North East Buses

(05 Aug 2018, 6:28 am)RobinHood wrote [ -> ]I dont think that was ever the plan. As far as I know, the brand was refreshed, but there was never a mass repaint/relogo plan. It was all proposed to be done as and when - which could take decades!

Really? Seems a little pointless paying someone to refresh the brand then.

Does anyone know uf 4512 has been withdrawn yet?

(05 Aug 2018, 12:33 pm)GNE6312 wrote [ -> ]Does anyone know uf 4512 has been withdrawn yet?

Ages ago.
4523 is only one left now.

(05 Aug 2018, 12:13 pm)Adrian wrote [ -> ]Really? Seems a little pointless paying someone to refresh the brand then.

Would you prefer more older vehicles being reinstated to enable larger batches to be sent in for repaint?

They're always repainting buses into the new livery at Thornton's, however cost and fleet availability keeps this down to about two at a time. At present, the Geminis are having additional work done (interiors) so this will lengthen the process.

The new Arriva brand is already rolled out on a huge scale across the UK and Europe, however the North East faces the above issues.

These are the buses in need of a repaint and refurb at Belmont:
1412, 1413, 2811, 2814, 2818, 2819, 2820.
They've been untouched for atleast 10 years.

(05 Aug 2018, 12:38 pm)omnicity4659 wrote [ -> ]Would you prefer more older vehicles being reinstated to enable larger batches to be sent in for repaint?

They're always repainting buses into the new livery at Thornton's, however cost and fleet availability keeps this down to about two at a time. At present, the Geminis are having additional work done (interiors) so this will lengthen the process.

The new Arriva brand is already rolled out on a huge scale across the UK and Europe, however the North East faces the above issues.

Other operators and divisions manage re-paint programmes.
There are ways and means.

The photo GPR has uploaded of the 24 branded decker appearing on the X12 couldn't have been timed better.
That odd coloured front part could have quite easily gone on in the correct scheme.

(05 Aug 2018, 12:35 pm)S830OFT wrote [ -> ]Ages ago.
4523 is only one left now.

4516 is still going.

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(05 Aug 2018, 2:10 pm)Andreos1 wrote [ -> ]Other operators and divisions manage re-paint programmes.
There are ways and means.

The photo GPR has uploaded of the 24 branded decker appearing on the X12 couldn't have been timed better.
That odd coloured front part could have quite easily gone on in the correct scheme.

Exactly.

(05 Aug 2018, 12:38 pm)omnicity4659 wrote [ -> ]Would you prefer more older vehicles being reinstated to enable larger batches to be sent in for repaint?

They're always repainting buses into the new livery at Thornton's, however cost and fleet availability keeps this down to about two at a time. At present, the Geminis are having additional work done (interiors) so this will lengthen the process.

The new Arriva brand is already rolled out on a huge scale across the UK and Europe, however the North East faces the above issues.

Come on Tom. Don't try and put this on me - I'm not the one making the business decisions here!  

I don't think anybody expects them to repaint the whole fleet in 5 minutes, but an "as and when" basis seems to be poor project management at the very least.

What could be done in 5 minutes (well, perhaps a weekend!), is a remove and replace exercise on the Arriva logos. You'll recall GNE received some criticism for this, but indeed they ran a remove and replace project within about two months of the new logo being live.

Arriva stevenage VDL 3782 by Rob Elloway, on Flickr

It's up to the (again, useless) marketing team to do things like this, and yes, it would be a fast and easy way of rolling out the new brand.
If I had my own way the fleet would be smartened up as a priority with the Arriva brand replaced both inside and out, removing any references to defunct MAX and Frequenta brands and changing the vinyls on the transitional Journey Mark liveried vehicles too.

It's not on an "as and when" basis, as there are always at least two vehicles in for repaint at a time.

I know someone who works at Arriva, in Sunderland, and they have told me that the new brand was forced upon every region, not by marketing, but the corporate communications team.

Central and local marketing then bear responsibility for it's implementation, but if the actual operating company are not bought in whatsoever, what did Arriva (as a UK wide umberalla) expect?

Internally, it was rejected, hence the lack of urgency to repaint/rebrand.

(05 Aug 2018, 1:35 pm)S830OFT wrote [ -> ]These are the buses in need of a repaint and refurb at Belmont:
1412, 1413, 2811, 2814, 2818, 2819, 2820.
They've been untouched for atleast 10 years.

"at least 10 years"

1412/13 aren't even 10 years old...

(05 Aug 2018, 3:42 pm)mb134 wrote [ -> ]"at least 10 years"

1412/13 aren't even 10 years old...

Soon to be...
Just get my point, Belmont are the most lazy depot within the region.

Interesting comments about liveries and repaints etc. The point here is about customer service. Currently the customer seems to not count. Arriva are keen to sell their product but the customer doesn't know what the product  or its standard is. Vehicles are turned out in a range of liveries. Beneath that is a range of brands and then labelling for routes beneath those brands. However, arriva consistently and regularly mix these up running incorrect brands and route brands on incorrect routes. We all get the need for maintenance and that vehicles fail but if the company can't adhere to it's own brands, why bother in the first place. All that you get is customer confusion .Arrina fare very badly in this area and were it not for the lack of competition would lose out badly when fighting for customers .

(05 Aug 2018, 4:29 pm)S830OFT wrote [ -> ]Soon to be...
Just get my point, Belmont are the most lazy depot within the region.

I wouldn't say the lack of a repaint makes a depot lazy. Whilst I think the way that depot is ran leaves a lot to be desired, it is clearly a lack of corporate priorities, if a bus can sit for 10 years without a lick of paint. As somebody else has said earlier, quality is a huge issue...

(05 Aug 2018, 8:04 pm)Adrian wrote [ -> ]I wouldn't say the lack of a repaint makes a depot lazy. Whilst I think the way that depot is ran leaves a lot to be desired, it is clearly a lack of corporate priorities, if a bus can sit for 10 years without a lick of paint. As somebody else has said earlier, quality is a huge issue...

Arriva Whitby lead the way with clean buses, 2828 has been White, Silver and now blue Arriva whilst 2818 has remained in it's cream livery for 10 years now!

(05 Aug 2018, 5:26 pm)9920up wrote [ -> ]Interesting comments about liveries and repaints etc. The point here is about customer service. Currently the customer seems to not count. Arriva are keen to sell their product but the customer doesn't know what the product  or its standard is. Vehicles are turned out in a range of liveries. Beneath that is a range of brands and then labelling for routes beneath those brands. However, arriva consistently and regularly mix these up running incorrect brands and route brands on incorrect routes. We all get the need for maintenance and that vehicles fail but if the company can't adhere to it's own brands, why bother in the first place. All that you get is customer confusion .Arrina fare very badly in this area and were it not for the lack of competition would lose out badly when fighting for customers .

It's interesting how well they can do when they put their mind to it though. Thinking back to when they faced competition on Ashington expresses, and their launch of the X30 to counter GNEs X41, they selected some of the quickest vehicles in the fleet, painted them into a striking livery, and I believe had a few selected drivers. Another example would be the X1 competition, which Arriva again handled excellently with 1404-7. 

Bar the upturn in standards when Sapphire and MAX initially launched, they've became very complacent.

(04 Aug 2018, 6:02 pm)Pulsar wrote [ -> ]Has anybody done the X18 sightseeing tour and is it any good? I have been trying but have failed on 4 attempts as 7529 (with both screen and speakers) as well as 7530 (with speakers only) were not working and 7532 does not have either the screen or speakers installed. I was also on 7517 which does not have the equipment.

I've not done the tour, but I've heard that only certain buses were retrofitted with the Next Stop Announcement system. Seems a bit of a bizarre thing to do, and really limits the amount of buses which can be allocated to the X18 to give this 'guided tour'. After a bit of digging of photos online, I found that 7530 had a TFT monitor upstairs originally but seems to have been removed, and 7532 has never seemingly had one fitted.

Also heard that the speakers are only upstairs, not downstairs, with the justification that locals sit on the bottom-deck who don't want to hear next stop announcements and any tourists would always go to the top deck.

I'm told the reason why the guided tour may not have been available on buses which are fitted with a Next Stop Announcement system is down to the drivers inputting the wrong destination - apparently they have to select code 'T18' in the destination list opposed to 'X18' as normal, which mightn't have been communicated to all of the drivers.

(06 Aug 2018, 4:14 pm)Dan wrote [ -> ]I've not done the tour, but I've heard that only certain buses were retrofitted with the Next Stop Announcement system. Seems a bit of a bizarre thing to do, and really limits the amount of buses which can be allocated to the X18 to give this 'guided tour'. After a bit of digging of photos online, I found that 7530 had a TFT monitor upstairs originally but seems to have been removed, and 7532 has never seemingly had one fitted.

Also heard that the speakers are only upstairs, not downstairs, with the justification that locals sit on the bottom-deck who don't want to hear next stop announcements and any tourists would always go to the top deck.

I'm told the reason why the guided tour may not have been available on buses which are fitted with a Next Stop Announcement system is down to the drivers inputting the wrong destination - apparently they have to select code 'T18' in the destination list opposed to 'X18' as normal, which mightn't have been communicated to all of the drivers.

Thanks for the info, I guess driver error must be to blame on some of my journeys.

I am surprised thought that speakers are only installed upstairs as I know many people will choose to sit downstairs for personal preference or may be forced to sit downstairs if they have prams etc or are physically unable to get upstairs. For vehicles used I know that the 14 reg Sapphires are often used as spares but I think that at the very least all of the 64 plates should have had the equipment installed and maybe 1 or 2 09 plates as well. 

In regards to the tour itself I will probably have another try in the next couple of weeks and will hopefully be able to comment on the quality then. I do think the idea is good as the route is popular with tourists. Hopefully the tour (or just NSA's) are rolled out more widely in the future but the execution would need to better than I have experienced so far.

(06 Aug 2018, 4:14 pm)Dan wrote [ -> ]I'm told the reason why the guided tour may not have been available on buses which are fitted with a Next Stop Announcement system is down to the drivers inputting the wrong destination - apparently they have to select code 'T18' in the destination list opposed to 'X18' as normal, which mightn't have been communicated to all of the drivers.

Arriva are pretty useless when it comes to this sort of thing, I've noticed many times that the evening & Sunday X66's often get blinded up with the daytime X66 display instead of the via Hartburn & Stockton display which means no stops are announced between Stockton and Great Burdon, although the Sunday service is primarily allocated EcoCity's without NSA equipment.

(06 Aug 2018, 6:24 pm)Jimmi wrote [ -> ]Arriva are pretty useless when it comes to this sort of thing, I've noticed many times that the evening & Sunday X66's often get blinded up with the daytime X66 display instead of the via Hartburn & Stockton display which means no stops are announced between Stockton and Great Burdon, although the Sunday service is primarily allocated EcoCity's without NSA equipment.

It sounds like that is driver error - nothing a depot manager can do to stop that.

If the blinds exist and the NSA kits are configured, then thats 99% of it correct, but the final 1% fails - which is probably a great analogy for Arriva generally.

Ive seen some depots work well, the X93 guided tour seems to work (had a trip on it last Tuesday), was a bit quiet, but windows were open. Locally in Redcar and Middlesbrough, NSA fitted buses talk on every service - not just their own. I noticed that they had recently been updated as the fares are correct on the scrolling adverts following the change.

Durham however seem stuck 2 ro 3 years behind. No updates to their NSA kits - but Darlington have had updates for their Service 7? Implementation poor at the last hurdle and I suspect it depends on how well the depot is managed.

(05 Aug 2018, 8:45 pm)S830OFT wrote [ -> ]Arriva Whitby lead the way with clean buses, 2828 has been White, Silver and now blue Arriva whilst 2818 has remained in it's cream livery for 10 years now!

Arriva Whitby have 14 buses in Fleet.. One of the smallest depots in the region doesn't take much to get it up to current spec. Let's not forget 2 X4 branded buses a day run from Whitby they are old Sapphire. Max is now technically a defunct brand. So that leaves the solos by your logic the depot leading the way. 2? Solos have been done that puts it on par with Stockton and Durham behind Jesmond and it's main depot of Redcar.

Just a quick question since I've seen some recent replies about them: are the Frequenta and MAX brands now classed as defunct?

If so, how are they when Frequenta is still prominent in Darlington and MAX in-and-around Newcastle?

(07 Aug 2018, 12:53 am)BeachBoy99 wrote [ -> ]Just a quick question since I've seen some recent replies about them: are the Frequenta and MAX brands now classed as defunct?

If so, how are they when Frequenta is still prominent in Darlington and MAX in-and-around Newcastle?

Arriva have not repainted them yet or they won’t be repainted until it really needs to. They are classed as defunct  as they are not included in the new livery list as it’s just Sapphire standard and the green.

There is also an option for a Frequent and Express versions of the normal livery but nobody has used them yet

(07 Aug 2018, 9:34 pm)tyresmoke wrote [ -> ]There is also an option for a Frequent and Express versions of the normal livery but nobody has used them yet

So I've seen. I've got a copy of Arriva's 2017 brand guidelines from someone I know who works for the marketing team. Alas, the liveries don't look magnificent - I think the current Frequenta and MAX liveries beat them.

Disappointed to see that 7634 has now gained 308 branding (retains the Pride swoop). Looked much better previously.

(11 Aug 2018, 3:59 pm)S813 FVK wrote [ -> ]Disappointed to see that 7634 has now gained 308 branding (retains the Pride swoop). Looked much better previously.

Glad I’m not the only one who thinks that. Should have left 7634 as the unbranded spare

(11 Aug 2018, 3:59 pm)S813 FVK wrote [ -> ]Disappointed to see that 7634 has now gained 308 branding (retains the Pride swoop). Looked much better previously.

(11 Aug 2018, 4:10 pm)Kuyoyo wrote [ -> ]Glad I’m not the only one who thinks that. Should have left 7634 as the unbranded spare

Agreed, the swoop now looks a complete afterthought since they slapped the 308 branding on it and it somewhat takes away showing the support for pride with it now being focused more on the promotion of the service instead.

(11 Aug 2018, 4:10 pm)Kuyoyo wrote [ -> ]Glad I’m not the only one who thinks that. Should have left 7634 as the unbranded spare

There's no new livery spares for the 308 as the PVR increased to 10 vehicles (thank God) back in March meaning the 10x  DB300s brought up from Yorkshire are all allocated to the 308.

Pride's over. Take it off.