North East Buses

(16 Jan 2023, 8:50 am)tvd wrote [ -> ]I wonder where the most Westerly point served by Arriva in the region will be now, I'm guessing maybe Stanhope?

Bizarrely, Berwick and Stanhope or more or less the same latitude.
I think Berwick just pinches it though.

Yeah, Berwick station lines up with Stanhope station, so not much in it.

(16 Jan 2023, 8:50 am)tvd wrote [ -> ]I wonder where the most Westerly point served by Arriva in the region will be now, I'm guessing maybe Stanhope?

On Sundays during the summer season, it would be Kirkby Lonsdale on the DalesBus 831 run by Darlington depot (assuming it returns in the same form as the last two years)

Does the 51/52/55 all interwork now, im lost with its interworking pattern now

(16 Jan 2023, 8:56 am)Andreos1 wrote [ -> ]Bizarrely, Berwick and Stanhope or more or less the same latitude.
I think Berwick just pinches it though.

Don't you mean longitude?

(06 Feb 2023, 7:20 pm)V514DFT wrote [ -> ]Does the 51/52/55 all interwork now, im lost with its interworking pattern now

51/52/53/54 all interwork. Its odd the way they work but I see it mostly as

51 Whitley Bay to Newcastle, 52 to Cramlington, 53 to Palmersvill, 53 to Cramlington, 52 to Newcastle then possibly a 54 or 51 depending on time

54 to Newcastle, 52 to Cramlington, 53 to North Shields & return, 52 to Newcastle then 51 or 54

Don't think the 55 interwork with anything as the same bus that's seen during the day is usually the one that does the last Four Lane Ends run

On Vosa today, didn’t know service 245 and 153 still ran in Peterlee [emoji848][emoji2955]





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(14 Feb 2023, 1:55 pm)cbma06 wrote [ -> ]On Vosa today, didn’t know service 245 and 153 still ran in Peterlee [emoji848][emoji2955]





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Appears to be cancelling a load of registrations for long since withdrawn services from Arriva, 63 in Durham being another.

Looking to the future now and it appears some changes are on the way around the Whitby area from April 2nd:

A new service 96 has been registered running between Whitby and Lealholmside whilst the 95 is down as running between Whitby, Sainsbury's and Sleights.

Also registered is the P1/P2 for the summer with variations for the X4 & X93/X94 which will likely be the introduction of the summer timetable for the X93/X94.[attachment=10386][attachment=10387]

(14 Feb 2023, 1:55 pm)See cbma06 wrote [ -> ]On Vosa today, didn’t know service 245 and 153 still ran in Peterlee [emoji848][emoji2955]





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The BODS (Bus Open Data Service) now cross checks against the DVSA registration database and flags up any missing/out of date registrations.

(14 Feb 2023, 2:51 pm)Jimmi wrote [ -> ]Appears to be cancelling a load of registrations for long since withdrawn services from Arriva, 63 in Durham being another.

Looking to the future now and it appears some changes are on the way around the Whitby area from April 2nd:

A new service 96 has been registered running between Whitby and Lealholmside whilst the 95 is down as running between Whitby, Sainsbury's and Sleights.

Also registered is the P1/P2 for the summer with variations for the X4 & X93/X94 which will likely be the introduction of the summer timetable for the X93/X94.

The 96 was always in the tender spec as a separate service but for the last few years has been operated as an extension of the 95. I wonder what has changed… the tender is due to run for another year before all/most of North Yorkshire’s contracts come up for retender next April.
I would assume the X4 will be linked to the 95 changes as some X4 buses also do 95s.


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(17 Feb 2023, 7:08 pm)tyresmoke wrote [ -> ]The 96 was always in the tender spec as a separate service but for the last few years has been operated as an extension of the 95. I wonder what has changed… the tender is due to run for another year before all/most of North Yorkshire’s contracts come up for retender next April.
I would assume the X4 will be linked to the 95 changes as some X4 buses also do 95s.


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Not quite - the NYCC tenders in the Scarborough area are now not due for another four years. This year was the review year.

Arriva only submitted a conforming option for the 96 this time around, as the 95 is going hourly (and would no longer work).

The X4 is the Sunday frequency increase, which has been missing since 2019.

(06 Feb 2023, 7:45 pm)Aaron21 wrote [ -> ]51/52/53/54 all interwork. Its odd the way they work but I see it mostly as

51 Whitley Bay to Newcastle, 52 to Cramlington, 53 to Palmersvill, 53 to Cramlington, 52 to Newcastle then possibly a 54 or 51 depending on time

54 to Newcastle, 52 to Cramlington, 53 to North Shields & return, 52 to Newcastle then 51 or 54

Don't think the 55 interwork with anything as the same bus that's seen during the day is usually the one that does the last Four Lane Ends run

51/52/53/54 seem to inter work on M-F, 51 seems to interwork with North Road routes on Saturday. 

Anyone doubting usefulness of 51, currently at Station Road, almost full downstairs and about 15 upstairs!

X14 has now appeared as having a change from the 26th March. With a variation & route change

(17 Feb 2023, 7:08 pm)tyresmoke wrote [ -> ]The 96 was always in the tender spec as a separate service but for the last few years has been operated as an extension of the 95. I wonder what has changed… the tender is due to run for another year before all/most of North Yorkshire’s contracts come up for retender next April.
I would assume the X4 will be linked to the 95 changes as some X4 buses also do 95s.


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[quote pid="292158" dateline="1676660905"]



It's only the 8.34 x4 that works off the early 95 service 
[/quote]

(20 Feb 2023, 12:46 pm)Aaron21 wrote [ -> ]X14 has now appeared as having a change from the 26th March. With a variation & route change

Route change?

(21 Feb 2023, 7:17 pm)NEbushopper wrote [ -> ]Route change?

Just says Route & timetable change

(21 Feb 2023, 9:25 pm)Aaron21 wrote [ -> ]Just says Route & timetable change

A couple of the journeys are going to operate via Cragside

(14 Feb 2023, 2:51 pm)Jimmi wrote [ -> ]Appears to be cancelling a load of registrations for long since withdrawn services from Arriva, 63 in Durham being another.

Looking to the future now and it appears some changes are on the way around the Whitby area from April 2nd:

A new service 96 has been registered running between Whitby and Lealholmside whilst the 95 is down as running between Whitby, Sainsbury's and Sleights.

Also registered is the P1/P2 for the summer with variations for the X4 & X93/X94 which will likely be the introduction of the summer timetable for the X93/X94.

What is the website? Where you can see those time tables

(17 Feb 2023, 7:08 pm)tyresmoke wrote [ -> ]The 96 was always in the tender spec as a separate service but for the last few years has been operated as an extension of the 95. I wonder what has changed… the tender is due to run for another year before all/most of North Yorkshire’s contracts come up for retender next April.

According to Google Maps, the 96 will take the following route leaving Whitby:
Victoria Square > Bagdale > Chubb Hill Road > Spring Vale > Stakesby Road > Castle Road > B1460 > Guisborough Road (A171) > A169 then as current 95 route to Lealholmside but omitting Ingham Close and Iburndale Lane.

Confirmed:

PB0002032/450
Variation ARRIVA NORTHUMBRIA LTD 308 (308, 306) Blyth Newcastle

53 looks to have a mistake on it, it says 'change of evening operator' on the nexus website, im thinking its probably for the 51 or 54

https://www.arrivabus.co.uk/latest-news/...-2nd-april
https://www.arrivabus.co.uk/latest-news/...27th-march
https://www.arrivabus.co.uk/latest-news/...-2nd-april

Changes throughout the region coming up

(10 Mar 2023, 4:29 pm)Thomas12 wrote [ -> ]https://www.arrivabus.co.uk/latest-news/...-2nd-april
https://www.arrivabus.co.uk/latest-news/...27th-march
https://www.arrivabus.co.uk/latest-news/...-2nd-april

Changes throughout the region coming up

I'm like really confused about that 306

We have withdrawn the 23:45 306 from Newcastle to Tynemouth & been replaced by the 309 at 23:45. The 309 follows it as far as battle Hill then they split. What's that 309 gonna do serve the 306 route

(10 Mar 2023, 4:48 pm)Aaron21 wrote [ -> ]I'm like really confused about that 306

We have withdrawn the 23:45 306 from Newcastle to Tynemouth & been replaced by the 309 at 23:45. The 309 follows it as far as battle Hill then they split. What's that 309 gonna do serve the 306 route

No it won't
https://www.gonortheast.co.uk/services/G...on=inbound

I wonder which company will be doing new service 59 under contract with DCC between Hartlepool and Kelloe/Coxhoe with ticket acceptance for onward travel to Durham with Arriva service 58, as Arriva says that there won’t be doing service 59, I wonder if stagecoach Hartlepool have picked up this secured work?


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(10 Mar 2023, 4:48 pm)Aaron21 wrote [ -> ]I'm like really confused about that 306

We have withdrawn the 23:45 306 from Newcastle to Tynemouth & been replaced by the 309 at 23:45. The 309 follows it as far as battle Hill then they split. What's that 309 gonna do serve the 306 route

As far as Battle Hill yes.

However, if the following journeys were re-timed, a reasonably late service could be maintained to Billy Mill

Ex Newcastle:
309 - 21:30 - change to 21:35
306 - 21:45 - change to 21:50
307 - 22:00 - change to 22:05
308 - 22:15 - change to 22:20
309 - 22:30 - change to 22:35
306 - 22:45 - change to 22:50
307 - 23:00 - change to 23:10
308 - 23:15 - change to 23:25
309 - 23:45 - unchanged

Ex North Shields:
307 - 23:45 - remains as is, but worked from Service 1 ex MetroCentre 22:08 arriving into North Shields at 23:41 before commencing 307 to Hadrian Park.

Ex-Blyth:
308 - 23:14 - change to 23:19

The 59, replacing service 57A between Hartlepool and Kelloe/Coxhoe, has been awarded to GCT on a 3-month emergency contract.

(13 Mar 2023, 11:26 am)peter wrote [ -> ]The 59, replacing service 57A between Hartlepool and Kelloe/Coxhoe, has been awarded to GCT on a 3-month emergency contract.

Jesus, DCC must be desperate.

(13 Mar 2023, 1:55 pm)Economic505 wrote [ -> ]Jesus, DCC must be desperate.

Probably more because GCT put the lowest bid in to run the contract and not DCC being desperate


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(13 Mar 2023, 2:06 pm)cbma06 wrote [ -> ]Probably more because GCT put the lowest bid in to run the contract and not DCC being desperate

Well let's face it, there's not exactly a lot of choice when it comes to operators that would be interested in running this service especially for only 3 months, literally everyone who normally goes for service work is miles away from Kelloe & Hartlepool and Arriva have ruled themselves out of the running so could well have been about the only company willing to take it on, they're helped by the loss of Nexus contracts around the same time freeing up a few buses & drivers.

It's not the first time GCT has signed up to provide an interim contract for DCC, last year they stepped in to operate the 104 in the Bishop Auckland area after Rural Link chucked the contact.



A bit more info on the arrangements, copied from Trimdon Times Facebook page:

Information regarding local bus services, many thanks to Cllr. Lucy Hovvels for the info:

===========
Dear Councillor,

You may be aware that there are changes propose to Arriva bus services in your division from 2nd April and the purpose of this email is to provide the background and information on the steps being taken to address issues raised.

Bus services in general are under great pressure at present due to rising costs, passenger numbers that are reduced from pre-pandemic levels, a shortage of drivers and uncertainty over Government’s covid recovery funding to the industry.

Services 57 and 57a between Durham and Hartlepool which although supported financially to a considerable extent by the Council are essentially operated commercially by Arriva, however, in the face of the uncertainty over Government Bus Recovery Grant funding and the seemingly intractable driver shortage Arriva have felt compelled to make some economies on this pair of routes.

Officers in IPT were not satisfied with the service that Arriva advised us they were planning to retrench to in the face of these challenges so we have in recent weeks been negotiating a more satisfactory arrangement which we will fund in its entirety.

We do have to have an eye to costs and the available funds, however, so the service we are proposing is a ‘new’ hourly service 58 Mon-Sun in place of the 57 Durham-Coxhoe-Kelloe-Quarrington Hill-Cassop-Thornley-Wheatley Hill-Wingate-Hartlepool and a new service 59 Mon-Sat every two hours between Kelloe and Hartlepool via Trimdon in place of that part of the 57A. Unfortunately to make the bus cycles work it will not be possible to serve Morley Crescent or Woodland Crescent in Kelloe so they will no longer have a bus service.

Arriva will operate the service 58 under a deminimis negotiation for 12 months and it is likely (but yet to be confirmed) that Gateshead Central will operate the 59 as am emergency contract for 3 months to allow for the funding situation to evolve. Details are to be finalised but ticket acceptance will be in place so that passengers interchanging between services will not be penalised.

Full timetables will be released shortly as soon as details are confirmed.


Stuart D Woods
Passenger Transport Services & Network Planning Team Leader
Integrated Passenger Transport
Regeneration & Local Services
Durham County Council
County Hall