North East Buses

(30 May 2017, 9:23 pm)Tees lee wrote [ -> ]There's also been one on the 34 I think earlier today too

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It was a branded one I seen the front of this evening

27725 still has branding on the front when I saw it on Tuesday

(01 Jun 2017, 11:25 am)Tees lee wrote [ -> ]27725 still has branding on the front when I saw it on Tuesday

Still fully branded today as it's on 59/61.

Information from "Steven Knight Media - Fleet News Ramblings":

Stagecoach North East:
Now for disposal here are MAN/ALX300s 22012/77/78. Enviro 300 27508 is now in service at Stockton with Volvo B12B 54045 also now allocated there. MAN/Enviro 300 22579 is now in the Reserve Fleet at Slatyford with 22574 returning to the main fleet there. MAN/ALX300 22016 has moved from the main fleet at Stockton to the Reserve Fleet whilst Dart SLF 35194, which had been for disposal, is now in the Reserve Fleet at Slatyford with Reserve Fleet 34611 moving to the main fleet at Hartlepool.

Stagecoach Highlands:
MAN/Enviro 300s 22784/87 were in this fleet and in April were shown for transfer to Stagecoach North East. This move does not appear to have taken place. Does anyone know of the current location(s) of these vehicles please?

Gas buses galore on x24 at the mo? What's happening with Scottish cast offs??

https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and...ce-changes

Stagecoach wanting feedback for proposed service changes in Hartlepool/Teesside areas

(03 Jun 2017, 9:14 am)beefcake wrote [ -> ]https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and...ce-changes

Stagecoach wanting feedback for proposed service changes in Hartlepool/Teesside areas

Evening services in Hartlepool during the week?!
How long is it since they were culled? 6/7 years?

Council subsidies were withdrawn around March 2011, the evening 7 was introduced on a trial basis back in 2012, where services now run til 2200 Sun-Thurs and 2300 on Fri/Sat. A modified Sun-Thurs evening service 6 running between Clavering-Victoria Road was launched in 2014 with last services departing around 2145, but they went by the end of the year. Evening services would work in town, if the timetables were better co-ordinated to connect with other services, for example not leaving town until after the 36 has arrived from Teesside, but ultimately I can't se that happening

(03 Jun 2017, 9:48 am)beefcake wrote [ -> ]Council subsidies were withdrawn around March 2011, the evening 7 was introduced on a trial basis back in 2012, where services now run til 2200 Sun-Thurs and 2300 on Fri/Sat. A modified Sun-Thurs evening service 6 running between Clavering-Victoria Road was launched in 2014 with last services departing around 2145, but they went by the end of the year. Evening services would work in town, if the timetables were better co-ordinated to connect with other services, for example not leaving town until after the 36 has arrived from Teesside, but ultimately I can't se that happening

And the Council never even got the bus stop times for the evening 6s put up!! No wonder they didn't take off.

"service 11 will be withdrawn. However, in most cases, customers will still have frequent alternatives such as services 10, 12 and 13."

So much for a certain person saying the 13 was being withdrawn between Middlesbrough and Hemlington!

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Doesn't look like they'll be needing any driver training buses on Teesside for a while!

(03 Jun 2017, 12:51 pm)Cock Robin wrote [ -> ]"service 11 will be withdrawn. However, in most cases, customers will still have frequent alternatives such as services 10, 12 and 13."

So much for a certain person saying the 13 was being withdrawn between Middlesbrough and Hemlington!

Maybe re-read what I originally put - that was a rumour that obviously turned out to be false.

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Anyway, let's take a view of the Teesside changes:

The usually quiet 58 may be increased in frequency whereas the very busy 12s and 52s are being reduced (and the 52 to improve co-ordination with the 34/34a) seems a backwards step especially as it means increasing the PVR of the 58 although it will mean that the 35 can either interwork with just the 52 or just the 58.

The 34/34a change appears to be one of the few positives - it brings the Middlesbrough-Billingham direct service up to its best frequency I can ever recall it having plus allows the 35 to run a revised route in Billingham which should hopefully improve reliability.

(03 Jun 2017, 9:48 am)beefcake wrote [ -> ]Council subsidies were withdrawn around March 2011, the evening 7 was introduced on a trial basis back in 2012, where services now run til 2200 Sun-Thurs and 2300 on Fri/Sat. A modified Sun-Thurs evening service 6 running between Clavering-Victoria Road was launched in 2014 with last services departing around 2145, but they went by the end of the year. Evening services would work in town, if the timetables were better co-ordinated to connect with other services, for example not leaving town until after the 36 has arrived from Teesside, but ultimately I can't se that happening

Thanks for clarifying. Knew it was around that sort of period, just couldnt remember exactly when.

The poor timetable co-ordination around evening services isn't unique to Hartlepool unfortunately.
Not sure why that's the case, as like you, I think they would perform a lot better if they were.

Does anyone know what buses are due to leave South Shields tomorrow?

(03 Jun 2017, 3:04 pm)Dans_bus_photos wrote [ -> ]Does anyone know what buses are due to leave South Shields tomorrow?

I'd of said the 6 man e200's but wouldn't say for definite

(03 Jun 2017, 3:27 pm)Youngymmv wrote [ -> ]I'd of said the 6 man e200's but wouldn't say for definite

3 of them transferred only this week

(03 Jun 2017, 3:33 pm)Ds1197 wrote [ -> ]3 of them transferred only this week

That's why I was asking- as it would seem daft doing the 3 way swap last week if they are going to be moved on a week. Although it would make sense for the 6 of them to transfer to Hartlepool to start seeing off the remaining darts in the fleet.

(03 Jun 2017, 3:55 pm)Dans_bus_photos wrote [ -> ]That's why I was asking- as it would seem daft doing the 3 way swap last week if they are going to be moved on a week. Although it would make sense for the 6 of them to transfer to Hartlepool to start seeing off the remaining darts in the fleet.

Can the MANviro 200s be allocated to the 1?

I recall hearing something in the past that they are only allocated to that service as a last resort, due to them being unable to stick to the timetable. Could be a load of bull, though.

Would make complete sense to do that from a fleet standardisation point of view.

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(03 Jun 2017, 4:08 pm)Dan wrote [ -> ]Can the MANviro 200s be allocated to the 1?

I recall hearing something in the past that they are only allocated to that service as a last resort, due to them being unable to stick to the timetable. Could be a load of bull, though.

Would make complete sense to do that from a fleet standardisation point of view.

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I'm sure I heard that aswell somewhere, but every time I'm in Hartlepool there is normally about 2 of them on with the darts allocated to the other services. They are going to have to start replacing them soon though as they are now the oldest midi buses in the fleet, and I cant see the 1 warranting new vehicles.

Manviros frequently find their way onto the service 1, and with proposed service changes and possible cascades from other depots, the darts could be seen off rather soon, starting with 34550/611

(03 Jun 2017, 9:14 am)beefcake wrote [ -> ]https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and...ce-changes

Stagecoach wanting feedback for proposed service changes in Hartlepool/Teesside areas

Some interesting looking changes being proposed here. There seems to be a theme of chopping some of the stronger, frequent, services whilst the weaker stuff tends to stay almost untouched!

Acklam Road sees a large cut in services, with 2 11s, 6 12s and 3 14s becoming just 5 12s and 2 14s. It will be interesting to see whether Arriva gain with their 17/17A although I still think the door is open for someone to offer an alternative to the 11. The 10 being increased doesn't seem to make sense when the 11 is far busier. On the plus side it'll allow them to put a bus 10 mins either side of the Arriva competitive services 28/28A.

The Billingham side of the changes mostly seem to make sense, with Low Grange getting a 7 min service with combined 34/34A and 52 services, apart from the fact that half of the 34s will go the opposite way around the loop? Increasing the service to Middlesbrough is a good move though, with this becoming the destination of choice for both work and leisure in the Teesside area.

The 35 being removed from High Grange will presumably save enough time to allow it to become a self contained operation once more. Sending it the opposite way around Wolviston Court makes no sense though, as that'll take longer than it currently does anyway. I'm not sure what this is meant to achieve. Possibly one thrown in to allow a "we changed this based on feedback" maybe?

Increasing the 58 to every 10 minutes is an interesting move. It's not massively busy and I think it'll struggle to justify the extra bus being added to the resource cost to allow this. The main issue with the 58 is, and always has been, reliability caused by the tight timings. When I drove for them, the 58 was interworked with the 52 which allowed any time lost on the 58 to be gained back on the 52. Since they became self contained they've just got worse and worse.

All in all seems an odd set of changes as I'm not sure they'll be saving that much on resources at Stockton in the end.

Not sure I can comment too much on the Hartlepool operation as I don't know enough about it. What I would say is how much more can they cut before it no longer becomes worth running?

Cutting the service 1 seems a strange one to me. Services were upped to every 10 minutes to compensate for the cull of the service 12 years ago, and I can't see how going back to 15 minutes is going to help. Most buses I see in the Town Centre seem to have good loads on them. Hopefully with the timetable change, they look at improving arrivals into Middlesbrough around 9am, as Monday-Friday, there's a 45 minute gap between 0845 and 0930 arrivals. Would be nice to see a pre 1000 arrival into the Bus Station on a Sunday aswell.

Service 4 getting withdrawn doesn't really come as a shock to me. On the occassions I use it between Marina and West View to avoid travelling right into town, I think I could count on one hand the amount of passengers who use the stops on Powlett Road. Services to the Marina from Clavering could be sustained if they extended the 3 across from Bishop Cuthbert before heading back to South Fens, but looking at the timetable, the running times would be too tight, so can't see this happening.

Service 6/7 getting evening services comes across as a bit of a strange one, especially considering that the 7 runs until around 2200 as it is Sun-Thurs. I think these could be made more successful if services could be better co-ordinated with the 36 arriving from Teesside. The 7 could be achieved by putting services back 10 minutes, which on paper would leave a 5 minute connection between the services on Victoria Road. Co-ordinating with the 6 could be a bit more difficult as it would seem pointless having 2 buses in tandem between York Road and Owton Manor Lane. Possibly reducing evening 6's to every 30 minutes and having a service between Town and Owton Manor every 15 minutes could solve this though, as well as leaving adequate time for connections.

(04 Jun 2017, 5:56 pm)beefcake wrote [ -> ]Service 6/7 getting evening services comes across as a bit of a strange one, especially considering that the 7 runs until around 2200 as it is Sun-Thurs. I think these could be made more successful if services could be better co-ordinated with the 36 arriving from Teesside. The 7 could be achieved by putting services back 10 minutes, which on paper would leave a 5 minute connection between the services on Victoria Road. Co-ordinating with the 6 could be a bit more difficult as it would seem pointless having 2 buses in tandem between York Road and Owton Manor Lane. Possibly reducing evening 6's to every 30 minutes and having a service between Town and Owton Manor every 15 minutes could solve this though, as well as leaving adequate time for connections.

As the 6 and 36 share the route south of the town centre I'd suggest rather than having a 20 min frequency on evening 6s - have them run every 30 mins but following the route of the 3 south of the town. This would use the same amount of vehicles but a wider area would be served. In a dream world it would continue to Seaton via Golden Flatts......and be called the 15.

(03 Jun 2017, 4:16 pm)Dans_bus_photos wrote [ -> ]I'm sure I heard that aswell somewhere, but every time I'm in Hartlepool there is normally about 2 of them on with the darts allocated to the other services. They are going to have to start replacing them soon though as they are now the oldest midi buses in the fleet, and I cant see the 1 warranting new vehicles.

Why not? They did last time.

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(04 Jun 2017, 10:24 pm)James101 wrote [ -> ]As the 6 and 36 share the route south of the town centre I'd suggest rather than having a 20 min frequency on evening 6s - have them run every 30 mins but following the route of the 3 south of the town. This would use the same amount of vehicles but a wider area would be served. In a dream world it would continue to Seaton via Golden Flatts......and be called the 15.

Good idea!

24005 has disappeared from Stockton depot.

27726 broke down this morning whilst operating the E6 to Sunderland at 07:00.

A replacement ADL E300 arrived and set off just as the next E6 was going past.

After lots of toing and froing between the drivers cab and engine bay, including making lots of phone calls, the engineer eventually got it going.

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Information From Steven Knight Media:

➨Stagecoach North East
Look out for Enviro 200s 36461-67 transferring from South Shields, where they have been made surplus following service revisions there, to Hartlepool. The first two vehicles to transfer are 36462/66. They are due to replace Dart SLFs 34550 and 35155-50 which will be withdrawn for disposal or cascade within Stagecoach UK Bus. 

It is interesting that Hartlepool will be receiving some ADL E200s instead of more MAN E200s.

22413 was towed back to Slatyford this evening

Weren't 24113/4/5 transferred for the 100 service?

(07 Jun 2017, 9:28 pm)Tees lee wrote [ -> ]Weren't 24113/4/5 transferred for the 100 service?

Seem to be running the 71 when ive seen them

(07 Jun 2017, 9:28 pm)Tees lee wrote [ -> ]Weren't 24113/4/5 transferred for the 100 service?

Judging by the fact they replaced 39702-4 at Slatyford reducing the depot's midibus allocation, the fact they are being used on the 71 would suggest the move was to allow the 71 to be converted to full size operation.

Thanks for the info

The 'consultation' in Middlesbrough was a damp squib. Two blokes sat at a desk in the Mima foyer.