Travel Advice for Radio 1's Big Weekend
1 month ago
Radio 1’s Big Weekend is taking place Friday 22 - Sunday 24 May 2026 at Herrington Country Park in Sunderland. To ensure that everyone has a fantastic weekend, please check out the travel advice below.
Traveling by bus
Service buses in the area will be significantly busier than usual and long wait times are expected, especially after 10pm each day when the event finishes. Because of this, those heading to Big Weekend via public transport are recommended to only travel to/from the site via official shuttle buses.
These will be in operation between Heworth Interchange (Gateshead), Park Lane Interchange (Sunderland), and Belmont P&R (Durham) and MUST be pre-booked prior to the event here.
Service disruption
Diversions and bus stop closures will apply across the event weekend to services 2 and 78 in the Herrington area.
Stops on Chester Road between Penshaw The Prospect and the A19 will be closed each day from 10am (Friday) and 8am (Saturday and Sunday). This means no services will be stopping directly outside the festival site, and customers will need to disembark in Shiney Row/ Penshaw.
On all three days, the same section of Chester Road will also be fully closed from 9pm until the end of service and during these times the diversions below will apply, impacting those heading home from the festival site:
Service 2
- Service 2 will be diverted between Avondale Avenue and The Broadway-Glasbury Avenue (EB)/ The Broadway-Glenleigh Drive (WB) with stops between these points not served in either direction.
- While on diversion buses towards Sunderland will serve Chester Road-Council Avenue and Shiney Row Wheatsheaf. Buses towards Washington will serve Shiney Row Auto Parts Centre, Chester Road-Church Street and Chester Road-Windermere Crescent.
Service 78
- Service 78 will be diverted between Shiney Row Co-op and The Broadway-Glasbury Avenue (EB)/ The Broadway-Glenleigh Drive (WB) with stops between these points not served in either direction.
- While on diversion buses towards Chester-le-Street will serve Shiney Row Wheatsheaf. Buses towards Sunderland will serve Shiney Row Auto Parts Centre.
Other services in the area will be operating from their usual stops but delays are expected- and please remember, the official shuttle buses are the recommended way to travel to Radio 1 Big Weekend by bus.