North East Buses

absolute havoc on any service which uses the A19/ Hetton there has been a crash at Easington Services roads blocked both sides

(25 Jul 2023, 4:15 pm)Unber43 wrote [ -> ]absolute havoc on any service which uses the A19/ Hetton there has been a crash at Easington Services roads blocked both sides

In other news, water is wet.

https://bustimes.org/vehicles/gnel-6007?.../457701377 i cannot believe the last X21 didnt run

A month long closure of 2 stands in Eldon Square starts today - the biggest impact for Go North East passengers is the entrance to the bus station by Marks and Spencer will be closed and access will be via Percy St and Eldon Sq itself only

From Monday 31 July until Thursday 31 August 2023 there will be temporary closures of Stands J and K in Eldon Square Bus Station so that kerb realignment works can take place. These works will temporarily affect the locations where buses can pick up and set down customers and for approximately 2 weeks, Stands J and K will be withdrawn from use while their kerbs are realigned.

Stagecoach services X47, X77, X78, X79, X87, X88 will be affected by the Stand closures, these services will be revised to run via Queen Victoria Road, with most trips then terminating at the foot of St.Thomas’ Street (and as a result will not be able to observe their inbound stops on Claremont Road east, or Barras Bridge). These arrangements are necessary as some buses will need to then run direct to Percy Street in order to pick up their next service, and there will only be very limited areas for buses to congregate inside Eldon Square Bus Station.

Is this the first of the the stands being done or just those two

Daily cancellations seem to be creeping up every day again.

GCT 71 is being hammered by the roadworks at Seaton, at times theyve been backing up onto the A19

(18 Aug 2023, 1:33 pm)Andreos1 wrote [ -> ]I'm sure someone pointed out the patterns of strike action and poor industrial relations wherever NF had been. 
I'm not surprised to read this myself. 

Interesting to note the comments about back-office staff. Maybe the company will be able to rely on them to get vehicles moving. Again.

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I'm not sure it was ever perfect prior to it closing.

However, moving ops elsewhere was hardly likely to improve the situation. Particularly in the short-term with the network basically the same as it was.

Another missed opportunity to look at the network perhaps?

He's certainly got form.  Seems a bit of a perfect storm this time round.  Capital is tight.  Revenue is tight.  Doesn't appear to be much wiggle room financially.  And if I'm a GNE driver I'm looking at Arriva and I'm wanting similar to their % increase.  Best of luck to them.

What a joke, we were going to Newcastle today and instead of driving we thought we'd get the X1 there, X10 home and park as it would be easier how wrong we were,

We got to Eldon Square about 15:30 just before the 15:34 was meant to leave, it was 10 mins late, it pulled in at 33 and left Not IN Service, the 15:52 stopped at Washington, and the next service the 16:07 came in very late 13 mins and that just pulled out causing the 16:20 to pick up well over an hour worth of passengers the cue was all the way upto Stand A and that was after the X10 passengers left the queue.

And one thing I noticed all the wireless charger holders have been snapped off the two X1's, well the X1 and the X45/6 branded StreetDecks, the 56 was just as bad as it always is, the South Hetton extension just going to make it worse, they need atleast 8 mins at Eldon Square, 4 Mins Galleries, 12 at Easington/South Hetton/Peterlee to try and claw back some time. Same with the 56 I hope the Sept changes add a PVR for both of these services.

"go north east buses have not yet updated website, due to safety issues some services arent running today, if you using buses they may not be running, so try checking online first before travelling"

I saw this on FB, any truth to it?

It seem to be Versa's issue with only one 2 on

Must be a wider issue across different vehicle types if this is true as there is "Operational issues" on numerous Washington & Deptford routes.

(02 Sep 2023, 8:17 am)Unber43 wrote [ -> ]"go north east buses have not yet updated website, due to safety issues some services arent running today, if you using buses they may not be running, so try checking online first before travelling"

I saw this on FB, any truth to it?

It seem to be Versa's issue with only one 2 on

How are you meant to check online if their website hasn't been updated?

Final 3 trips to and from Brandon on the 21 on cancellation list for tomorrow. Last bus from Newcastle will be 15:40. Absolutely shocking.

There’s a 21 to Durham at 15.40 tomorrow and the next one is 17,42!

Surely you extend one to Durham at least to cover the intermediate stops

Incompetence not disruptive…incompetence

(06 Sep 2023, 7:03 pm)User2613 wrote [ -> ]Final 3 trips to and from Brandon on the 21 on cancellation list for tomorrow. Last bus from Newcastle will be 15:40. Absolutely shocking.

Pfff, that's nowt. That's just the usual last bus time for the X21 to West Auckland.

Might as well scrap the extension if they can't be arsed to run it later. It's not as if passenger numbers aren't there, the X21 is just as busy, if not busier than the 6 these days!

Not even a week in, and there's cancellations on the North Tyne Rockets.

(07 Sep 2023, 5:47 am)MVK500R wrote [ -> ]Not even a week in, and there's cancellations on the North Tyne Rockets.

It's unfortunate, but I don't think you can look at it in isolation. Other services from that depot are also suffering.

But percy main runs such tight timetables/ less frequent routes that any service that get cancelled screws over the rest of the services

(07 Sep 2023, 11:20 am)Unber43 wrote [ -> ]But percy main runs such tight timetables/ less frequent routes that any service that get cancelled screws over the rest of the services

Is that really different from anywhere else? Most services are cut to the bone now, so even one bus missing has a big impact on others, but in a different way.

Hourly services obviously leave a huge timetable gap.
An X1 missing from the timetable leaves a smaller gap, but a bigger knock-on impact due to the volumes using it.

You can easily add the Metro to that too. My evening Metro was missing last night, meaning there was a gap in timetable and a very busy Metro. The knock on being that I missed my connecting bus.

(07 Sep 2023, 11:26 am)Adrian wrote [ -> ]Is that really different from anywhere else? Most services are cut to the bone now, so even one bus missing has a big impact on others, but in a different way.

Hourly services obviously leave a huge timetable gap.
An X1 missing from the timetable leaves a smaller gap, but a bigger knock-on impact due to the volumes using it.

You can easily add the Metro to that too. My evening Metro was missing last night, meaning there was a gap in timetable and a very busy Metro. The knock on being that I missed my connecting bus.

True I suppose now, where as in the past of services every 10/12 mins, a missing 4/X1/56/60/58/1/96/97 wouldn't have created that much of an impact three years ago, but now everything just hits the fan

3/4 21 ran dead from Brandon in a row today to CLS

several 21 were head south the tyne bridge yesterday at peak. not sure if they were diverted due to something happening in the city centre?

Percy Main still have cancellations and the 351/355/359 are run from Saltmeddows

(09 Sep 2023, 4:26 pm)Unber43 wrote [ -> ]Percy Main still have cancellations and the 351/355/359 are run from Saltmeddows

Given the near 40-driver increase to provide the 335 , 351-355 and 359, the number of cancellations at Percy Main is tiny.

It was always ambitious, and there are drivers at Arriva who are waiting to come across as soon as their settlement is paid.


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Wait so who driving the ones that are in Saltmedows, drivers from other depots? Are Percy Main drivers going to Saltmedows or what?

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There are some Deptford cancellations today, and that Percy Main cancellations aren't that bad for taking on these new routes. But if they still had the 19 then it would have been worse and if the 307/309 were back to their previous frequency. But depending on how many arrive drivers it might not. be too bad Plus if they do well they might increase the frequency, if the current frequency now needs almost 40+ drivers imagine how much a every 30-minute frequency or with later running services would need. How have they been doing with passenger numbers if you look at flicker the ones I've seen look quite busy.

(09 Sep 2023, 5:25 pm)nova347 wrote [ -> ]Wait so who driving the ones that are in Saltmedows, drivers from other depots? Are Percy Main drivers going to Saltmedows or what?

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There are some Deptford cancellations today, and that Percy Main cancellations aren't that bad for taking on these new routes. But if they still had the 19 then it would have been worse and if the 307/309 were back to their previous frequency. But depending on how many arrive drivers it might not. be too bad Plus if they do well they might increase the frequency, if the current frequency now needs almost 40+ drivers imagine how much a every 30-minute frequency or with later running services would need. How have they been doing with passenger numbers if you look at flicker the ones I've seen look quite busy.

Agency drivers.

307 seems to be suffering today, the 11.36 307 from Verne Road was a no show, the 11.56 was 8 minutes late, i imagine the 309 and 351 are also suffering?

(11 Sep 2023, 11:14 am)V514DFT wrote [ -> ]307 seems to be suffering today, the 11.36 307 from Verne Road was a no show, the 11.56 was 8 minutes late, i imagine the 309 and 351 are also suffering?

A few 1 and 41 services are also cancelled, more than what is posted on their short notice cancellation page.

If Bustimes is to be believed, there have been a few North Tyne Rockets cancelled:

352: 0755, 1000, 1200 from Haymarket. 0825 from Cramlington.

353: 0707 from North Shields. 0900 from Cramlington, and 1100 from Cramlington was picked up at New York.

Think there's a couple of 355s too.

Vehicles which have subsequently tracked on some of those boards, as far as I can tell, have previously tracked today so it doesn't appear to be a tracking issue.

The Arriva Blyth situation doesn't seem to have improved much against last week either, there appears to be an X10/11 missing, currently one X7/8/9 missing (and a breakdown), and a 308 board missing.

(11 Sep 2023, 11:50 am)mb134 wrote [ -> ]If Bustimes is to be believed, there have been a few North Tyne Rockets cancelled:

352: 0755, 1000, 1200 from Haymarket. 0825 from Cramlington.

353: 0707 from North Shields. 0900 from Cramlington, and 1100 from Cramlington was picked up at New York.

Think there's a couple of 355s too.

Vehicles which have subsequently tracked on some of those boards, as far as I can tell, have previously tracked today so it doesn't appear to be a tracking issue.

The Arriva Blyth situation doesn't seem to have improved much against last week either, there appears to be an X10/11 missing, currently one X7/8/9 missing (and a breakdown), and a 308 board missing.

Notice a post on a local facebook group saying that the 1745, 1825 and 2015 X7 services from Newcastle are not running today.  So that is a bus at 1715 then 1915 then 2115 to the likes of Seghill, Seaton Delaval and New Hartley.