North East Buses

Not related to drive shortages, but at least GNE are doing something good by having a supervisor assist customers in Durham because of the diversions. https://www.gonortheast.co.uk/service-updates

(09 Jul 2022, 8:06 am)Jack Gill wrote [ -> ]Not related to drive shortages, but at least GNE are doing something good by having a supervisor assist customers in Durham because of the diversions. https://www.gonortheast.co.uk/service-updates

"a supervisor" is hardly going to cut it over such a vast area.

Why do GNE even put a list out anymore. Honestly Park Lane today was terrible. 3 61 were cancelled in a row. A 55 was not cancelled yet left Sunderland anyway not even pulling into the stands. Honestly I can understand why gne are losing passengers. Cause the bus never turns up. Honestly today gne cancelled services has been terrible. Even the 1/309/310 had a cancelled services on it

And of course another day of disruption for the 21, yet they don't mention anything about it to do with driver shortages, so what is the problem?

Massive gap of 4 hours from Bishop Auckland on the X21 tomorrow between 18:00-20:00, meaning the bus earlier is 5pm, and one after is 9pm, 4 hour gap.

There are THREE 25 running between newcastle & Langley Park between the hours of 12:06 - 23:04 (17:05/19:05/21:05)

2 28's cancelled 

2 & 3 93's in a row cancelled 

2 47/47A cancelled in a row

2 39's in 3 hours. 

I want to know how many 21's are cancelled it must be a massive figures its every day "oh operational issues" every single day, just tell us the cancellations!!!

---

(09 Jul 2022, 5:20 pm)Jack Gill wrote [ -> ]And of course another day of disruption for the 21, yet they don't mention anything about it to do with driver shortages, so what is the problem?

operational issues of course

We wanted to avoid Durham City centre, today, which meany heading North, for us, and we decided on the metrocentre. With X21's being as good as non-existent for us, on a Saturday, ffs, and the aforementioned issues with the 21, we ended up heading out to Consett and taking the very scenic route.

Needed to visit Newcastle before we came home, though, and we actually caught a rare X21 but, thanks to the previous one stopping short (and the aforementioned lottery with the 21s) it was packed and got even more packed at Chester, where the load usually lightens a bit.

Nobody who only catches the bus only occasionally is going to have got off that bus thinking "I should really leave the car at home more often".

(09 Jul 2022, 6:29 pm)BusLoverMum wrote [ -> ]We wanted to avoid Durham City centre, today, which meany heading North, for us, and we decided on the metrocentre. With X21's being as good as non-existent for us, on a Saturday, ffs, and the aforementioned issues with the 21, we ended up heading out to Consett and taking the very scenic route.

Needed to visit Newcastle before we came home, though, and we actually caught a rare X21 but, thanks to the previous one stopping short (and the aforementioned lottery with the 21s) it  was packed and got even more packed at Chester, where the load usually lightens a bit.

Nobody who only catches the bus only occasionally is going to have got off that bus thinking "I should really leave the car at home more often".

I think you need to dust off the 'bus trip reviews thread' and share your adventures and tribulations in there.
It might be cathartic and help you get over the trauma.

Nah, I'm good now, thanks, Andreos, but being on a bus that full, in this weather, isn't great for us ladies of a certain age (less jokingly, nor was having to lug bags down the stairs with creaky knees)

(09 Jul 2022, 5:20 pm)Jack Gill wrote [ -> ]And of course another day of disruption for the 21, yet they don't mention anything about it to do with driver shortages, so what is the problem?

It's not just driver shortages, there's an unofficial overtime ban, it's been mentioned by Dan before, at CLS over the depot closure. Weekends are always hit hard when they do that since bus and rail companies pretty much rely on overtime now (right or wrong that's another debate).

They probably don't want to shout about that for obvious reasons though.

Nobody who only catches the bus only occasionally is going to have got off that bus thinking "I should really leave the car at home more often".

They'd more likely to think "I should take the car out more often". Even a 20 year old Ford Fiesta or something would probably be more desirable than a packed bus that is one of only, like, three buses that manages to actually run.

As a customer I’d much rather know the reason for the 21 being woeful at the moment than an awful tweet or app update saying ‘there are longer than normal gaps, leave extra time’ which isn’t helpful.

If there’s driver shortages or an overtime ban, tell us, train companies do, airlines do, may as well be truthful instead of hiding behind smarmy marketing

(09 Jul 2022, 9:37 pm)Ambassador wrote [ -> ]As a customer I’d much rather know the reason for the 21 being woeful at the moment than an awful tweet or app update saying ‘there are longer than normal gaps, leave extra time’ which isn’t helpful.

If there’s driver shortages or an overtime ban, tell us, train companies do, airlines do, may as well be truthful instead of hiding behind smarmy marketing

Exactly. It makes a big difference to me if the gap is cls 21s or Durham ones, though if, as a couple of weeks ago, that gap has been half an hour, I probably can't get on the Durham one.

And it doesn't help the low fell people because their alternatives either don't run anymore or leave from a different part of town.

(09 Jul 2022, 5:12 pm)Aaron21 wrote [ -> ]Why do GNE even put a list out anymore. Honestly Park Lane today was terrible. 3 61 were cancelled in a row. A 55 was not cancelled yet left Sunderland anyway not even pulling into the stands. Honestly I can understand why gne are losing passengers. Cause the bus never turns up. Honestly today gne cancelled services has been terrible. Even the 1/309/310 had a cancelled services on it

Yeah, Park Lane was something of a GNE wasteland this afternoon, all of the layover bays full in both bits of the bus station, with buses driving round and round, then eventually just pulling up at empty stands till they got honked at.  There were at least 3 Drifters parked up, a couple of Graphites (what were they even doing in Park Lane), Violet, X20, corporate, Purples - it was very colourful!

Pleased I opted to work from home today. Last 50 from Durham is cancelled tonight, as are the 17.40 and 18.22 8s from Stanley. So even if I got to Chester-le-Street on the 21/X21, I'd be standing around for either the 19.45 50 or the 19.49 8.

So over 2 hours after leaving the office, I'd be on a bus to Washington. What a shambles.

I think I'll get an Uber to the station tomorrow afternoon, instead of relying on this shower.

(11 Jul 2022, 4:03 pm)Adrian wrote [ -> ]Pleased I opted to work from home today. Last 50 from Durham is cancelled tonight, as are the 17.40 and 18.22 8s from Stanley. So even if I got to Chester-le-Street on the 21/X21, I'd be standing around for either the 19.45 50 or the 19.49 8.

So over 2 hours after leaving the office, I'd be on a bus to Washington. What a shambles.

I think I'll get an Uber to the station tomorrow afternoon, instead of relying on this shower.

Proper regulation or a sensible compensation scheme would soon sort out the problem.

It's time to put more scrutiny on these cancellations and start recompensing passengers impacted (some left without options, some with much longer journeys) in the same way the railway industry does.

No doubt it will drive up fares to cover the costs but it might incentivise them to work smarter

(11 Jul 2022, 4:18 pm)Ambassador wrote [ -> ]Proper regulation or a sensible compensation scheme would soon sort out the problem.

It's time to put more scrutiny on these cancellations and start recompensing passengers impacted (some left without options, some with much longer journeys) in the same way the railway industry does.

No doubt it will drive up fares to cover the costs but it might incentivise them to work smarter

I saw a handful of cancellations were put on for the 21 this evening. However once again the "due to operational issues service 21 is experiencing delays and there are long gaps between services. Apologies". 

I was in Chester earlier waiting for the x21 at 11.35 heading to Newcastle and was amazed by just how many people there were waiting for the 21. I had a look on the app and saw that the most recent departure was tracking as being  at the far end of low fell just as a bus which had started in Brandon was turning up meaning a 30 minute gap in service for a bus that is supposed to be every 10 under an already reduce "temporary" timetable. 

With all due respect what is the point in putting that message on the app. Customers already know that there are long gaps between services as they are stood there waiting 3x as long as they had planned to be. By that point it is too late. A handful of cancellations on the list is better than the none that were previously being included on the 21 but it is not good enough. I've heard the excuse that they are being actively regulated before and so the list of cancellations for the 21 is not being included but again what use is that to the average passenger. They want to know if there bus is running or not before they go for it not after waiting half an hour for it.

I appreciate that some cancellations happen on the day and today there have been some notifications on the app of them but they did not even cover a fraction of the total journeys cancelled nor those terminated at gateshead/commenced in Birtley both of which I witnessed. It is just not good enough and it is all fine and well saying these issues will be resolved when the changes take place but what about the passengers who want to travel in the next 2 weeks. 

I don't think I am being unreasonable in saying this but I am happy to be corrected if others on here think differently. Sorry for the rant but it needed to be said as this has been going on for too long now.

(11 Jul 2022, 4:18 pm)Ambassador wrote [ -> ]Proper regulation or a sensible compensation scheme would soon sort out the problem. 

It's time to put more scrutiny on these cancellations and start recompensing passengers impacted (some left without options, some with much longer journeys) in the same way the railway industry does.

No doubt it will drive up fares to cover the costs but it might incentivise them to work smarter

Whey no. Just cancel a load of routes and reduce frequencies with the ones that's left and end up with more drivers than they know what to do with.
That's the way forward.

(11 Jul 2022, 4:03 pm)Adrian wrote [ -> ]Pleased I opted to work from home today. Last 50 from Durham is cancelled tonight, as are the 17.40 and 18.22 8s from Stanley. So even if I got to Chester-le-Street on the 21/X21, I'd be standing around for either the 19.45 50 or the 19.49 8.

So over 2 hours after leaving the office, I'd be on a bus to Washington. What a shambles.

I think I'll get an Uber to the station tomorrow afternoon, instead of relying on this shower.

Those of us who don't have the the option of working from home are just giving up on GNE altogether.

I just use the car everyday for work now. That's after 16 years of using public transport. GNE are just a disgrace. More interested in paint jobs and new tables than passengers.

(11 Jul 2022, 4:18 pm)Ambassador wrote [ -> ]Proper regulation or a sensible compensation scheme would soon sort out the problem.

It's time to put more scrutiny on these cancellations and start recompensing passengers impacted (some left without options, some with much longer journeys) in the same way the railway industry does.

No doubt it will drive up fares to cover the costs but it might incentivise them to work smarter

A sensible compensation scheme would probably restore some faith in buses for people. It's an incentive for operators to perform to the best of their ability, rather than the lax attitude that exists right across the industry. Even before 'short term cancellations' were even a thing, there's always been a lack of sincerity towards customers adversely affected by their performance.

n.b. the 18.11 50 did run this evening: https://bustimes.org/services/50-durham-.../284398037

Only no one bothered to update the cancellations page:
[attachment=10161]

Does the Mystic Meg hotline still exist? Might be useful if GNE diverted their out of hours customer service number to it.

(11 Jul 2022, 6:14 pm)User2613 wrote [ -> ]I saw a handful of cancellations were put on for the 21 this evening. However once again the "due to operational issues service 21 is experiencing delays and there are long gaps between services. Apologies". 

I was in Chester earlier waiting for the x21 at 11.35 heading to Newcastle and was amazed by just how many people there were waiting for the 21. I had a look on the app and saw that the most recent departure was tracking as being  at the far end of low fell just as a bus which had started in Brandon was turning up meaning a 30 minute gap in service for a bus that is supposed to be every 10 under an already reduce "temporary" timetable. 

With all due respect what is the point in putting that message on the app. Customers already know that there are long gaps between services as they are stood there waiting 3x as long as they had planned to be. By that point it is too late. A handful of cancellations on the list is better than the none that were previously being included on the 21 but it is not good enough. I've heard the excuse that they are being actively regulated before and so the list of cancellations for the 21 is not being included but again what use is that to the average passenger. They want to know if there bus is running or not before they go for it not after waiting half an hour for it.

I appreciate that some cancellations happen on the day and today there have been some notifications on the app of them but they did not even cover a fraction of the total journeys cancelled nor those terminated at gateshead/commenced in Birtley both of which I witnessed. It is just not good enough and it is all fine and well saying these issues will be resolved when the changes take place but what about the passengers who want to travel in the next 2 weeks. 

I don't think I am being unreasonable in saying this but I am happy to be corrected if others on here think differently. Sorry for the rant but it needed to be said as this has been going on for too long now.

The 'active regulation' line on the 21 came from a Martijn Gilbert tweet. My own experience of the 21 in recent weeks is that there's no active regulation, or if there is, it just isn't working effectively for customers. From the outside looking in, it feels like there's no plan B.

I agree though, it's simply not good enough. It's been going on far too long, and I think the industry needs to have a serious debate about why they struggle to recruit and retain drivers. 

(11 Jul 2022, 6:37 pm)Charles41 wrote [ -> ]Those of us who don't have the the option of working from home are just giving up on GNE altogether.

I just use the car everyday for work now. That's after 16 years of using public transport. GNE are just a disgrace. More interested in paint jobs and new tables than passengers.

We're supposed to be 2.5 days a week on average in the office, but I've been doing 1 or 2 at most at the moment. We've got others that bus from further afield that we're telling them not to bother at the moment and stick to working from home, if they haven't got other options.

It's a bit surreal that we're in a situation at present where MDs of operators keep telling us we need to grow passenger numbers back to where they are, but at the same time continue to kick those who are bothering where it hurts. It's almost like going into a showroom to buy a new car, then the dealership torching it for you after you've signed the paperwork.

(11 Jul 2022, 6:58 pm)Adrian it. wrote [ -> ]The 'active regulation' line on the 21 came from a Martijn Gilbert tweet. My own experience of the 21 in recent weeks is that there's no active regulation, or if there is, it just isn't working effectively for customers. From the outside looking in, it feels like there's no plan B.

I agree though, it's simply not good enough. It's been going on far too long, and I think the industry needs to have a serious debate about why they struggle to recruit and retain drivers. 

It's like they don't want to admit there are cancellations for the 21 in advance with it being "flagship" route in fear of driving customers away so instead are using lines such as 'active regulation' and 'long gaps in service due to operational issues' but what use is that to passengers.

If services are being 'regulated', aka curtailed at gateshead, then why isn't that information being given to passengers on the app if it is happening during service. Alternatively if they know services are not going to run like with every other route then tell passengers.

Surely they must realise they are more likely to have someone look elsewhere in future if they have to wait 30 minutes for a bus that should be every 10 minutes than if they tell passengers that there will be a 30 minute gap in advance so they can plan their journey accordingly.

I genuinely can’t see the 21 getting better with the Riverside change.

Where’s the relief short service? Ohhhh it’s stuck in 2 miles of tailbacks on the A1 Coalhouse roadworks.

It’s just the outright lying I can’t get away with, front it up. it’s been a catastrophically unreliable service since it became fhe 21 and they ditched the 723, 724, 21a, 21b and that was nigh on 20 years ago and not all of it is GNEs fault but there’s no smart thinking at all. Starting turning services at the Angel, relieve the pressure on the corridor and let CLS and Durham runs pick up some steam through birtley onwards but all they ever do is turn them at Gateshead or run light to CLS.

Go North East 71 

• From Seaham: 07:37, 08:40, 09:40, 11:40, 13:40, 14:40, 15:54, 17:59. 
  
• From Chester-le-Street: 07:35, 08:42, 10:42, 12:42, 13:42, 14:42, 16:52, 18:58, 19:58, 20:58. 
  
• From Houghton-le-Spring to Seaham: 07:02. 
  
• From Houghton-le-Spring to Chester-le-Street: 07:03, 19:28, 20:28. 
  

What a disgrace.
 

Is there no penalty for not running funded services?

(12 Jul 2022, 8:48 pm)BusLoverMum wrote [ -> ]Is there no penalty for not running funded services?

Yes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

(12 Jul 2022, 8:44 pm)Unber43 wrote [ -> ]Go North East 71 

• From Seaham: 07:37, 08:40, 09:40, 11:40, 13:40, 14:40, 15:54, 17:59. 
  
• From Chester-le-Street: 07:35, 08:42, 10:42, 12:42, 13:42, 14:42, 16:52, 18:58, 19:58, 20:58. 
  
• From Houghton-le-Spring to Seaham: 07:02. 
  
• From Houghton-le-Spring to Chester-le-Street: 07:03, 19:28, 20:28. 
  

What a disgrace.
 

That's pathetic that

(12 Jul 2022, 8:44 pm)Unber43 wrote [ -> ]Go North East 71 

• From Seaham: 07:37, 08:40, 09:40, 11:40, 13:40, 14:40, 15:54, 17:59. 
  
• From Chester-le-Street: 07:35, 08:42, 10:42, 12:42, 13:42, 14:42, 16:52, 18:58, 19:58, 20:58. 
  
• From Houghton-le-Spring to Seaham: 07:02. 
  
• From Houghton-le-Spring to Chester-le-Street: 07:03, 19:28, 20:28. 
  

What a disgrace.
 

Shocking

Could they not cancel some of the 21's so drivers could do the 71?

And they wonder why people aren't using the buses....

"Could they not cancel MORE of the 21's so drivers could do the 71?"

FTFY

(12 Jul 2022, 8:44 pm)Unber43 wrote [ -> ]Go North East 71 

• From Seaham: 07:37, 08:40, 09:40, 11:40, 13:40, 14:40, 15:54, 17:59. 
  
• From Chester-le-Street: 07:35, 08:42, 10:42, 12:42, 13:42, 14:42, 16:52, 18:58, 19:58, 20:58. 
  
• From Houghton-le-Spring to Seaham: 07:02. 
  
• From Houghton-le-Spring to Chester-le-Street: 07:03, 19:28, 20:28. 
  

What a disgrace.
 

That's the boards that are running right?

(12 Jul 2022, 8:55 pm)Michael wrote [ -> ]Shocking

Could they not cancel some of the 21's so drivers could do the 71?

And they wonder why people aren't using the buses....

There is cancelled 21's but they're doing active regulation, 'supposedly' instead on it but it doesn't seem to be working and there's just numerous boards in a row cancelled.

It's a shame the working together like they were during Covid has just gone out the window and have ticket acceptance between the 6/X12/49/49A/50/X21 and drop boards on the duplicate sections (X21 South of Durham and 21 South of CLS). It won't be popular but it's better than the mess now.

I saw. a customer complaining on Facebook about the 25 cancellations and how the 21 escapes. Customer service replied in a weird attempt at reassurance saying there were 21 cancellations even though they aren’t listed.

So at what point does active regulation and whacking a tweet out not acknowledging cancellations become incompetence and lying, the latter being by far the worst.