Road (via the Egypt!)
I doubt there's anything of TTTV left on City Road now that they're down at the Metro Centre (and considerably smaller premises)
The theory was that the 'last mile' in to Newcastle city centre was usually the most traffic-congested and hence slowest part of the journey. So even with the extra time needed for the interchange (walking between transports, waiting for it to arrive, etc) it would still be faster that staying on the bus. Especially at busy times - rush hours, Saturday afternoon shopping close to Christmas, etc.
But some passengers did not like the enforced interchanging, especially senior citizens who are less mobile than younger people and hence very much prefer a 'one seat' journey - even if it means a longer overall journey duration.
It was a novelty for me at 10 years old to travel into Gateshead on the bus, then go on a 'train' into Newcastle, especially since we went underground to do so.
I do seem to recall it was considerably quicker than the bus as EVERY bus went through the cut through (Hills Street) from Askew Road to The Tyne Bridge, it also cut out the walk from Worswick Street to Monument.
Never an official plan sadly. But there are ambitions for something similar to the red route in that image.
It has, however, been strongly suggested that some or all of it would be a separate tram line, with coherent branding to give the impression of one system.
I believe plans for NUFC to extend SJP on the Gallowgate End would have made provision for a minor reconstruction/ realignment of St James metro station to allow possible future expansion of the network, but the wonderful Mr Ashley sold his freehold on the car park for development (currently fenced off and not in use I saw on a You Tube video the other day) and that means it'll now be nigh on impossible