Regional leaders, Nexus, must urgently address Metro issues ahead of Great North Run amid "weekend of travel misery" fears

Newcastle Liberal Democrats Transport Spokesperson Thom Campion has today given a stark warning to both regional leaders and Nexus to urgently address issues with the Metro ahead of this weekend's Great North Run.
Cllr Thom Campion warned that without urgent intervention now, the thousands of tourists who visit the city as part of the Great North Run will face a weekend of travel misery through delays and missed services.
Cllr Campion said: "I am today calling on regional leaders, Nexus & @My_Metro to do everything they can to ensure the efficient and effective running of services for this weekend's Great North Run.
"Residents across Newcastle are already used to dealing with the impacts of our crumbling Metro with huge delays and missing services a fact of life for Metro users.
"The Great North Run brings thousands of tourists to our wonderful city but if things don't change, they won't just leave with a finisher's medal, but also the memory of the Metro misery many of us here are used to.
"If we want Newcastle to be a vibrant tourist city, then it's high-time regional leadership stopped tinkering at the edges and gave Nexus the funding it needs to run a service fit for the 2020's, not the 1980's.
"Newcastle Liberal Democrats know that to decarbonise, grow our local economy, and improve the lives of people in our city, we need a functioning, well funded metro system that works in collaboration with the city's buses and active travel routes."
Metro is already suffering, with only 84% of trains arriving within three minutes of their scheduled time (a fall of 3% from this time last year), customer satisfaction only reaching a lowly 7.7, and train withdrawals a daily occurrence. Without urgent funding, the system risks complete collapse before the, potentially delayed, new units come into service next year.

Metro punctuality and satisfaction rates can be found here: www.nexus.org.uk/metro/looking-after-our-customers/customer-satisfaction-and-performance
Chronicle story on potential delays to the new units here: www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/tyne-wear-metro-bosses-bracing-23294811