Go North East: Latest News & Discussion - August 2016

[South Tyne Lad]

Timings probably have something to do with this. Calling control and depots to work out what to accept and not accept is a time consuming process - maybe providing drivers with a flyer of what to accept and not to accept depending on the route would be helpful.

I understand where your coming from, But this driver was stood outside having his Cig while talking to me at the same time.
Once I was aloud on the bus we were sat in Eldon Square for a good 7 Mins before we left.
In this case he would've had a lot of time to do what GX03 posted.

[Jamie M]

I understand where your coming from, But this driver was stood outside having his Cig while talking to me at the same time.
Once I was aloud on the bus we were sat in Eldon Square for a good 7 Mins before we left.
In this case he would've had a lot of time to do what GX03 posted.

The issue isn't subjective to the stop you're at - there needs to be a simple standardised solution that can take no more than seconds to use. It doesn't matter whether you're at Blackhall Mill with 35 minutes of spare time or West Rainton with no overlay, this should not be an issue.

[Dan]

Managing Director?

Chain of command, Lee.

The Managing Director of a company employs others to manage staff in individual departments... You'll often have supervisors, managers and then senior managers to get to, before you hit director level.

In this instance; feedback could be sent to Go North East's Managing Director, but I would expect that he'd pass it on to the relevant senior manager...

[S813 FVK]

The issue isn't subjective to the stop you're at - there needs to be a simple standardised solution that can take no more than seconds to use. It doesn't matter whether you're at Blackhall Mill with 35 minutes of spare time or West Rainton with no overlay, this should not be an issue.

Yeah I don't think that the boarding point should be used as a weapon to further 'attack' the driver.

It has previously been discussed how there are so many ticketing options available it is difficult to learn them all, I do appreciate that the ticket in question is fairly simple though, so I wouldn't be surprised if drivers rely on the ticket machine which will allow them to search for all ticket types that are valid on that service. However, since the driver was outside of the bus on a minibreak (which I would say the driver was more than entitled to given that the bus was sat in the bus station for a further 7 minutes after boarding), he didn't have the ticket machine to check to see if the ticket was valid, hence the issue. I'm not saying what happened was right, a ticket which is as simple as it is should never have any issues, but after finding out more information about the incident, I am starting to understand why the incident happened.

[omnicity4659]

Timings probably have something to do with this. Calling control and depots to work out what to accept and not accept is a time consuming process - maybe providing drivers with a flyer of what to accept and not to accept depending on the route would be helpful.

Through the radio, where you can get a response in seconds? 

I boarded a GNE vehicle last year at Regent Centre with a scratchcard where I had won free travel, and the driver radioed Control asking if they're valid and what ticket he should issue, within a minute, and he issued a ticket when stationary after he had got a reply.

[biglugs@yahoo.com]

I understand where your coming from, But this driver was stood outside having his Cig while talking to me at the same time.
Once I was aloud on the bus we were sat in Eldon Square for a good 7 Mins before we left.
In this case he would've had a lot of time to do what GX03 posted.

Thats happened to me before at Eldon Square on the old 74A i had to get one of the people from eldon Square to double check and he told the driver the ticket i had was valid for travel

[LeeCalder]

Chain of command, Lee.

The Managing Director of a company employs others to manage staff in individual departments... You'll often have supervisors, managers and then senior managers to get to, before you hit director level.

In this instance; feedback could be sent to Go North East's Managing Director, but I would expect that he'd pass it on to the relevant senior manager...

I have been told to direct complaints to the managing director in the past, if you do not get a decent response off the customer service team. Therefore I will continue to do so.

Oh, and by the way - it's A Level.

[Brian13]

I rang up a few weeks ago regarding a spillage at the back of 6011 which had been left to become mouldy, and it stunk.

I rang the customer services, but the bloke for some reason couldn't seem to understand that the bus needed cleaning internally, and everything I said was just responded too with "yeah".

He evidently couldn't care less, and the bus still has the same sh*t at the back of it.

I remember the Northern Counties olymians their upstairs window were covered in mould

[Dan]

Oh, and by the way - it's A Level.

Without wishing to get too far away from Go North East's latest news and discussion - what is A-Level?

[LeeCalder]

Without wishing to get too far away from Go North East's latest news and discussion - what is A-Level?

Doesn't matter, I was making a bit of a joke.

The link you posted was GCSE

[LVK 404L]

I have been told to direct complaints to the managing director in the past, if you do not get a decent response off the customer service team. Therefore I will continue to do so.

Oh, and by the way - it's A Level.

Why don't you contact the bus appeals body if your (or other persons) complaints aren't being resolved

[Adrian]

Why don't you contact the bus appeals body if your (or other persons) complaints aren't being resolved

Bus Users? Because they're as much use as a wet paper bag.

[LVK 404L]

Bus Users? Because they're as much use as a wet paper bag.

Not necessarily. I've only had to refer to them once, but it was well worth the contact at the time.

[Jamie M]

I've found Blackhall Mill is a great place to be able to speak with Riverside and Stanley drivers due to the huge overlay, but are there any good places to be able to speak to CLS or other depot's drivers whilst still 'in service'?

[big mac]

Maybe the driver didn't have his or her fare stage programmed correctly (either human or technical error). Was it definitely the same stop? Only think I can think off is that GNE are putting a bit of a levy on top with it being a slightly quick service than the 1. Arriva used to do that with a now defunct well known express service (R.I.P) on the Coast Road with some of the fares from Whitley Bay / Preston Grange areas being more expensive than the usual regular stopping service.

Shortly after the x21 started to serve the cannon I caught it to chester-le-street and had always previously paid £4.70 return on the 21.  I was charged £5.90 return.   I contacted gne to check if this was correct afterwards and they said it was a mistake and should have been the same as the 21 fare. The next time I caught it about a week later I paid £4.70 return.

[Andreos1]

When my dad worked for GNE, he had a sticker (I think other drivers would have had this too) that he stuck on a file which listed most (if not all) of the different ticket types.

He still has the file with the sticker on (albeit a bit worn) but it would be good if they could have something similar now (if they don't already):

I'd forgotten all about this - it was about a year back when I had issues on a Q1/2 (can't remember which). Anyway, had a chat on with the driver about the issue and after a moment, she pulled out a little official handbook. 
It had a load of information relating to ticketing and she was able to clarify it was an error with the ETM and that was the issue - not my ticket.
Without that little book, she wouldn't have known what was up.

I have no idea if the book is standard issue or not. I haven't needed to refer or signpost a driver since and it hasn't cropped up in any conversations elsewhere.

It was nowhere near the size of the almost 30 page booklet GNE published for passengers, but it certainly took a moment or two for her to find the information she needed.

[Ambassador]

I don't particularly want to write to the MD. They tend to get answered by the same person anyway and the Customer Service Manager would be more useful (then again maybe they're the problem)

It's catch 22. I can't Boycott GNE (unless I drive) because they have a monopoly. So I'll accept the bad service, not bother contacting customer services again and let others know what a poor service it is from the office, that's more damning in my eyes.

Anyway probably going OT, but I really scratch heads at the GNE office seeming to forget they are a service provider and yes they do need to be accountable

[Jamie M]

Anyway probably going OT, but I really scratch heads at the GNE office seeming to forget they are a service provider and yes they do need to be accountable

They are providing public transport, but this is a private company - they aren't accountable for much if they have no desire to be - which they don't if they have no competition.

It's the same with my broadband provider, it's a truely awful service which slow and unreliable. Since there is no competition and the service works (to some dire extent) they will not operate any changes since I cannot swap to other providers without swapping residence - such is true with monopolies. Morals and ethics don't count for much.

If the business was state owned, then yes, things would be different given it wouldn't just be structured around a savage money making business - it would be a public service business - actually aimed at providing a decent service no matter the turnover.

[V514DFT]

They are providing public transport, but this is a private company - they aren't accountable for much if they have no desire to be - which they don't if they have no competition.

It's the same with my broadband provider, it's a truely awful service which slow and unreliable. Since there is no competition and the service works (to some dire extent) they will not operate any changes since I cannot swap to other providers without swapping residence - such is true with monopolies. Morals and ethics don't count for much.

If the business was state owned, then yes, things would be different given it wouldn't just be structured around a savage money making business - it would be a public service business - actually aimed at providing a decent service no matter the turnover.

This is why i miss my childhood where there was a bus to everywhere,Forest Hall(my neighbourhood) had 3 buses to Whitley Bay 343,344,355 and then GNE 323 to North Shields from Killingworth and the 319 to Sunderland,now it has no buses to Whitley Bay(directly anyway)leaving residents no choice but to buy a day ticket for a change from 53 to the 54 or 53 to the 51 or gne 42 then the 11

[citaro5284]

This is why i miss my childhood where there was a bus to everywhere,Forest Hall(my neighbourhood) had 3 buses to Whitley Bay 343,344,355 and then GNE 323 to North Shields from Killingworth and the 319 to Sunderland,now it has no buses to Whitley Bay(directly anyway)leaving residents no choice but to buy a day ticket for a change from 53 to the 54 or 53 to the 51 or gne 42 then the 11

Use to love the 343 all the way to Morpeth from Whitley Bay.....it was like a day trip as they use to put Leyland Leopards on it as well.