Whitley Bay’s open-top delight

Saturday 22nd August 2026

Despite the hot weather I’ve hardly done any open-top bus riding this summer. Aside from East Yorkshire’s Beachcomber in Scarborough (blog coming up next weekend in the ‘Every Route 99’ series), my only other journey exposed to the open air was last Tuesday afternoon when I enjoyed a round trip from Tynemouth to Whitley Bay on Go North East’s new ‘Tide Tour’.

Introduced on 18th July for the six week summer season (through to Bank Holiday Monday 31st August), this one-bus daily service running every hour between 10:00 and 17:00 is being funded and overseen by the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority with the route’s dedicated bus even featuring Kim McGuinness’s name as part of the livery to make the point.

It’s actually enlightening to see a Strategic Authority get involved in providing a bus route solely aimed at the leisure market as once franchising really takes hold we don’t want to lose seasonal services of this kind which are much appreciated by passengers.

And this one certainly is; which came across on my sample ride on Tuesday when I caught the last round trip of the day – the 16:00 departure from the bus stop immediately outside Tynemouth’s Metro station.

I’d noticed from online vehicle tracking the 15:00 departure was running 15 minutes late, widening to 18 minutes behind schedule, as the bus headed north to Whitely Bay so, having arrived in Tynemouth in good time at 15:30, decided to relax and enjoy a leisurely coffee in the town centre a short walk away while waiting for the bus to return.

Despite two refreshment establishments on the station’s vast entrance concourse (where there’s a popular market at the weekends) neither sold tea or coffee – only Italian food or craft beers and ales.

And aside from one bench on the platform there were no seats for passengers either, only for customers of the aforementioned eatery/drink outlets. Nor any toilets (strictly customers only).

The bus stop immediately outside the station had been impressively adorned with a 300 – the number allocated to the Tide Tour by the Strategic Authority with a traditional style departure listing in the bus stop case but sadly no attractive Tide Tour branding.

And on Tuesday the stop was being used by coaches coming and going from a cruise ship moored off the coast.

The Tide Tour bus finally arrived at 16:08, having made some time up on the southbound journey, although it’s obvious the running time is very tight – looking online again on Wednesday afternoon the 15:00 departure was running 24 minutes late.

Due to the cruise ship coach, the bus initially wasn’t able to pull into the bus stop but when it did a couple of passengers alighted and another passenger and I were greeted on board by a very friendly driver as I picked up a leaflet from the dispenser alongside the cab.

This showed both the route and timetable as well as ticket price information…

… including what are described as “the Mayor’s Fares” including a Day Saver at three times the single fare of £2.50.

Leaving Tynemouth, it doesn’t take long before hitting the coast road…

… and we soon picked up the first of many families who boarded on the journey to Whitley Bay and it was lovely to see so many young children enjoying the lovely views on the journey…

… and the adults too.

As you can see from the map below, the route includes a section of inland running…

… between Cullercoats and Whitley Bay Metro stations as well as serving the main town centre area of Whitley Bay itself in a one way routing on the northbound journey.

Then it’s back to the coastal strip alongside Whitley Sands…

… and Spanish City.

As we approached the terminus at Whitley Bay Holiday Park there was a good number of passengers (around 18) on the upper deck as well as a about a dozen on the lower deck…

… all returning to their static caravans, making for an impressive number travelling.

The bus used the mini roundabout just inside the entrance to turn round but the bus stop was just outside on the public road where everyone alighted.

It was now 16:42 so being 12 minutes behind schedule, the driver left straight away initially with just myself on board but a few more holiday makers joined as we retraced the route back south to Tynemouth arriving at the Metro station at 17:01 having made pretty much all the lost time up.

It’s a lovely initiative and a great ride and very encouraging to see so many happy passengers. I hope it’s deemed a success and returns next summer, perhaps with an extended season, and a review of the running time might be needed.

My thanks to Geoff Wade, North East Mayoral Strategic Authority’s Community Engagement Lead (Transport Customer Experience) for alerting me to this new service for the summer and well done to everyone involved in its introduction and operation.

Roger French

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