Go North East: Latest News & Discussion

Dan
Site Administrator

18144

28 Dec 2015, 2:52 pm

#482

(28 Dec 2015, 2:27 pm)Michael Was all the boxing day services busy or were some quieter than normal?

(28 Dec 2015, 2:42 pm)Malarkey I used Services 2/6/10A & X1 on Boxing Day.

I waited 30 Minutes (Between 10:30 & 11) at Lambton Village Centre for the 2 which was Half Full, and supposed to be operating Every 20 Minutes, this was followed up by the X1 which was bang on time but late in leaving, was absolutely rammed. After a few photos in Newcastle of the Q3/Q3A which were rammed, I got on the 6 over to the MetroCentre which carried fresh air, following more photos and shopping I got on the 10A to Newcastle which much like the X1 was rammed, I again the on the X1 which wasnt to busy upon leaving Eldon Square, but was rammed upon leaving Gateshead, finally I got the 2 back up home and that was rammed as well.

I only observed loadings on service 20 into South Shields, and didn't get the chance to see what loadings were like on other sections of the route, but both arrivals I saw were quite full. By comparison; Stagecoach allocated smaller buses than usual to their 'E' services (Enviro200s opposed to Enviro300s), which were busy but coped with the midibus capacity. It may be worth noting that the Stagecoach South Shields 1 service that I used between Chichester and South Shields had to drive past a few people as there were too many standees on-board (I was right up against the doors - and lucky to have been able to get on!)

The loadings on the 309 didn't seem too dissimilar from a normal Sunday service, though everyone seemed to be confused by the Billy Mill routing. I overheard a few passengers telling others on their phones that the service was 'going the 308 way', and the driver of the bus I used was advising those waiting at bus stops that the Arriva 308 was not operating so they'd have to use his bus if travelling to Newcastle.

The Q3/Q3A services were incredibly busy in the afternoon, and it's a good job Go North East swapped the Optare Versas for the Volvo B9s, otherwise drivers would have had to leave people behind like Stagecoach did. In the late afternoon before the match, a 15-minute frequency service was brought into play, and I bet the extra capacity was needed judging by the daytime loadings! It'll be interesting to see what Arriva do next year, as it would certainly seem like there's sufficient demand for a bus service between Newcastle City Centre and Regent Centre, as well as to places beyond Great Park.

All of the TENs I saw were quite full, but this is a recurring theme every year. The loadings on service 47 seemed to increase this year too - it was a good job double-deck vehicles were allocated, especially at peak times, as I'd imagine passengers would have had an uncomfortable journey standing had the usual Scania L94s (what Chester-le-Street have allocated in years gone by) been allocated.

The ten minute frequency on service X66 with Wright Streetlites wasn't enough. They didn't seem to be running to any sort of timetable, but a driver mentioned that they were having to run dupes on the service (which I assume was with 8328 - a bus that was originally allocated to the Q3/Q3A on the morning) so that they could lift everyone. There was a pretty long queue at one point - it snaked around right back close to the X22/X88 stand at one point circa 16:00.