North East Buses

Stagecoach North East: Latest News & Discussion - August 2017

80036 is on the first X24 of the day, just left Sunderland.

22214 has been taken away from Walkergate today on a 1 way trip

(02 Aug 2017, 4:40 pm)topsweep1506 wrote [ -> ]22214 has been taken away from Walkergate today on a 1 way trip

Is 22011 still on site in a state?

(02 Aug 2017, 8:30 pm)stagecoachbusdepot wrote [ -> ]Is 22011 still on site in a state?

It is, engine-less.

Anyone know if DD16 GAS is out and about today

(03 Aug 2017, 10:37 am)ifm001 wrote [ -> ]Anyone know if DD16 GAS is out and about today

1325 leaving Newcastle

With DD16 GAS on demo, i hope they can sort most of the problems out on the Omnilinks.

What time is DD16 GAS out today?

At least 2 Omnilinks out today, first in a while.

Quite a few people on the one i'm on.

There is a Dennis Trident (or a bus that looks like a Dennis Trident) at the rear of Sunderland Depot. Seen it as I was going past on the E6.

I think the x34 shoukd go back to being every 20 mins after 4 oclock waiting 45 mins for a bus and the ques plus they have put it in the worst stop got tge x24 10 11 38 there aready

Anyone been looking at the X55 passenger numbers? I have seen a few pictures (albeit at Dalton Park) but it looks pretty dead, and perhaps easy to cull if there is a next round of service changes.

(06 Aug 2017, 12:51 am)Simmy wrote [ -> ]Anyone been looking at the X55 passenger numbers? I have seen a few pictures (albeit at Dalton Park) but it looks pretty dead, and perhaps easy to cull if there is a next round of service changes.

Woeful in my experience - I've often had the coach to myself when I've travelled on the service.

It was a bit of a bizarre service from the start. Hartlepool has a regular hourly service to Dalton Park with Go North East's X6 service Mon-Sat, so the chances of someone picking one of three journeys per week on the Stagecoach Saturday offering are slim.

They had a really good chance of making something quite interesting with a Stockton - Dalton Park - Newcastle express service, but assume too much of a political risk with the competition.

(06 Aug 2017, 12:51 am)Simmy wrote [ -> ]Anyone been looking at the X55 passenger numbers? I have seen a few pictures (albeit at Dalton Park) but it looks pretty dead, and perhaps easy to cull if there is a next round of service changes.

Think when I did the last X55 of the day from Newcastle a few weeks back, there was six of us on-board with no-one boarding/alighting at Dalton Park, it picked a few in Hartlepool which was just people who would have just got on the 36 or whatever else would have turned up if the X55 hadn't first, unsure on the Billingham - Stockton stretch that night as I alighted at Billingham in the hope of getting a photo (I failed, wrong camera settings).

Cheers Dan and Jimmi! It seems that in order to attract customers to the service, they will have to try to gain passengers from GNE. Reduced fares is one method, however unless things change, that coach may be going for disposal in the future...

(05 Aug 2017, 3:04 pm)AIG20 wrote [ -> ]There is a Dennis Trident (or a bus that looks like a Dennis Trident) at the rear of Sunderland Depot. Seen it as I was going past on the E6.

Its 17745

Did Stagecoach North East send any buses down to London for the World Athletics Championship shuttles. They took buses for Ryder Cup and Cheltenham Festival.

(06 Aug 2017, 3:50 pm)Dans_bus_photos wrote [ -> ]Its 17745

Any idea why its parked up in Sunderland?

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

✤Stagecoach North East
Another withdrawn MAN/ALX300 sold to Alpha Recovery is 22215, whilst similar 22071 has now received the mainly red training livery.

Here is a picture of 22071 (NK54 BFX) by Steven Hodgson, John Soutar & Mark McCann.
[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/nebp2/36380745046/][/url]
Is there a reason why non of the withdrawn 03/53 plate MANs have been disposed of yet - some of which have been withdrawn for a year.

(07 Aug 2017, 3:49 pm)AIG20 wrote [ -> ]Information from "Steven Knight Media - Fleet News Ramblings":


Here is a picture of 22071 (NK54 BFX) by Steven Hodgson, John Soutar & Mark McCann.
[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/nebp2/36380745046/][/url]
Is there a reason why non of the withdrawn 03/53 plate MANs have been disposed of yet - some of which have been withdrawn for a year.

I'm sure that the last time I checked 22012 was withdrawn, although it performed the 13:55 X47 service to Kingston Park from Eldon Square. Also the Kinetics don't seem to be out as much now, only seen 22514 on the 100.

(07 Aug 2017, 3:49 pm)AIG20 wrote [ -> ]Information from "Steven Knight Media - Fleet News Ramblings":


Here is a picture of 22071 (NK54 BFX) by Steven Hodgson, John Soutar & Mark McCann.
[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/nebp2/36380745046/][/url]
Is there a reason why non of the withdrawn 03/53 plate MANs have been disposed of yet - some of which have been withdrawn for a year.

Scarp Value is at an all-time low at present - as most scrapyards are full.

(07 Aug 2017, 3:56 pm)S830OFT wrote [ -> ]I'm sure that the last time I checked 22012 was withdrawn, although it performed the 13:55 X47 service to Kingston Park from Eldon Square. Also the Kinetics don't seem to be out as much now, only seen 22514 on the 100.

22012 is now at Slatyford for future use as their Route Learning Vehicle (RLV) - which obviously doesn't require the modifications its younger sisters are getting to become Training Vehicle. For now, it is obviously still seeing use in front line service (as is Stockton's future RLV - 22026).

What I would like to see happen however is for 22012, 22026 and Sunderland's RLV 34611 - is for them to be painted into Training Livery but remain service-ready. Then you have an additional spare vehicle on hand which is advertising the training division if/when it is required in main-line service.

(07 Aug 2017, 5:49 pm)Kuyoyo wrote [ -> ]Scarp Value is at an all-time low at present - as most scrapyards are full.

I assume bus dealers/resellers such as Ensign mustn't be offering much for them as well?

Maybe they could use parts from the ones in the worst condition to fix and refurb the others to up the value or possibly allow them to be transferred to another stagecoach division.

(07 Aug 2017, 6:00 pm)AIG20 wrote [ -> ]I assume bus dealers/resellers such as Ensign mustn't be offering much for them as well?

Maybe they could use parts from the ones in the worst condition to fix and refurb the others to up the value or possibly allow them to be transferred to another stagecoach division.

I would guess the market is knackered at the moment.

There will be all of non-dda stuff in the scrap yards and with the financial incentives to buy new - alongside the emissions targets in the big cities, the big boys will be flooding the market with their older stuff.

Surely they could have got rid of some of them though, even at the low price as opposed to having around 30 buses just sitting in storage waiting to be scrapped. They seemed to get rid of 22214/5 and 22673 quick enough though

(07 Aug 2017, 7:06 pm)Dans_bus_photos wrote [ -> ]Surely they could have got rid of some of them though, even at the low price as opposed to having around 30 buses just sitting in storage waiting to be scrapped. They seemed to get rid of 22214/5 and 22673 quick enough though

And you don't see Go North East holding off from selling their buses? Once they've been stripped of any parts required, they go!

Can't look great on Stagecoach's books?

(07 Aug 2017, 7:10 pm)Dan wrote [ -> ]And you don't see Go North East holding off from selling their buses? Once they've been stripped of any parts required, they go!

Can't look great on Stagecoach's books?

You could say the same about Sunderland now having 3 'reserve' vehicles? They only had 1 before the latest service changes when the PVR was reduced...

Does the 118 share a board with the 39. I saw 19647 on both routes today.

(07 Aug 2017, 7:06 pm)Dans_bus_photos wrote [ -> ]Surely they could have got rid of some of them though, even at the low price as opposed to having around 30 buses just sitting in storage waiting to be scrapped. They seemed to get rid of 22214/5 and 22673 quick enough though

It depends what the book value of the buses is - if they are still valued at £20k each on the books, selling them for scrap for £1k or so each won't look good on Stagecoach books either.

I can't see there being much interest in used MAN single decks either.

The double decker gas bus is currently parked up at Hastings Hill with an engineer on board, its facing towards Sunderland.

Update:

My friend has just passed and its still at Hastings Hill.