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Seem as there has been alot of talk of services with overcrowding and poor reliability I feel I have to mention that Durham service 64 is suffering from these problems:
Whilst I was stood in Durham around lunchtime today I saw a Dart heading towards the Arnison Centre and all seats were filled and there was no room to stand, so it was completely full and this isn't something rare to see especially during term time, even during the school holidays once I had to stand from Fram to Durham.
The reliability is terrible, often I used be stood waiting at Framwellgate Moor watching Go North East's buses fly past on-time whilst you have been stood there for so long you have completely lost your sanity. Whilst stood in Durham this afternoon I may not have been totally paying attention but I think there wasn't a 64 heading towards Musgrave Gardens or Sherburn for over half an hour then I saw two or three 64s heading to the Arnison Centre all on North Road at once. The Darts that are allocated to this service are awful, going up some of the hills in Newton Hall you have fears that the bus is going to roll back down the hill and they sound awful and the leg room between the seats is non existent.
Something needs to be done about this service as it is a terrible service, the loads between Durham and Framwellgate Moor do cause problems especially if you are stood at the University Hospital or County Hall and it drives straight past you full you will lose custom to the competition. To help with this problem I think service 7 should be extended to Framwellgate Moor so it could pick up New College students which would reduce the pressure on the 64 as when the 7/7A previously ran up to Framwellgate Moor every 15 minutes during the daytime there didn't seem to be as many problems with capacity on the 64 as the New College students had more buses between Fram and Durham.
1307 is now at Darlington
(01 Oct 2014, 10:09 pm)Jimmi wrote [ -> ]Seem as there has been alot of talk of services with overcrowding and poor reliability I feel I have to mention that Durham service 64 is suffering from these problems:
Whilst I was stood in Durham around lunchtime today I saw a Dart heading towards the Arnison Centre and all seats were filled and there was no room to stand, so it was completely full and this isn't something rare to see especially during term time, even during the school holidays once I had to stand from Fram to Durham.
The reliability is terrible, often I used be stood waiting at Framwellgate Moor watching Go North East's buses fly past on-time whilst you have been stood there for so long you have completely lost your sanity. Whilst stood in Durham this afternoon I may not have been totally paying attention but I think there wasn't a 64 heading towards Musgrave Gardens or Sherburn for over half an hour then I saw two or three 64s heading to the Arnison Centre all on North Road at once. The Darts that are allocated to this service are awful, going up some of the hills in Newton Hall you have fears that the bus is going to roll back down the hill and they sound awful and the leg room between the seats is non existent.
Something needs to be done about this service as it is a terrible service, the loads between Durham and Framwellgate Moor do cause problems especially if you are stood at the University Hospital or County Hall and it drives straight past you full you will lose custom to the competition. To help with this problem I think service 7 should be extended to Framwellgate Moor so it could pick up New College students which would reduce the pressure on the 64 as when the 7/7A previously ran up to Framwellgate Moor every 15 minutes during the daytime there didn't seem to be as many problems with capacity on the 64 as the New College students had more buses between Fram and Durham.
The 64s seem to suffer as they hit the worst places to try and pull out. Heading towards the Arnison Centre, trying to pull out at the bottom of Claypath can take forever since the flow of traffic is never ending - the same applies at Gilesgate roundabout heading towards Musgrave, meaning you're late heading in both directions. The sheer amount of traffic up Gilesgate over the past few weeks is causing severe problems for the 64, with it taking me 18 minutes to get from Sherburn Road End to Claypath, unlike the timetabled 7/8.
As for better buses, we have been told that there are new/newer buses coming from another Arriva division in the near future destined for the town service.
(02 Oct 2014, 8:51 am)MrPottski wrote [ -> ]1307 is now at Darlington
As is 1306 now
As reported earlier, 1578 is now in service at Belmont depot and is operating service U1 today.
Photo can be seen here.
7607 has been spotted in Darlington, anyone know the reason why?
I believe it was being used for a photo shoot for some reason.
To round up some recent news...
4648/49/50 have left Redcar for Blackburn to be refurbished for Darlington.
7511/12/13 have returned to Ashington in Max spec from Blackburn to join 4653/9
7515/16/17 have transferred to Blackburn to be refurbished, it is believed that 7514 will be joining them, if not already.
4701 was spotted at Jesmond today, one of three Temsas away at Redcar, with 7487 also missing for weeks... They have now been given 3 Prestiges from Stockton's scrap corner (4001/6/7) to help them cover requirements given they've transferred 1306/7 to Darlington and 1308 to Durham too!
1440 and 1512 returned from Thorntons to Redcar and Stockton today respectively.
Been told 4651 went to Blackburn instead of 4648 but will look out for either to confirm
(03 Oct 2014, 8:39 pm)tyresmoke wrote [ -> ]7515/16/17 have transferred to Blackburn to be refurbished, it is believed that 7514 will be joining them, if not already.
Thought only three would be needed for the X14/14?
(04 Oct 2014, 7:24 pm)mb134 wrote [ -> ]Thought only three would be needed for the X14/14?
Aren't these examples for the X15 or have I got my wires crossed?
(04 Oct 2014, 8:16 pm)Dan wrote [ -> ]Aren't these examples for the X15 or have I got my wires crossed?
Thought 7511/2/3 were for X15, along with 4653/9, although with the frequency things change with Arriva I haven't got a clue anymore
(04 Oct 2014, 8:18 pm)mb134 wrote [ -> ]Thought 7511/2/3 were for X15, along with 4563/9, although with the frequency things change with Arriva I haven't got a clue anymore
You're right - I thought you'd quoted the part about 7511-13. Remind me not to post when I'm half asleep, eh?
It still boggles my mind why Arriva chose 7501 - 7508 (not including the spare) over 7514 - 7521 for the X21 / X22.
(04 Oct 2014, 8:18 pm)mb134 wrote [ -> ]Thought 7511/2/3 were for X15, along with 4563/9, although with the frequency things change with Arriva I haven't got a clue anymore
(05 Oct 2014, 11:02 am)Dan wrote [ -> ]You're right - I thought you'd quoted the part about 7511-13. Remind me not to post when I'm half asleep, eh?
7511-3 are the X15 ones, 7514-7 X14 ones plus I would assume a spare to be shared between X14 and X18 (given X15 has a decker spare).
(05 Oct 2014, 11:29 am)DaveyBowyer wrote [ -> ]It still boggles my mind why Arriva chose 7501 - 7508 (not including the spare) over 7514 - 7521 for the X21 / X22.
7501-8 are f**cked, so why no put them on the less-demanding services (X21/X22) compared to the more demanding X14/14 and X15. 7514-21 were knackered when in their final months at Darlington, but since they moved to Ashington, they have improved. Extras spares are required for the X21/X22 though imho - plus given the majority of the E400s will soon either be Sapphire or MAX, might as well do what is left as MAX and Sapphire spares.
(05 Oct 2014, 11:59 am)Kuyoyo wrote [ -> ]7501-8 are f**cked, so why no put them on the less-demanding services (X21/X22) compared to the more demanding X14/14 and X15. 7514-21 were knackered when in their final months at Darlington, but since they moved to Ashington, they have improved. Extras spares are required for the X21/X22 though imho - plus given the majority of the E400s will soon either be Sapphire or MAX, might as well do what is left as MAX and Sapphire spares.
Agreed.
Whatever the reasons may be, the "Sapphire" Enviro400s which are meant to be allocated to services X21/X22 are seemingly frequently VOR. Without wishing to sound hypocritical, given my posts elsewhere on the forum, "Sapphire" promises a unique passenger experience by providing leather seating, free Wi-Fi and power sockets. This, as of late, has not been the case.
Part of the experience has been continued, given the vast number of appearances by "MAX" specification Enviro400s, but the allocation of 7-year old Lowlanders to service X18 as a consequence doesn't really provide 'MAXimum' impact on that service.
I appreciate service X18 hasn't received its official publicity launch yet, and one could argue that the allocation of the new Enviro400s to service X18 isn't therefore as important, but already customers would have began to adjust to the new vehicles and expect that they should be able to make use of free Wi-Fi on-board that service.
Arriva is fairly new to providing a hierarchy of services, based on on-board 'upgraded' features, and local management need to quickly learn that it's important that these upgraded features are provided as much as possible. My opinions on the "MAX" specification Enviro400s appearing on services X21/X22 aside, if the "Sapphire" allocation is regularly VOR (which I doubt many of us on this forum will know for sure, but could in part relate to the fact that you quote these vehicles to be 'f*cked'), then local management need to begin thinking about sourcing additional spare vehicles. This honestly should have been thought through prior to the launch, but the best way is to learn from your mistakes.
If the Euro 6 Scania E400 proves to be a very reliable bus, do you think Arriva will consider that option rather than the ADL / Cummins integral option for future new express and or endurance route orders? I know the Cummins unit is probably better on the juice but the reliability (not proven yet) of the Scania option will probably most likely be more robust, reliable and powerful to handle such routes. I haven't got anything against the E400's but I'm simply not a fan of Cummins units and they've not only caused problems on the E400's but also on the Street*****s too.
Hoping Scott doesn't mind, but I'm feeling rather productive again, so have taken the opportunity to update the fleet lists on his behalf... Most changes have just been to reflect the allocation changes at the back end of last month, as detailed in the news earlier today.
Call me picky, but I've changed a few things just to keep all of the fleet lists consistent. One thing that had really been bugging me was that the bodywork for the VDL DB300/Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 vehicles in the fleet was down as 'Wright Gemini' - that has been changed now.
If I have time, I'm going to update the main
www.northeastbuses.co.uk/fleet/ page at some point this evening too - that's been irritating me for a while now too...
(05 Oct 2014, 3:06 pm)Dan wrote [ -> ]Hoping Scott doesn't mind, but I'm feeling rather productive again, so have taken the opportunity to update the fleet lists on his behalf... Most changes have just been to reflect the allocation changes at the back end of last month, as detailed in the news earlier today.
Call me picky, but I've changed a few things just to keep all of the fleet lists consistent. One thing that had really been bugging me was that the bodywork for the VDL DB300/Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 vehicles in the fleet was down as 'Wright Gemini' - that has been changed now.
If I have time, I'm going to update the main www.northeastbuses.co.uk/fleet/ page at some point this evening too - that's been irritating me for a while now too...
Think we need new pictures on the stagecoach tab etc... maybe of the new buses?
(05 Oct 2014, 3:26 pm)Michael wrote [ -> ]Think we need new pictures on the stagecoach tab etc... maybe of the new buses?
All of those photos are somewhat outdated...
I want to completely re-jig that page to integrate it with the independent operator fleet lists (yet to be 'officially' launched), but I'd rather wait for Liam to do it. I dread to think when Liam will next be available to work on re-designing that page though!
Was on 7522 today, one of the headrests at the back of the upstairs has been slashed on the rear of it, and it looks like Arriva have attempted to use masking tape to cover over it...
(05 Oct 2014, 5:32 pm)mb134 wrote [ -> ]Was on 7522 today, one of the headrests at the back of the upstairs has been slashed on the rear of it, and it looks like Arriva have attempted to use masking tape to cover over it...
Not good that like particularly for a premium service.
(05 Oct 2014, 5:32 pm)mb134 wrote [ -> ]Was on 7522 today, one of the headrests at the back of the upstairs has been slashed on the rear of it, and it looks like Arriva have attempted to use masking tape to cover over it...
(05 Oct 2014, 5:57 pm)DaveyBowyer wrote [ -> ]Not good that like particularly for a premium service.
The issue here is something we raised last night - they don't have enough spares to enable something like this to be repaired properly. If it happened today, then the masking tape to hold it together is understandable. The fact at present there is an example long-term VOR, they can't exactly allow one to go away to Thorntons for a minor seat repair when they then have to put standard-spec or MAX-spec examples out in its place.
1308 is now at Darlington depot and is operating service 8/8A today.
(06 Oct 2014, 3:58 pm)Jimmi wrote [ -> ]1308 is now at Darlington depot and is operating service 8/8A today.
Perhaps suggesting 1305 is now at Durham?
(06 Oct 2014, 4:00 pm)Dan wrote [ -> ]Perhaps suggesting 1305 is now at Durham?
Arrived at Durham yesterday (details from Gary Hunter on the 'Arriva Bus News and Photos' Facebook Group
(06 Oct 2014, 4:03 pm)Kuyoyo wrote [ -> ]Arrived at Durham yesterday (details from Gary Hunter on the 'Arriva Bus News and Photos' Facebook Group
Cheers! Will update fleet lists on here.
Fleet list states 1310 is at Darlington depot when it is actually based at Belmont depot.
I saw a Durham bound Sapphire service 7 going down North Road, Darlington at around 1630 this afternoon and it had very little standing room left.
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