I was in the area yesterday and it was clear there was a lot of lost mileage by the amount of buses parked on layover
Firstly in Sunderland around lunchtime, parked up in the Interchange were 3 Cherries, 2 56s, 2 Prince Bishops and 2 GNE buses displaying 9 Jarrow. So that’s at least 9 boards not running
Then a bit later in Washington it was a similar situation, the layover area had 2 X Lines, 2 Connections 4s, a normal livery bus probably from a 50 and a Little Pinks
And then late afternoon in Chester le Street there were buses strewn all over town. A Versa parked up on Front Street, another Versa and an Angel parked up by Tesco, and another Angel and an X21 parked on a side street where I’ve never seen buses parked before. The 21 I caught in the direction of Brandon, had to be taken by a/the leading driver as there was no normal drive relief.
(20 Mar 2022, 10:59 am)Wybus wrote [ -> ]I was in the area yesterday and it was clear there was a lot of lost mileage by the amount of buses parked on layover
Firstly in Sunderland around lunchtime, parked up in the Interchange were 3 Cherries, 2 56s, 2 Prince Bishops and 2 GNE buses displaying 9 Jarrow. So that’s at least 9 boards not running
Then a bit later in Washington it was a similar situation, the layover area had 2 X Lines, 2 Connections 4s, a normal livery bus probably from a 50 and a Little Pinks
And then late afternoon in Chester le Street there were buses strewn all over town. A Versa parked up on Front Street, another Versa and an Angel parked up by Tesco, and another Angel and an X21 parked on a side street where I’ve never seen buses parked before. The 21 I caught in the direction of Brandon, had to be taken by a/the leading driver as there was no normal drive relief.
At least those ones were out the way. I was waiting for a 61 a few weeks ago, it came in, stopped in the bus stand at Park Lane (complete with board set to '61 Murton'), driver got off and another one didn't turn up (the driver was clearly oblivious to the fact the next journey had been cancelled).
Cue the bus that was following to come in and now being unable to use the stand. Dropped people off somewhere else, parked in the bays at the back and the driver had to (or more probably decided to) walk over to take the bus sat in the stand.
No communication from anyone until I went into the footnote on the website and found the cancelled bus.
As a now ex-employee of GNE, its no surprise there's buses missing. Yes there has been a massive influx of new drivers, 10 of which started in the week prior to my departure. Some of these drivers found themselves on the big bus work within a week of starting, in my opinion they need to bed in on minibus or low cost work before transitioning on to the busy services. More pressure and stress makes the job harder, couple with that these drivers are still on bottom rate for at least 2 years. Staff sickness / Turnover at Consett where I worked was unbelievable, but when those who have every weekend off and wont pitch in to help its not surprising that moral is at rock bottom.
(18 Mar 2022, 9:45 pm)Unber43 wrote [ -> ]The X1 to every 12 mins shouldn't go ahead, from Washington Depot they might aswell just publish which service on the 4/50/26/X1 will run instead of what won't. There wasn't a 26 for over 2 1/2 hours the other night from South Sheilds
Plenty of spare staff from Percy Main come next Sunday - the loss of the 11 (4 buses), 42/42A (5 buses), the cut back 41 (1 bus) and the cut back 19 (1 buses) is 11 buses less, plus the 1, 19 and 311 are reduced at night. Must be 25 or so drivers spare to cover work from other depots.
Plus Riverside loses the 2 buses off the 33/33A and 1 off the Q3 so must be close to another 10 drivers less required there.
(20 Mar 2022, 11:24 am)Stanleyone wrote [ -> ]As a now ex-employee of GNE, its no surprise there's buses missing. Yes there has been a massive influx of new drivers, 10 of which started in the week prior to my departure. Some of these drivers found themselves on the big bus work within a week of starting, in my opinion they need to bed in on minibus or low cost work before transitioning on to the busy services. More pressure and stress makes the job harder, couple with that these drivers are still on bottom rate for at least 2 years. Staff sickness / Turnover at Consett where I worked was unbelievable, but when those who have every weekend off and wont pitch in to help its not surprising that moral is at rock bottom.
Even the buses on the small bus rota e.g X20 get rammed at Durham and Sunderland.
(20 Mar 2022, 11:24 am)Stanleyone wrote [ -> ]As a now ex-employee of GNE, its no surprise there's buses missing. Yes there has been a massive influx of new drivers, 10 of which started in the week prior to my departure. Some of these drivers found themselves on the big bus work within a week of starting, in my opinion they need to bed in on minibus or low cost work before transitioning on to the busy services. More pressure and stress makes the job harder, couple with that these drivers are still on bottom rate for at least 2 years. Staff sickness / Turnover at Consett where I worked was unbelievable, but when those who have every weekend off and wont pitch in to help its not surprising that moral is at rock bottom.
It seems to me GNE are still losing drivers as fast as they can train new ones, with quite a few people I knew at GNE leaving in just the last few months.
In fact, I don't think I know any GNE drivers any more (which tbh is a relief because there's nothing more awkward for me than getting on a bus and knowing the driver!)
I don't even think I know anyone in customer services anymore. Although, from my experiences with customer services (at least with the live chat), there only seems to be two people working there now!
(20 Mar 2022, 10:59 am)Wybus wrote [ -> ]I was in the area yesterday and it was clear there was a lot of lost mileage by the amount of buses parked on layover
Firstly in Sunderland around lunchtime, parked up in the Interchange were 3 Cherries, 2 56s, 2 Prince Bishops and 2 GNE buses displaying 9 Jarrow. So that’s at least 9 boards not running
Then a bit later in Washington it was a similar situation, the layover area had 2 X Lines, 2 Connections 4s, a normal livery bus probably from a 50 and a Little Pinks
And then late afternoon in Chester le Street there were buses strewn all over town. A Versa parked up on Front Street, another Versa and an Angel parked up by Tesco, and another Angel and an X21 parked on a side street where I’ve never seen buses parked before. The 21 I caught in the direction of Brandon, had to be taken by a/the leading driver as there was no normal drive relief.
CLS really seemed to be struggling yesterday, was in Durham yesterday morning and the 11am 21 was terminating at CLS, the X21 at 11:16 was about 10 minutes behind schedule and 6335 disappeared off the face of the earth around CLS, I caught the 11:46 X21 off Durham to Newcastle which was rather busy, upon arrival in CLS we were pretty much full on 6334 then was surprised to see a StreetDeck also heading to Newcastle on the X21 which at first I thought was a dupe but it turned out to be the replacement for 6335 on the previous X21 which followed us to Newcastle, passed loads of people heading through Low Fell, was a large crowd getting on at The Cannon, certainly seemed to be gaps in 21's... upon arrival at Eldon Square I could barely move due to the queues around the X21 & 21 stands, intending passengers didn't look impressed when 6334 was approaching the stand but were tricked as it went on layover for 20 mins as intended.
On my return to Durham saw a large crowd waiting for 21/X21/50 and were there for some time as:
16:31 21 didn't operate
16:46 X21 terminated at CLS
17:01 21 ran light from Brandon to CLS due to delays
Meanwhile the 50 disappeared off the face of the earth south of Washington with the following departures from Durham being cancelled or started at Washington yesterday afternoon (according to BusTimes):
12:50 - 13:50 - 14:50 - 15:20 - 16:32 - 17:09 - 17:39
Arriva Darlington is in an absolute state atm with many cancellations including on hourly services like the 8/8A, I'm at my wits end with them as I've struggled to cope with the service being provided as cancellations make it difficult to get anywhere and if by some miracle a bus does turn up its usually rammed due to said cancellations on previous trips and usually a Solo will turn up. Supposedly this is from issues with vehicle availability rather than drivers, not helped windows are being put out most nights atm forcing buses off the road for days, last Saturday supposedly the first service to Barnard Castle from Darlington wasn't until after 10:30 (excluding the 10:01 84 ran by Scarlet Band).
(20 Mar 2022, 6:44 pm)Jimmi wrote [ -> ]Arriva Darlington is in an absolute state atm with many cancellations including on hourly services like the 8/8A, I'm at my wits end with them as I've struggled to cope with the service being provided as cancellations make it difficult to get anywhere and if by some miracle a bus does turn up its usually rammed due to said cancellations on previous trips and usually a Solo will turn up. Supposedly this is from issues with vehicle availability rather than drivers, not helped windows are being put out most nights atm forcing buses off the road for days, last Saturday supposedly the first service to Barnard Castle from Darlington wasn't until after 10:30 (excluding the 10:01 84 ran by Scarlet Band).
Yet not a peep out of Arriva - either on Social Media or the website.
GNE are getting a lot of criticism for cancellations and delays at the moment, and rightly so, but I do think that some of it is due to the level of transparency they're offering. Strictly speaking, there's nothing mandating them to publish cancellations or even notify the public of them, but they opt to do so. Some other operators, such as Transdev, are working along the same lines, but others aren't even giving their customers the decency of any information.
Looking at Darlington's 7 yesterday, and at a glance I can see the: 08.02, 10.42, 11.42, 13.22, 14.22 and 16.02 from Darlington didn't run, nor did the 09.24, 12.04, 13.04, 14.44, 15.44 and 17.24 from Durham. Not a single post to tell anyone that was the case.
Its a universal problem without any consistency. There needs to be a lot more done for customers faced with disruption, otherwise you'll never build confidence up with customers.
(20 Mar 2022, 10:59 am)Wybus wrote [ -> ]I was in the area yesterday and it was clear there was a lot of lost mileage by the amount of buses parked on layover
Firstly in Sunderland around lunchtime, parked up in the Interchange were 3 Cherries, 2 56s, 2 Prince Bishops and 2 GNE buses displaying 9 Jarrow. So that’s at least 9 boards not running
Then a bit later in Washington it was a similar situation, the layover area had 2 X Lines, 2 Connections 4s, a normal livery bus probably from a 50 and a Little Pinks
And then late afternoon in Chester le Street there were buses strewn all over town. A Versa parked up on Front Street, another Versa and an Angel parked up by Tesco, and another Angel and an X21 parked on a side street where I’ve never seen buses parked before. The 21 I caught in the direction of Brandon, had to be taken by a/the leading driver as there was no normal drive relief.
Park Lane is a nightmare, there was buses parked in all of the layovers + on the pavements where the 8/78 stands. There was a bus in Stand E. And one in Stand R. absoulte mayhem. God knows how the drivers know which bus is there's when there are like 3 Prince Bishops, 2 56's, a berries, 3 grpahites, 2 9's, a 61 and a 60, a cherry, voilets. Then you have the Coast and Country layovers and the X20 while the 35 leaves the stand.
It's interesting to see which depots have been impacted by driver shortages more than others. More suburban/rural depots like Hexham, Ashington, and Blyth seem to have coped relatively well.
In contrast, depots like Riverside, Jesmond, Washington, Durham, and Darlington seem to have been very badly impacted at various points.
I wonder if the greater amount of options in these areas is the reason behind this (i.e Jesmond drivers unhappy at Arriva could very simply switch to Stagecoach in Newcastle, or vice versa, whereas realistically most folk living in Ashington aren't going to commute to Gateshead).
Or, if it could be down to the sort of employee you'd tend to find in each area - I'd see those in urban areas as less loyal, more happy to switch jobs, whereas those in rural communities as happy to stay put, or even work more overtime to help their company/community.
(20 Mar 2022, 9:57 pm)mb134 wrote [ -> ]It's interesting to see which depots have been impacted by driver shortages more than others. More suburban/rural depots like Consett, Hexham, Ashington, and Blyth seem to have coped relatively well.
In contrast, depots like Riverside, Jesmond, Washington, Durham, and Darlington seem to have been very badly impacted at various points.
I wonder if the greater amount of options in these areas is the reason behind this (i.e Jesmond drivers unhappy at Arriva could very simply switch to Stagecoach in Newcastle, or vice versa, whereas realistically most folk living in Ashington aren't going to commute to Gateshead).
Or, if it could be down to the sort of employee you'd tend to find in each area - I'd see those in urban areas as less loyal, more happy to switch jobs, whereas those in rural communities as happy to stay put, or even work more overtime to help their company/community.
Tbh the only depot which has suffered basically none is Percy Main and Hexham. Peterlee has had a few more than both of them.
But Consett has been really bad, with Washington, Riverside, Deptford and CLS
(20 Mar 2022, 10:36 pm)Unber43 wrote [ -> ]Tbh the only depot which has suffered basically none is Percy Main and Hexham. Peterlee has had a few more than both of them.
But Consett has been really bad, with Washington, Riverside, Deptford and CLS
My bad, Consett was one of the exceptions to the general pattern I'd noticed, but I forgot while typing that up - amended now.
(20 Mar 2022, 10:43 pm)mb134 wrote [ -> ]
My bad, Consett was one of the exceptions to the general pattern I'd noticed, but I forgot while typing that up - amended now.
I think Consett is bad, correct me if I am wrong, but I think they have like a Drivers area in Consett and Stanley bus station, like Deptford have one above Greggs and the drivers stand outside of the massive display board opposite greggs
Good luck to anyone wishing to get the 50 from Durham on Monday...
Go North East 50
From South Shields: 10:13 starts at Galleries 10:59. 12:13 terminates Galleries 12:59. 13:13 terminates galleries 13:59. 15:53 resumes galleries 16:42. 16:23 resumes Galleries 17:12. 20:38 resumes Galleries 21:15.
From Durham: 11:20 terminates galleries 12:01. 11:50 terminates Galleries 12:31. 12:20 terminates Galleries 13:01. 12:50 terminates Galleries 13:31. 13:50. 14:50 resumes Galleries 15:32.16:53 resumes Galleries 17:42. 17:09 terminates Galleries 17:53.
From Chester le street: 06:45.
(20 Mar 2022, 8:48 pm)Adrian wrote [ -> ]Yet not a peep out of Arriva - either on Social Media or the website.
GNE are getting a lot of criticism for cancellations and delays at the moment, and rightly so, but I do think that some of it is due to the level of transparency they're offering. Strictly speaking, there's nothing mandating them to publish cancellations or even notify the public of them, but they opt to do so. Some other operators, such as Transdev, are working along the same lines, but others aren't even giving their customers the decency of any information.
Looking at Darlington's 7 yesterday, and at a glance I can see the: 08.02, 10.42, 11.42, 13.22, 14.22 and 16.02 from Darlington didn't run, nor did the 09.24, 12.04, 13.04, 14.44, 15.44 and 17.24 from Durham. Not a single post to tell anyone that was the case.
Its a universal problem without any consistency. There needs to be a lot more done for customers faced with disruption, otherwise you'll never build confidence up with customers.
I'm just pleased I have enthusiast insight and knowledge of some running boards which helps me to some degree to guess if a journey will run or not, if starting from Darlington Town Centre however it's pot luck as the bus could arrive but then not take up another trip. App stating journeys as cancelled is at least somewhat helpful although this isn't always reliable and have been caught out, few weeks back had a 7 showing as cancelled but later would run for me in part as it started part way down the route (Darlington bound) and other hiccup was an X1 journey showing as cancelled when in actual fact it was running but was having tracking problems (ticket machine seemingly wasn't working).
Interesting to note with your example of the 7, of the journeys listed as cancelled one was the same board that didn't run at all that day and the other was initially 7537 but dropped off after performing the 10:24 7 from Durham but 7537 would later reappear on a 1/5/5A/X1 board commencing with the 13:45 1 to Bishop Auckland - 1605 was previously on this board but was taken off (this seemed to happen for much of the day on the 1/5/5A/X1 cycle that day).
(21 Mar 2022, 2:25 am)User2613 wrote [ -> ]Good luck to anyone wishing to get the 50 from Durham on Monday...
Go North East 50
From South Shields: 10:13 starts at Galleries 10:59. 12:13 terminates Galleries 12:59. 13:13 terminates galleries 13:59. 15:53 resumes galleries 16:42. 16:23 resumes Galleries 17:12. 20:38 resumes Galleries 21:15.
From Durham: 11:20 terminates galleries 12:01. 11:50 terminates Galleries 12:31. 12:20 terminates Galleries 13:01. 12:50 terminates Galleries 13:31. 13:50. 14:50 resumes Galleries 15:32.16:53 resumes Galleries 17:42. 17:09 terminates Galleries 17:53.
From Chester le street: 06:45.
Last night, Martijn assured a poster on twitter, that it will be 'sorted and updated in the morning'.
I've not checked to see if it has been.
(21 Mar 2022, 10:17 am)Andreos1 wrote [ -> ]Last night, Martijn assured a poster on twitter, that it will be 'sorted and updated in the morning'.
I've not checked to see if it has been.
Revised cancellations for today in the 50 are...
From South Shields: The 10:13 journey will start from Washington Galleries at 10:59. The 12:13 journey will only run as far as Washington Galleries (arriving at 12:59). The 13:13 journey will only run as far as Washington Galleries (arriving at 13:59). The 15:53 journey will start from Washington Galleries at 16:42). The 16:23 journey will start from Washington Galleries at 17:12. The 20:38 journey will start from Washington Galleries at 21:15.
From Durham: 13:50. The 11:50 journey will only run as far as Washington Galleries (arriving at 12:31). The 12:20 journey will only run as far as Washington Galleries (arriving at 13:01). The 12:50 journey will only run as far as Washington (arriving at 13:31). 14:50 journey will only run as far as Washington Galleries (arriving at 15:32). The 16:53 journey will start from Washington Galleries at 17:42. The 17:09 journey will only run as far as Washington Galleries (arriving at 17:53).
From Chester-le-Street: 06:45.
(21 Mar 2022, 1:19 pm)Jimmi wrote [ -> ]Revised cancellations for today in the 50 are...
From South Shields: The 10:13 journey will start from Washington Galleries at 10:59. The 12:13 journey will only run as far as Washington Galleries (arriving at 12:59). The 13:13 journey will only run as far as Washington Galleries (arriving at 13:59). The 15:53 journey will start from Washington Galleries at 16:42). The 16:23 journey will start from Washington Galleries at 17:12. The 20:38 journey will start from Washington Galleries at 21:15.
From Durham: 13:50. The 11:50 journey will only run as far as Washington Galleries (arriving at 12:31). The 12:20 journey will only run as far as Washington Galleries (arriving at 13:01). The 12:50 journey will only run as far as Washington (arriving at 13:31). 14:50 journey will only run as far as Washington Galleries (arriving at 15:32). The 16:53 journey will start from Washington Galleries at 17:42. The 17:09 journey will only run as far as Washington Galleries (arriving at 17:53).
From Chester-le-Street: 06:45.
So nothing was updated other than the fact they added a few more words?
(21 Mar 2022, 1:19 pm)Jimmi wrote [ -> ]Revised cancellations for today in the 50 are...
From South Shields: The 10:13 journey will start from Washington Galleries at 10:59. The 12:13 journey will only run as far as Washington Galleries (arriving at 12:59). The 13:13 journey will only run as far as Washington Galleries (arriving at 13:59). The 15:53 journey will start from Washington Galleries at 16:42). The 16:23 journey will start from Washington Galleries at 17:12. The 20:38 journey will start from Washington Galleries at 21:15.
From Durham: 13:50. The 11:50 journey will only run as far as Washington Galleries (arriving at 12:31). The 12:20 journey will only run as far as Washington Galleries (arriving at 13:01). The 12:50 journey will only run as far as Washington (arriving at 13:31). 14:50 journey will only run as far as Washington Galleries (arriving at 15:32). The 16:53 journey will start from Washington Galleries at 17:42. The 17:09 journey will only run as far as Washington Galleries (arriving at 17:53).
From Chester-le-Street: 06:45.
I have looked back and forth with the original post and I can't see that much difference. If any.
Is it just me?
(21 Mar 2022, 2:25 am)User2613 wrote [ -> ]Good luck to anyone wishing to get the 50 from Durham on Monday...
Go North East 50
From South Shields: 10:13 starts at Galleries 10:59. 12:13 terminates Galleries 12:59. 13:13 terminates galleries 13:59. 15:53 resumes galleries 16:42. 16:23 resumes Galleries 17:12. 20:38 resumes Galleries 21:15.
From Durham: 11:20 terminates galleries 12:01. 11:50 terminates Galleries 12:31. 12:20 terminates Galleries 13:01. 12:50 terminates Galleries 13:31. 13:50. 14:50 resumes Galleries 15:32.16:53 resumes Galleries 17:42. 17:09 terminates Galleries 17:53.
From Chester le street: 06:45.
Crikey. Might as well cancel it and have done.
(21 Mar 2022, 2:03 pm)Andreos1 wrote [ -> ]I have looked back and forth with the original post and I can't see that much difference. If any.
Is it just me?
13:50 from Durham appears to have been reinstated
(21 Mar 2022, 2:03 pm)Andreos1 wrote [ -> ]I have looked back and forth with the original post and I can't see that much difference. If any.
Is it just me?
Only difference is the omission of "11:20 terminates galleries 12:01"
Everything else has just been reworded to make it seem different!
![[Image: Screenshot-2022-03-21-140819.png]](https://i.ibb.co/4jVnDMv/Screenshot-2022-03-21-140819.png)
(21 Mar 2022, 2:04 pm)BusLoverMum wrote [ -> ]Crikey. Might as well cancel it and have done.
13:50 from Durham appears to have been reinstated
They've just moved it to the beginning
Park Lane is like a bus depot this evening, with drivers walking round talking to each other saying where is management.
First two buses I've tried to get were cancelled. I didn't even think of looking on the website to - I ought to of in hindsight.
Is there any priority given to low frequency routes as well as early morning and evening routes? Just wondering as there was 5 city rider deckers parked up. However a 135 or 136 (at least on destination display) was parked up to.
(24 Mar 2022, 6:59 pm)idiot wrote [ -> ]Park Lane is like a bus depot this evening, with drivers walking round talking to each other saying where is management.
First two buses I've tried to get were cancelled. I didn't even think of looking on the website to - I ought to of in hindsight.
Is there any priority given to low frequency routes as well as early morning and evening routes? Just wondering as there was 5 city rider deckers parked up. However a 135 or 136 (at least on destination display) was parked up to.
I was their earlier, it was bad too.
Not as bad as it has been over the past few weeks.
Well this disembodied ticket machine was flying around on, in Husband's words, a dilapidated looking Stanley travel bus, this morning.
Is it me, or do the Go North East 67 & 69 services suffer from a large number of breakdowns compared to any other route?
They seem to be mentioned on twitter at least once everyday - for route requiring only 4 buses this seems a lot
I was at Gateshead interchange last night and noticed a bit of paper stuck the window of one of the bus stands (the wildly out of date service change notice next to it is what drew me to it), which had yesterday (Wed)'s short notice cancellations on it. Is that done anywhere else? Not seen it at Park Lane.
(31 Mar 2022, 9:50 am)busmanT wrote [ -> ]Is it me, or do the Go North East 67 & 69 services suffer from a large number of breakdowns compared to any other route?
They seem to be mentioned on twitter at least once everyday - for route requiring only 4 buses this seems a lot
They run with some of the oldest buses in the fleet, likely to be retained beyond their expected years because they were fitted with council-funded Euro 6 SCRT for services 67/69. It’s a mistake that has been made for years which Go North East have hopefully now moved on from.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
No cancellations for GNE tomorrow, first time since a few days after Saturday timetable returning.
However I'd imagine there would be a lot of A-Line cover, anyone know what route/times they will be running.
(09 Apr 2022, 5:04 pm)Unber43 wrote [ -> ]No cancellations for GNE tomorrow, first time since a few days after Saturday timetable returning.
However I'd imagine there would be a lot of A-Line cover, anyone know what route/times they will be running.
Dropped mileage on the 8 and 39/A.