North East Buses

(08 Feb 2020, 10:03 pm)stagecoachbusdepot wrote [ -> ]Principally shared between 1, 12, 22 and 38 but could turn up anywhere.

I thought the hybrid buses are set to be on boards that finish late at night.

How many gas buses left to paint now? Seems like they’ve wasted there time putting into corporate colours as the new colour scheme has launched. 

How long will 35189 and 34605 last in Sunderland keep seeing them regularly on flagship routes! I guess they will be here a while if all vehicles need repainting.

Instead of having a 3 to gilley law and a 3 to Farringdon. Just renumber them 2 and 3
Or 3G 3F

Let's not forget 34611 is also seeing regular service.

(08 Feb 2020, 11:27 pm)S830OFT wrote [ -> ]Let's not forget 34611 is also seeing regular service.

Oh yes spotted on E6

(08 Feb 2020, 11:16 pm)Acky81 wrote [ -> ]How many gas buses left to paint now? Seems like they’ve wasted there time putting into corporate colours as the new colour scheme has launched. 

How long will 35189 and 34605 last in Sunderland keep seeing them regularly on flagship routes! I guess they will be here a while if all vehicles need repainting.

Instead of having a 3 to gilley law and a 3 to Farringdon. Just renumber them 2 and 3
Or 3G 3F

Hardly a wasted exercise when the fleet still needs maintained and the paintshop staff still need paid.

(08 Feb 2020, 11:56 pm)RBZ 5459 wrote [ -> ]Hardly a wasted exercise when the fleet still needs maintained and the paintshop staff still need paid.

 All I mean is it’s more work to do. Totally agree maintaining the vehicles.

(08 Feb 2020, 11:16 pm)Acky81 wrote [ -> ]How many gas buses left to paint now? Seems like they’ve wasted there time putting into corporate colours as the new colour scheme has launched. 

How long will 35189 and 34605 last in Sunderland keep seeing them regularly on flagship routes! I guess they will be here a while if all vehicles need repainting.

Instead of having a 3 to gilley law and a 3 to Farringdon. Just renumber them 2 and 3
Or 3G 3F

Spotted 35189 on the 4 on Friday afternoon and it was full and standing - these little Darts aren’t the best for the work in Sunderland any more.

Anyone heard any rumours about service changes in Sunderland to come in May? Heard some suggestion that the core city routes in Sunderland will be reduced in frequency from every 10 to every 12. The resultant surplus buses have been mooted for a number of options, including a new route to be introduced, and also the gas buses displacing the Omnilinks on the X24.

The latter would certainly be sensible and you’d expect it to be three of the later Euro 6 batch, in readiness for the Newcastle CAZ coming into effect. This could also see Stagecoach introduce the new orange livery for the first time in the region.


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(09 Feb 2020, 6:47 am)Dan wrote [ -> ]Spotted 35189 on the 4 on Friday afternoon and it was full and standing - these little Darts aren’t the best for the work in Sunderland any more.

Anyone heard any rumours about service changes in Sunderland to come in May? Heard some suggestion that the core city routes in Sunderland will be reduced in frequency from every 10 to every 12. The resultant surplus buses have been mooted for a number of options, including a new route to be introduced, and also the gas buses displacing the Omnilinks on the X24.

The latter would certainly be sensible and you’d expect it to be three of the later Euro 6 batch, in readiness for the Newcastle CAZ coming into effect. This could also see Stagecoach introduce the new orange livery for the first time in the region.


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I wonder if that would mean more gas buses being allocated to the E's as well? As if any E300s become surplus to requirements it will obviously be the diesel ones used on the E's. There is never enough ADL E300s to cover the entire PVR on the E's anyway as there is always some odd workings every day. The gas buses are already making more of an "odd" appearance on the E's instead of the usual ADL/MAN E200s.

All of the MAN ALX300s, MAN E200s, ex-Scottish MAN E300s and 193## / 194## ADL E400s in Newcastle will need replacing this year as well if they will not be receiving Euro 6 modifications / upgrades. So could more new vehicles be on order as well?

If the PVR of some routes in Sunderland are being reduced, and the buses are quite often getting full/standing loads, then maybe there could be plans to introduce double decker's on Sunderland city services?

(09 Feb 2020, 6:47 am)Dan wrote [ -> ]Spotted 35189 on the 4 on Friday afternoon and it was full and standing - these little Darts aren’t the best for the work in Sunderland any more.

Anyone heard any rumours about service changes in Sunderland to come in May? Heard some suggestion that the core city routes in Sunderland will be reduced in frequency from every 10 to every 12. The resultant surplus buses have been mooted for a number of options, including a new route to be introduced, and also the gas buses displacing the Omnilinks on the X24.

The latter would certainly be sensible and you’d expect it to be three of the later Euro 6 batch, in readiness for the Newcastle CAZ coming into effect. This could also see Stagecoach introduce the new orange livery for the first time in the region.


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Haven't heard anything but i wouldn't be surprised to see this happen, and the Omnilinks getting withdrawn.

What is the new route?


4: 9 PVR to 8 PVR
16: 9 PVR to 8 PVR
20: 4 PVR to 3 PVR
23: 7 PVR to 6 PVR

Down by 4 PVR


3 gas buses to X24
1 Enviro to spare (replaces a dart)



3/12/13 - not sure these would change (every 20 - then every 10 combined)


If any changes are coming up, they won't be on VOSA until March.

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(08 Feb 2020, 11:16 pm)Acky81 wrote [ -> ]How many gas buses left to paint now? Seems like they’ve wasted there time putting into corporate colours as the new colour scheme has launched. 

How long will 35189 and 34605 last in Sunderland keep seeing them regularly on flagship routes! I guess they will be here a while if all vehicles need repainting.

Instead of having a 3 to gilley law and a 3 to Farringdon. Just renumber them 2 and 3
Or 3G 3F

The latest Stagecoach fleet allocation, indicates 12 gas buses are left to repaint, that was dated for 12th January 2020.

When are stagecoach going to start repaint they new livery on to the buses.

One service which is consistently running around empty is the 18. I have observed many trips, especially Seaburn to Sunderland and these journeys regularly have no passengers on-board.

I understand the 18A is very busy for the school period, although during the holidays it is very pointless sending the bus to Grangetown and back from Gilley Law. Also to note the School Passengers only use the service as far as Pallion...

The sections that are very rarely used include:
Gilley Law to Grangetown (Am Return, PM Towards)
Grindon to Gilley Law - Upon over 10 observations only 1 of those had another passenger on-board.
Seaburn to Sunderland - This service seems to only get used by very few passengers, and most seem to only board if it arrives before an E bus.

As a proposal the following may be more viable:
Service 8: This service will be reduced to operate every 60 minutes, although service 18 will be revised to serve South Hylton and High Barnes to continue the every 30 minutes frequency. Both services will follow a circular route which will replicate the current 18 service. Route Map plan at the end of plan.

Service 10: This service will lose one morning journey to Grangetown, and one afternoon journey to Pennywell. This will only occur on School days.

Service 10A: This service will replace service 18A operating one am & one pm journey. This service will only operate on School days. Additionaly the service will commece on Fordfield Road, and will only operate between Pennywell, Pallion, Grindon, Thorney Close, Durham Road and Grangetown.

Service 18: This service will be revised to combine with service 8, although will lose some sections of route. The service will continue the hourly frequency, however the route will be as followed:

Route 8 Map (South Hylton - The Broadway - High Barnes - Royal Hospital - Chester Road - Sunderland City Centre - Roker Park - Seaburn Morrisons - Fulwell, The Grange - Southwick - Pallion - Royal Hospital - High Barnes - The Broadway - South Hylton)

Route 18 Map (South Hylton - The Broadway - High Barnes - Royal Hospital - Pallion - Southwick - Fulwell, The Grange - Seaburn Morrisons - Roker Park - Sunderland City Centre - Chester Road - Royal 
Hospital - High Barnes - The Broadway - South Hylton)

PVR of service 8/18 (3) - PVR reduced by 1.

I will move this to the suggestion thread aswell.

I think some changes to the Stagecoach In Sunderland Network are needed as the reliability of some services are absolutely shocking although reducing them in frequency may not necessarily be the answer to issue as it would be clear indication of reducing costs.

As Dan noted in a previous post some services are packed which indicates capacity maybe the route cause of reliability issues, the 20 from Sunderland City Centre to Pennywell sticks out like a sore thumb for me for this issue as I often use this to visit my Nana who lives in Millfield, the last few times I have been down I have waited 10+ Mins for a bus to turn up as even the 10 has it's own reliability issues depending on the time of day, again I use the 10 regularly as well for going to the Eye Infirmary.

2 of Stockton E300 27164'66 have lost it old stagecoach logo are going for repaint in to new livery?

(10 Feb 2020, 3:14 pm)glen wrote [ -> ]2 of Stockton E300 27164'66 have lost it old stagecoach logo are going for repaint in to new livery?

If you're referring to the side ones, 27166 never received them after its repaint last year (nor did 27181). Likewise 27164 hasn't had any since October 2018.

Thanks for info mate

(08 Feb 2020, 11:16 pm)Acky81 wrote [ -> ]How many gas buses left to paint now? Seems like they’ve wasted there time putting into corporate colours as the new colour scheme has launched. 

The February fleet allocation indicates that the remaining gas buses to be repainted are:

28003
28004
28008
28016
28020
28021
28023
28030
28034
28038
28040

Stagecoach on teesside 27238'54 dots are them due repaint

Today I observed a variety of journeys on service 18, aswell as service 18A to monitor passenger numbers.

13:38 #18A Sunderland to Grangetown
Quite a few passengers boarded in Seaburn, aswell three other passengers at Southwick. Atleast 10 disembarked at the Royal Hospital, with only myself and another lady remaining on-board. Several stops up Hylton Road we picked up three passengers all using the service to Pennywell Shops (this journey would have been possible on service 20).

After Gilley Law only myself and another lady remained on-board, although a regular passenger boarded on Durham Road who appears to use the service to access employment at Leechmere, having seen him on previous journeys using the service...

16:45 #18 Seaburn to Sunderland
Service E2 just infront of service 18 was empty, then service 18 was also unsurprisingly empty. This remained like this for the entire journey to Sunderland, although with the bad weather down at the seaside it's perfectly understandable.

17:52 #18 at Seaburn Morrisons
I decided not to board this journey, although the bus arrived and departed empty, alike most afternoon journeys on service 18.

Reflecting on my previous suggestion, the main customers on this route seems to be school passengers on the Grangetown journeys, aswell as several passengers going to the Royal Hospital who could go via Sunderland as an alternative.

Most passengers I have observed over atleast 12 journeys seem to only use the service because the more frequency routes haven't arrived on-time or they just boarded the first bus that turns up.

I am much more in favour of revising service 8 and 18 to both be circular routes, one clockwise, the other anti-clockwise. This will offer more direct buses to the Royal Hospital from Seaburn and Roker, aswell as reduce the PVR by 1, but by keeping the necessary resources.

I seen 27169 old stagecoach logo been move from side buses like 27166 '64 to.i think getting them read for repaint of new livery?

(10 Feb 2020, 11:19 pm)S830OFT wrote [ -> ]Today I observed a variety of journeys on service 18, aswell as service 18A to monitor passenger numbers.

13:38 #18A Sunderland to Grangetown
Quite a few passengers boarded in Seaburn, aswell three other passengers at Southwick. Atleast 10 disembarked at the Royal Hospital, with only myself and another lady remaining on-board. Several stops up Hylton Road we picked up three passengers all using the service to Pennywell Shops (this journey would have been possible on service 20).

After Gilley Law only myself and another lady remained on-board, although a regular passenger boarded on Durham Road who appears to use the service to access employment at Leechmere, having seen him on previous journeys using the service...

16:45 #18 Seaburn to Sunderland
Service E2 just infront of service 18 was empty, then service 18 was also unsurprisingly empty. This remained like this for the entire journey to Sunderland, although with the bad weather down at the seaside it's perfectly understandable.

17:52 #18 at Seaburn Morrisons
I decided not to board this journey, although the bus arrived and departed empty, alike most afternoon journeys on service 18.

Reflecting on my previous suggestion, the main customers on this route seems to be school passengers on the Grangetown journeys, aswell as several passengers going to the Royal Hospital who could go via Sunderland as an alternative.

Most passengers I have observed over atleast 12 journeys seem to only use the service because the more frequency routes haven't arrived on-time or they just boarded the first bus that turns up.

I am much more in favour of revising service 8 and 18 to both be circular routes, one clockwise, the other anti-clockwise. This will offer more direct buses to the Royal Hospital from Seaburn and Roker, aswell as reduce the PVR by 1, but by keeping the necessary resources.

I used to be a regular on the first 18 of the day until my shifts changed at work, i can't remember the last time i got on the 18, but once it went hourly and the route was dramatically changed, i think we all knew it could be ending, which maybe in the next few months

I can't see any other way they could get the 18 to be busy again, shame to lose it, if it does go though.

The new corporate livery was starting to grow on me until I seen this - https://www.flickr.com/photos/royalmailman/49524422536/

(12 Feb 2020, 2:36 pm)Malarkey wrote [ -> ]The new corporate livery was starting to grow on me until I seen this - https://www.flickr.com/photos/royalmailman/49524422536/

Jesus, the front of the bus is horrible!

I like new livery it better old one.

(12 Feb 2020, 2:36 pm)Malarkey wrote [ -> ]The new corporate livery was starting to grow on me until I seen this - https://www.flickr.com/photos/royalmailman/49524422536/

The front of the bus looks like a seaside brand. The back of it looks like a washed advert for Google Chrome talk about clashing. Shame as if the front was a grey it would actually look alright that imo.

The new livery is ugly, i personally would of taken the striped livery and modernised it,or used the training bus livery as the new corporate livery and made a plain livery for the training livery

(12 Feb 2020, 12:56 pm)Michael wrote [ -> ]I used to be a regular on the first 18 of the day until my shifts changed at work, i can't remember the last time i got on the 18, but once it went hourly and the route was dramatically changed, i think we all knew it could be ending, which maybe in the next few months

I can't see any other way they could get the 18 to be busy again, shame to lose it, if it does go though.

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The 18 used to be busy till they messed about with it. It was always busy with those from Grindon, Thorney Close, Plains Farm and Springwell using it for Asda and Grangetown. It was the only connection to a larger supermarket from those areas so was popular. The new route seems to connect no one to anything and drives around like a lost soul.

Not mentioned last week was the fact that 20551 and 20553 were taken away by Alpha, the final two B10Ms.

Sunderland and South Shields interchanges are both run by nexus. So how come stagecoach are running in South Shields but not allowed in Sunderland. I know they have to pay a fee in Sunderland but does this not apply in South Shields. Makes no sense at all.

(13 Feb 2020, 1:19 pm)Acky81 wrote [ -> ]Sunderland and South Shields interchanges are both run by nexus. So how come stagecoach are running in South Shields but not allowed in Sunderland. I know they have to pay a fee in Sunderland but does this not apply in South Shields. Makes no sense at all.

Probably because South Shields Interchange replaced the town centre stops so there's very little choice other than the stops by Asda for Stagecoach to use. It's also more or less central to where the buses previously stopped prior to the Interchange opening.

(13 Feb 2020, 1:40 pm)Kuyoyo wrote [ -> ]Probably because South Shields Interchange replaced the town centre stops so there's very little choice other than the stops by Asda for Stagecoach to use. It's also more or less central to where the buses previously stopped prior to the Interchange opening.

Where as Park Lane is not central, completely out of the way, should of been built more central.