North East Buses

(27 Oct 2022, 11:44 am)Kuyoyo wrote [ -> ]Been confirmed by GCT staff members posting on a Facebook group that those 4 examples are for the Park & Ride service in Durham. It would appear they plan to use Sprinters on the Cathedral services.
As for staff, the Park and Ride will be already staffed up - the drivers who are currently with Scarlet Band will move to GCT under TUPE, as they did when Arriva won the contract in 2009 from Scarlet Band and back to Scarlet Band when they regained it in 2014.

That's if they wish to TUPE, look at the carry on when GNE closed depots and drivers weren't happy on alternate locations.

Quite a difference in location from Scarlet Band depot to GCT depot.

Got to wonder if they set up an outstation in the Durham area, maybe even using one of the Park and Ride sites (possibly Belmont).

was just talking to one of my collogues. she gets the 69 home. waited over an hour and no bus so getting lift of her son. Bu she was telling me someone she works with gets the 69 in the other direction. she went out to work and waited for 69 with an elderly woman who was going to qe for appointment. no bus came so she rang GCT and they said it had broken down. Another bus was on its way but couldn't say when. She told them she was late for work and the lady was in tears cause she was going to miss her appointment. She asked them to send a taxi and they would share the cost but didn't have one for 40 minutes. She as to speak to someone higher and go the co owner who after listening to her came to collect them in his Tessler and took her to work and the lady to her appointment jus in time!

I won't be surprised if GCT's PSV license ends up being revoked. They don't seem to put any effort whatsoever into their bus services. And even though the majority of their service fleet is less than a few years old, I've seen how poorly maintained their vehicles are so many times.

(28 Oct 2022, 6:49 pm)Rob44 wrote [ -> ]was just talking to one of my collogues. she gets the 69 home. waited over an hour and no bus so getting lift of her son. Bu she was telling me someone she works with gets the 69 in the other direction. she went out to work and waited for 69 with an elderly woman who was going to qe for appointment. no bus came so she rang GCT and they said it had broken down. Another bus was on its way but couldn't say when. She told them she was late for work and the lady was in tears cause she was going to miss her appointment. She asked them to send a taxi and they would share the cost but didn't have one for 40 minutes. She as to speak to someone higher and go the co owner who after listening to her came to collect them in his Tessler and took her to work and the lady to her appointment jus in time!

Sounds like a better service than GNE!

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Update from Durham County Council on the Park & Ride contract.

Published October 28, 2022 9.13am

Park and ride customers in Durham City will be able to make contactless card payments from next week.

Our park and ride services at Belmont, Howlands and Sniperley will be operated by new contractor, Gateshead Central, from Monday 31 October.

With additional buses and drivers in place to ensure reliability, the service will run every 15 minutes between the hours of 7am and 7pm, Monday to Saturday.

Customers can enjoy unlimited travel on the park and ride service for just £2 per day. Under 16s can travel for free if accompanied by an adult aged over 21, while bus pass holders can travel for free after 9.30am Monday to Friday and all day Saturday.

Does anyone have any pics of GCT operating around Durham yet

No pics. Its a nexus E200 on the 62, though.

(31 Oct 2022, 1:27 pm)Retro Nero wrote [ -> ]Does anyone have any pics of GCT operating around Durham yet

Not quite Durham but near enough...

47 - Strata LO70KXB: https://flic.kr/p/2nWmxgC

52/53 - E200MMC YX21RUO: https://flic.kr/p/2nWiYuW (driver didn't seem to know correct codes for destinations)

Will upload more to my Flickr tonight

(31 Oct 2022, 1:46 pm)BusLoverMum wrote [ -> ]No pics. Its a nexus E200 on the 62, though.

E200MMC on 61/62 was YX20OCF: https://flic.kr/p/2nWtyxy

All four of the 72 plate E200MMCs were out on Park & Ride's, three on PR1 and YX72OKW on PR2: https://flic.kr/p/2nWtyov
*White E200MMC YX19ONR was also on PR2 (incorrectly tracking as Strata LO70KXA)

Strata's LO70KXA & LN20OPO were on 40/40A/41: https://flic.kr/p/2nWqKC8 - which now appears to serve Leazes Road Underpass stand A on Cathedral bound journeys.

White E200MMC YX21RPV was on 204/204A

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Hope they rethink some of the driver changeover points, I got the 52 into Durham this afternoon and they decided the place to do so is Wharton Park (second to last stop by the Rail Station) which consisted of blocking North Road for 5 mins with an Arriva bus struggling to get round it from behind and one of their vans parked on double yellow lines. It's not all bad though, driver on the 47 seemed pleased to now get an hour's break rather than the previous 35 mins with Scarlet Band.

I've worked out that the allocations for each of the Durham routes each day this week seem to be exactly the same:

40/41 - LN20 OPO, LO70 KXA
42 - YX21 RUJ
47 - LO70 KXB
52/53 - YX21 RUO
61/62 - YX20 OCF
204 - YX21 RPV
PR1 - YX72 OKU/OKZ/OLH
PR2 - YX72 OKW, YX19 ONR

(05 Nov 2022, 9:41 pm)wibblejunior wrote [ -> ]I've worked out that  the allocations for each of the Durham routes each day this week seem to be exactly the same:

40/41 - LN20 OPO, LO70 KXA
42 - YX21 RUJ
47 - LO70 KXB
52/53 - YX21 RUO
61/62 - YX20 OCF
204 - YX21 RPV
PR1 - YX72 OKU/OKZ/OLH
PR2 - YX72 OKW, YX19 ONR

They have been remarkably consistent this week!

Gateshead Central Taxis YX72 OMT by kieron mathews, on Flickr

new arrival this week which entered service yesterday

Another new E200MMC to enter service is YX72OMU which made its debut on the 204/204A yesterday: https://flic.kr/p/2o2dTgz

Dunno if it was ever confirmed on here, but GCT do have their vehicles going back to Tyneside at the end of the shift, rather than running any outstation in the Durham area.

They can often be seen in convoy heading north on the A1 if anyone fancies an artistic nighttime shot

(25 Nov 2022, 6:17 pm)Andreos1 wrote [ -> ]Dunno if it was ever confirmed on here, but GCT do have their vehicles going back to Tyneside at the end of the shift, rather than running any outstation in the Durham area.

They can often be seen in convoy heading north on the A1 if anyone fancies an artistic nighttime shot

Sure I heard somewhere that they were using Scarlet Band's depot temporarily and were looking for a base closer to Durham when they first took over, now it seems as if they're coming to/from the depot on Tyneside going off BusTimes tracking data (or at very least some are).

Must admit, GCT seem to have been pretty good in the delivery of the Durham services, without having a knock on effect to the Nexus contracts. Quite surprised about that

Just out of curiosity do GCT fleet have fleet number system or are they just going off by registration

They have an internal one using their ticket machines. Details can be found on bus times.

(26 Nov 2022, 12:57 pm)Thomas12 wrote [ -> ]Must admit, GCT seem to have been pretty good in the delivery of the Durham services, without having a knock on effect to the Nexus contracts. Quite surprised about that

There were a few grumbles in Winlaton club over the weekend about the reliability of the R3/R4 services.

Hello all,

Just wondering if Gateshead Centrals reliability on the Nexus contracts has dipped.

I often get the 558 which runs between Heworth and Seaburn hourly. Last week and this week it seems to be operating on a 2 hourly basis.

Does anybody have any insight into this?

I’m surprised they are getting away with this when there’s no information on the internet about services being cancelled. 2 hours is a long time to wait for a bus, if they are going to do this they should be putting it out like GNE do about cancellations.

Thanks,

Jonathan

(13 Dec 2022, 8:42 am)Jonathan93102 wrote [ -> ]Hello all,

Just wondering if Gateshead Centrals reliability on the Nexus contracts has dipped.

I often get the 558 which runs between Heworth and Seaburn hourly. Last week and this week it seems to be operating on a 2 hourly basis.

Does anybody have any insight into this?

I’m surprised they are getting away with this when there’s no information on the internet about services being cancelled. 2 hours is a long time to wait for a bus, if they are going to do this they should be putting it out like GNE do about cancellations.

Thanks,

Jonathan

They have failed to run several 335 services each day this week.

GCT seem to go through periods of awful reliability for a few weeks, then pretty decent and repeat

(15 Dec 2022, 6:08 pm)Thomas12 wrote [ -> ]They have failed to run several 335 services each day this week.

GCT seem to go through periods of awful reliability for a few weeks, then pretty decent and repeat

Hello, 

Thanks for the reply. 

I feel sorry for the drivers who have to operate these services because inevitably they will be the ones who get the complaints and it’s out of their hands. 

Will Nexus be aware they are not running certain services? I don’t know if they’ll get fined or not. Not sure whether the company have to inform Nexus? 

I had a family member who used to work for Redby Buses, they used to operate the 558 and they told me the company used to get fined if they didn’t operate a service. This was going back a long time to 2007/2008. 

I feel public transport up here has really gone down the tubes over the years. London and the South have some fantastic connections and good fares. 

They want more people to use public transport but with the amount of cuts seen lately it’s a bit off putting. 

I should point out the vehicles I’ve been on that GCT were using on the 558 were very smart inside, Wi-Fi and USB’s and high backed seats. 

When my relative was on the 558 with Redby, they had some nice buses to start off with but then rubbish ones started getting put on towards the end of the contract, those long Optare things that are low to the floor. I remember they used to always complain about the light bulb tubes rattling like something not right when stationary. Freezing cold in the winter too. 

Thanks, 

J

The 558 InterWorks with the 515 and possibly the 568 (all terminating at Heworth) this may be why there's delays? Are these services also affected by the 2 hour frequency.?

(15 Dec 2022, 9:50 pm)Jonathan93102 wrote [ -> ]Hello, 

Thanks for the reply. 

I feel sorry for the drivers who have to operate these services because inevitably they will be the ones who get the complaints and it’s out of their hands. 

Will Nexus be aware they are not running certain services? I don’t know if they’ll get fined or not. Not sure whether the company have to inform Nexus? 

I had a family member who used to work for Redby Buses, they used to operate the 558 and they told me the company used to get fined if they didn’t operate a service. This was going back a long time to 2007/2008. 

I feel public transport up here has really gone down the tubes over the years. London and the South have some fantastic connections and good fares. 

They want more people to use public transport but with the amount of cuts seen lately it’s a bit off putting. 

I should point out the vehicles I’ve been on that GCT were using on the 558 were very smart inside, Wi-Fi and USB’s and high backed seats. 

When my relative was on the 558 with Redby, they had some nice buses to start off with but then rubbish ones started getting put on towards the end of the contract, those long Optare things that are low to the floor. I remember they used to always complain about the light bulb tubes rattling like something not right when stationary. Freezing cold in the winter too. 

Thanks, 

J

No problem - I have tried complaining to Nexus before but it’s more use taking to a brick wall. I’m unsure if the company have to report to Nexus, but they’ll have access to the open tracking data anyway you’d think. 

In terms of vehicles, they’ve started allocating Sprinters instead of the E200s to the 335. In reality, they are fine but probably against the contract specification.

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(16 Dec 2022, 1:14 am)logidoodah wrote [ -> ]The 558 InterWorks with the 515 and possibly the 568 (all terminating at Heworth) this may be why there's delays? Are these services also affected by the 2 hour frequency.?

558 interworks with the 568, while the 515 is a standalone service.

Gateshead Central Taxis RJ72 HYX by kieron mathews, on Flickr

New in at GCT along with sister vehicle RJ72 HYW.


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(16 Dec 2022, 1:14 am)logidoodah wrote [ -> ]The 558 InterWorks with the 515 and possibly the 568 (all terminating at Heworth) this may be why there's delays? Are these services also affected by the 2 hour frequency.?

The 558 and 515 do not interwork, they are a different contractual specification from Nexus.
558/568 Are on the same.

Gateshead Central Taxis has the 71 from Durham County Concil when Go North East stop operating it.

YX19 ONR has been tracking wrong on the 342/335 lately. From seeing it today. Its tracked as YX20 OCH

Do GCT now keep a small number of buses in the Durham area?
The 61/62, 204/A and one of the PR1 buses don't seem to track to/from Felling like the others do.