North East Buses

JH should have asked Stanley Travel or L&G Coaches to help out and maybe even A-lIne they don't have any deckers (i don't think) but it would have helped to ease the chaos.

(23 Oct 2022, 10:58 am)omnicity4659 wrote [ -> ]I checked other stops and other journeys, including on the 2, were showing as operating.

Not sure then - the trips I've looked for this weekend have largely (bar the one or two Jesmond vehicles which have been tracking) have all been listed as cancelled, even buses that have definitely operated. 

As far as I know that last 2 did operate last night though.

With it being a matchday there should have been an X901 running from Heworth to Stadium of Light/St Peters. Buses have less capacity than a Metrocar, and people with season tickets are unlikely to defer travel. It doesn't make sense having one bus weaving in and out of South Tyneside's estates doing nobody any favours.

It's not like the Stadium of Light or football games are a new thing that shouldn't be planned for, either.

(23 Oct 2022, 7:17 pm)Adrian wrote [ -> ]Nothing short of insanity if they've done that, given it was a Saturday and a football match on.

When I was at Heworth, Metro staff were recommending that people get a taxi if they can!

Depending on the many possible situations or scenarios that led to events on Saturday, surely an E200 is better than no bus at all? Particularly in the climate we see, where many bigger operators are struggling for resource and are foisting cancellations on us.

It sounds far from ideal and hopefully Nexus are reviewing events, learning from them and ensuring they don't happen again.

One thing I will say is that I was out yesterday and I saw at least 10 if not more Depot Mentors, so that will affect cancellations as well.

Today has possibly been the worst Saturday I can recall in aaages for Durham Road.

Buses terminating on Jackson St, the interchange is rammed and buses running not in service with minimal passengers on board.

Oh and the bloody bush is still there at Gateshead.

I did try to tweet GNE but their customer service as ever is abysmal and they have zero interest in engaging with their public.

Still waiting for a follow up for an email I sent 2 months ago.

(29 Oct 2022, 12:12 pm)Ambassador wrote [ -> ]Today has possibly been the worst Saturday I can recall in aaages for Durham Road.

Buses terminating on Jackson St, the interchange is rammed and buses running not in service with minimal passengers on board.

Oh and the bloody bush is still there at Gateshead.

I did try to tweet GNE but their customer service as ever is abysmal and they have zero interest in engaging with their public.

Still waiting for a follow up for an email I sent 2 months ago.

I always look forward to your fortnightly Durham Road woes!


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I tel you one thing, the Q3 is a disgrace. 

Four buses missing in a row from Wallsend. 

I consoling about Gateshead Central Taxis but they would be better at operating the service than Go North East.

(29 Oct 2022, 12:12 pm)Ambassador wrote [ -> ]Today has possibly been the worst Saturday I can recall in aaages for Durham Road.

Buses terminating on Jackson St, the interchange is rammed and buses running not in service with minimal passengers on board.

Oh and the bloody bush is still there at Gateshead.

I did try to tweet GNE but their customer service as ever is abysmal and they have zero interest in engaging with their public. 

Still waiting for a follow up for an email I sent 2 months ago.

Engagement with customers on social media seems to have gone from poor/abysmal to literally non-existent.

Not sure what the logic is there. But I can't see it doing them any favours.
Saying that, I'm sure am industry back patting award will still somehow come their way.

(29 Oct 2022, 4:45 pm)Andreos1 wrote [ -> ]Engagement with customers on social media seems to have gone from poor/abysmal to literally non-existent.

Not sure what the logic is there. But I can't see it doing them any favours.
Saying that, I'm sure am industry back patting award will still somehow come their way.

I always just use the live chat and I've never had an issue with it.

(29 Oct 2022, 12:30 pm)Dan wrote [ -> ]I always look forward to your fortnightly Durham Road woes!


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It reassures me that as management Dan that you and the rest of the management team have done and continue to do absolutely nothing about it 

Even your drivers were openly slagging off management today and apologising to customers

(29 Oct 2022, 5:21 pm)Ambassador wrote [ -> ]It reassures me that as management Dan that you and the rest of the management team have done and continue to do absolutely nothing about it 

Even your drivers were openly slagging off management today and apologising to customers

They do that all the time at Eldon Square especially on Saturdays when buses go out NIS, and with allocations sometimes, it was the same when the 12 changes route in Winlaton the drivers were as confused as the passengers on why they changed it.

The driver of the 21 from Durham which I waited 25 minutes today literally said


Hi I’m really sorry we’re 15 minutes late and I’ve been told I have to stop at gateshead and turn around. I’m sorry you have to get off, I know you waited a long time for me. I’ll wait and make sure you get on the next bus. It’s not my choice and it’s a joke.

And he did. He ignored the radio and got all the buggies and elderly on the following X72. I’d send a compliment but I worry he’d be criticised for ignoring the service delivery team

And it’s not the first time, I doubt Dan and co are remotely in touch with the realities.

(29 Oct 2022, 6:11 pm)Ambassador wrote [ -> ]The driver of the 21 from Durham which I waited 25 minutes today literally said


Hi I’m really sorry we’re 15 minutes late and I’ve been told I have to stop at gateshead and turn around. I’m sorry you have to get off, I know you waited a long time for me. I’ll wait and make sure you get on the next bus. It’s not my choice and it’s a joke.

And he did. He ignored the radio and got all the buggies and elderly on the following X72. I’d send a compliment but I worry he’d be criticised for ignoring the service delivery team

And it’s not the first time, I doubt Dan and co are remotely in touch with the realities.

Ironically, I used the 21 today 1hr pre-match.

Didn’t have half as much bother as you seemed to have. None seemed to be parked up in Gateshead at the time (or if they were, they were buses of the wrong brand - which of course is possible!)

The bus was 10 minutes late - but it was OK because I knew there was a match on and allowed for a small delay. I still met my connection (with a few mins to spare).

I noticed one bus had broken down in Birtley outside of Morrisons.

Otherwise all buses in the opposite direction seemed evenly spaced - I didn’t check to see if they were all running late or were all roughly on time, but gaps certainly seemed even and all were well loaded but not all full and standing.

Not sure when you travelled pre-match, but it must have been much earlier than an hour before kick off, as we seem to have had completely different experiences today.


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(29 Oct 2022, 4:45 pm)Andreos1 wrote [ -> ]Engagement with customers on social media seems to have gone from poor/abysmal to literally non-existent.

Not sure what the logic is there. But I can't see it doing them any favours.
Saying that, I'm sure am industry back patting award will still somehow come their way.

It has, but then again I'm not sure how you can positively engage with customers, when the majority of your business decisions are going to be perceived as negative? There's only so many times you can respond to people telling you that you're shit or whatever.

I'd suggest it'd be a good investment to get someone to actually work with the team to improve the social media side of things. If there was some balance to what they're posting, then you'd hope that most of the response wouldn't be so negative.

(29 Oct 2022, 4:50 pm)streetdeckfan wrote [ -> ]I always just use the live chat and I've never had an issue with it.

Yeah, I've used this a couple times now and it works a treat. Even if I email, I generally get a response back in a week or so.

(29 Oct 2022, 6:16 pm)Dan wrote [ -> ]Ironically, I used the 21 today 1hr pre-match.

Didn’t have half as much bother as you seemed to have. None seemed to be parked up in Gateshead at the time (or if they were, they were buses of the wrong brand - which of course is possible!)

The bus was 10 minutes late - but it was OK because I knew there was a match on and allowed for a small delay. I still met my connection (with a few mins to spare).

I noticed one bus had broken down in Birtley outside of Morrisons.

Otherwise all buses in the opposite direction seemed evenly spaced - I didn’t check to see if they were all running late or were all roughly on time, but gaps certainly seemed even and all were well loaded but not all full and standing.

Not sure when you travelled pre-match, but it must have been much earlier than an hour before kick off, as we seem to have had completely different experiences today.


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dan…If you’re using a bus 1hr before kick off you aren’t seeing the problem. Nobody would dream of that risk.  The majority do not leave an hour before kick off. The issues are 12-1.30 which are peak travel time. 

If you think 2pm is a good measure. Says all you need to know about the incompetence of the commercial team and how out of touch you are

(29 Oct 2022, 6:11 pm)Ambassador wrote [ -> ]The driver of the 21 from Durham which I waited 25 minutes today literally said


Hi I’m really sorry we’re 15 minutes late and I’ve been told I have to stop at gateshead and turn around. I’m sorry you have to get off, I know you waited a long time for me. I’ll wait and make sure you get on the next bus. It’s not my choice and it’s a joke. 

And he did. He ignored the radio and got all the buggies and elderly on the following X72. I’d send a compliment but I worry he’d be criticised for ignoring the service delivery team

And it’s not the first time, I doubt Dan and co are remotely in touch with the realities.

I've been on the X21 from Durham to Newcastle 4 times since its moved to Riverside, 3 times I've been told to get off and get on the bus behind. 

Also I was on 25 a while ago and we were 20 mins late, and we had to take on a full 21 and the 25 was relatively busy. It seems to be a massively scheduling issue on loads of services not helped by branded buses and a limited PVR of a certain type of vehicle.

Surely it's time to put a step-back in at Eldon Square on the 21s between 10:00 and 17:00? It would only cost one driver a Saturday if somebody with half a brain schedules it. I'd argue that one extra driver is worth it to save the inevitable loss of passengers the continuous shambles Saturdays are becoming on Durham Road. I've been a victim of it myself recently!

The 21 is the flagship service. Maybe they should treat it that way.

(29 Oct 2022, 6:56 pm)Unber43 wrote [ -> ]I've been on the X21 from Durham to Newcastle 4 times since its moved to Riverside, 3 times I've been told to get off and get on the bus behind. 

That's nothing new. Used to happen on the regular just at CLS instead!

(29 Oct 2022, 7:24 pm)DeltaMan wrote [ -> ]Surely it's time to put a step-back in at Eldon Square on the 21s between 10:00 and 17:00? It would only cost one driver a Saturday if somebody with half a brain schedules it. I'd argue that one extra driver is worth it to save the inevitable loss of passengers the continuous shambles Saturdays are becoming on Durham Road. I've been a victim of it myself recently!

The 21 is the flagship service. Maybe they should treat it that way.

Theres no space, with Arriva parking their buses there, Q3's parking there for upto 5 hours, X10's, numerous consett buses. 

Really you need to have a longer layover in Chester-Le-Street, Stanley, Consett, Peterlee, Easington Lane, even non-Newcastle services are struggling to keep up time, especially the 65, 20 & 60 too strugle to keep up time, its made every worse now that the 20 is every 15 mins and there is no X20, aswell as the 60 which has always struggled, as soon as you get 5 mins late you're just picking up the other passengers I remember looking on bus times and there were 7 out and 6 of them were bunched up into 2s.

Martjin mentioned something about something which will help them keep on time and name dropped the X1, 21, 60, X45/46 however if you send any of them dead from Newcastle/Consett/Sunderland the one behind just becomes late too, to get from Stanley to Newcastle the other saturday on X30 or X31 was a 3 hour wait due to buses running 1 hour late.

Also the GNE Social Media team, the people who say X service wont operate due to delays, whenever it involves the 21/16/20/60 go NIS they just don't seem to put it on their socials

(29 Oct 2022, 6:27 pm)Adrian wrote [ -> ]It has, but then again I'm not sure how you can positively engage with customers, when the majority of your business decisions are going to be perceived as negative? There's only so many times you can respond to people telling you that you're shit or whatever.

I'd suggest it'd be a good investment to get someone to actually work with the team to improve the social media side of things. If there was some balance to what they're posting, then you'd hope that most of the response wouldn't be so negative.


Yeah, I've used this a couple times now and it works a treat. Even if I email, I generally get a response back in a week or so.

To be honest, it's probably a legacy of awful policies in the past.
The empty, 'send us an email' type of patter doesn't work, but it became the standard response.
Then the responses to the emails were naff and so the cycle continues.

I agree with you about improving the social media side of things.
It may take a while, it may be the long game, but it can't continue as it as been for the last however many years.

(29 Oct 2022, 7:34 pm)Unber43 wrote [ -> ]Theres no space, with Arriva parking their buses there, Q3's parking there for upto 5 hours, X10's, numerous consett buses. 

Really you need to have a longer layover in Chester-Le-Street, Stanley, Consett, Peterlee, Easington Lane, even non-Newcastle services are struggling to keep up time, especially the 65, 20 & 60 too strugle to keep up time, its made every worse now that the 20 is every 15 mins and there is no X20, aswell as the 60 which has always struggled, as soon as you get 5 mins late you're just picking up the other passengers I remember looking on bus times and there were 7 out and 6 of them were bunched up into 2s.

Martjin mentioned something about something which will help them keep on time and name dropped the X1, 21, 60, X45/46 however if you send any of them dead from Newcastle/Consett/Sunderland the one behind just becomes late too, to get from Stanley to Newcastle the other saturday on X30 or X31 was a 3 hour wait due to buses running 1 hour late.

Also the GNE Social Media team, the people who say X service wont operate due to delays, whenever it involves the 21/16/20/60 go NIS they just don't seem to put it on their socials

Space in Eldon Square is a terrible excuse not to do anything. A sensible operator would do a step back.

Send the buses round the block in the unlikely event of arriving on time during Saturday daytimes. What is more likely to happen is they'll arrive 15 mins late and depart Eldon Square on time. At least give the drivers a fighting chance

We’ve had going on a year of this..lets politely call it operational issues and there’s zero sign of it getting better or even a token gesture of them trying, dans post said it before and his promotion speaks volumes of where the business is at.

Find a fleet and a load of absolutely awful agency drivers to cover a metro contract….easy

Serve your actual paying passengers…no interest.

They can’t even get a council to cut back a bush…

Still waiting for the chaos that arriva and Stagecoach will unleash with their cuts…the ed miliband chaos statement of the north east bus world and probably shows the sheer incompetence and arrogant attitude at the top of the massively woeful loss making enterprise that is GNE.

(29 Oct 2022, 9:33 pm)Ambassador wrote [ -> ] We’ve had going on a year of this.. lets politely call it operational issues and there’s zero sign of it getting better or even a token gesture of them trying, dans post said it before and his promotion speaks volumes of where the business is at.

Find a fleet and a load of absolutely awful agency drivers to cover a metro contract….easy

Serve your actual paying passengers…no interest.

They can’t even get a council to cut back a bush…

Still waiting for the chaos that arriva and Stagecoach will unleash with their cuts…the ed miliband chaos statement of the north east bus world and probably shows the sheer incompetence and arrogant attitude at the top of the massively woeful loss making enterprise that is GNE.

Come on. It's been longer than that. We wouldn't be on the forum complaining otherwise.
It's just reached its peak (I hope) over the last 12 months.

(29 Oct 2022, 9:44 pm)Andreos1 wrote [ -> ]Come on. It's been longer than that. We wouldn't be on the forum complaining otherwise.
It's just reached its peak (I hope) over the last 12 months.

I was trying to be positive haha, but yes it’s been awful for years, you can see the marked decline since Huntley. Carr was woeful and it’s managed decline since then. Gilbert was the last throw of the dice to try and he did alright if not a bit gimmicky and then ended up being the wrong leader for a crisis before he jumped before being pushed. 

it just feels inevitable they’ll be sold off. Investment funds have little patience

(29 Oct 2022, 9:28 pm)DeltaMan wrote [ -> ]Space in Eldon Square is a terrible excuse not to do anything. A sensible operator would do a step back.

Send the buses round the block in the unlikely event of arriving on time during Saturday daytimes. What is more likely to happen is they'll arrive 15 mins late and depart Eldon Square on time. At least give the drivers a fighting chance

I agree its a terrible excuse. However they do need somewhere to park. However there is nothing stopping them giving the X45/X30 etc an extended layover in Consett or Stanley so they can leave Newcastle 20-30 mins late and then leave Hownsgill on time as theyve got the 30 min delay or something and then you don't go 3 hours without a service which is meant to be every 30 mins. 

As for the social media 9-5 doesn't work for most people,say I leave my house at 7am, and my bus is no where to be seen, its due at 7:15, its 7:30 its not here, its not tracking who do I contact, but I start work at 8:30, and then I finish at 5:30 Monday-Friday you literally have no time to complain and on weekends there is no one there. 

Sorry is just not good enough anymore as Ambassador & Andreos said its been the worst over the 12 months and they've done nothing but cut services

(29 Oct 2022, 9:50 pm)Ambassador wrote [ -> ]I was trying to be positive haha, but yes it’s been awful for years, you can see the marked decline since Huntley. Carr was woeful and it’s managed decline since then. Gilbert was the last throw of the dice to try and he did alright if not a bit gimmicky and then ended up being the wrong leader for a crisis before he jumped before being pushed. 

it just feels inevitable they’ll be sold off. Investment funds have little patience

Positive or realistic?
No cynicism here Ambassador. Not this time anyway. 

It's a knackered culture, sullied by cronies wearing blinkers who know best. 

Oh and of course they'll be sold off. It's as inevitable as an Almiron left foot curler.
But only after the shares take a nose dive.

(29 Oct 2022, 6:54 pm)Ambassador wrote [ -> ]dan…If you’re using a bus 1hr before kick off you aren’t seeing the problem. Nobody would dream of that risk.  The majority do not leave an hour before kick off. The issues are 12-1.30 which are peak travel time. 

If you think 2pm is a good measure. Says all you need to know about the incompetence of the commercial team and how out of touch you are

Ah, shucks. Half an hour too late and everything was miraculously cured during that time and there was little to no aftermath from higher passenger loadings the hour prior.

How foolish of me - I’ve really highlighted my incompetence here.


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(29 Oct 2022, 9:33 pm)Ambassador wrote [ -> ]dans post said it before and his promotion speaks volumes of where the business is at.

I hope you don’t make a judgement of the professional competence/performance of everyone based on their colleagues and the environment that they’re within, rather than that individual’s accomplishments and failures.

If you’re making a judgement based upon my replies on this forum, then this would be incredibly foolish of you - I find playfully replying to you and others, in my position on this forum as an enthusiast, to be quite entertaining. Especially when you and others have their dander up! I am sure the feeling is mutual in this respect.

Come on, Ambassador. As someone that quite likes (and often agrees with) your posts: you’re better than this. [emoji6]

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How far in advance are drivers told to terminate in Gateshead (I'm assuming this is due to driver shortage)? Maybe it was just luck, but I was on the 10/11 on Friday and about 15 minutes after I picked up the bus (so a good 3 hours or so before I was meant to be off); "36969 - on your last run, can you terminate in the City Centre and run light to the depot, please?"

Of course, I still got people wanting to go to Hendon on that last run, despite having "city centre" on the front in big letters but that's another discussion (Think I could put a destination in Shields up and no one would notice as long as the route number's correct).