https://twitter.com/gonortheast/status/1...06658?s=19
An improvement on 'track the next bus'. But really? What about the punters who need to be in Sacriston or one of the many places the X15 doesn't go?
Needless to say, the timing of the tweet doesn't really help those punters standing and waiting for it already.
(03 Sep 2021, 10:27 pm)Andreos1 wrote [ -> ]https://twitter.com/gonortheast/status/1...06658?s=19
An improvement on 'track the next bus'. But really? What about the punters who need to be in Sacriston or one of the many places the X15 doesn't go?
Needless to say, the timing of the tweet doesn't really help those punters standing and waiting for it already.
Good question. I had thought that the X15 might have done a quick detour, but it doesn't appear to have done according to bustimes.org. Although it could well be the case that upon reaching University Hospital, no one was intending to travel to Sacriston, so it continued as normal? Wishful, customer-orientated thinking, at least
(03 Sep 2021, 11:32 pm)Adrian wrote [ -> ]Good question. I had thought that the X15 might have done a quick detour, but it doesn't appear to have done according to bustimes.org. Although it could well be the case that upon reaching University Hospital, no one was intending to travel to Sacriston, so it continued as normal? Wishful, customer-orientated thinking, at least
But what about those standing in Sacriston wishing to travel to Daisy Hill, Edmonsley Crossroafs, Craghead or South Moor? I might be wrong of course, but that tweet suggests the entire journey has been cancelled. Was that the last journey of the night? Or is there another bus 15, 20 or 30 minutes later?
(04 Sep 2021, 6:24 am)MurdnunoC wrote [ -> ]But what about those standing in Sacriston wishing to travel to Daisy Hill, Edmonsley Crossroafs, Craghead or South Moor? I might be wrong of course, but that tweet suggests the entire journey has been cancelled. Was that the last journey of the night? Or is there another bus 15, 20 or 30 minutes later?
11.25pm is the last journey from Durham.
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(03 Sep 2021, 11:32 pm)Adrian wrote [ -> ]Good question. I had thought that the X15 might have done a quick detour, but it doesn't appear to have done according to bustimes.org. Although it could well be the case that upon reaching University Hospital, no one was intending to travel to Sacriston, so it continued as normal? Wishful, customer-orientated thinking, at least
What if there are people further up the route..
Some disruptions can be unpredictable. Fir example on Sunday when there were protest marches1 and no nexus were at Eldon Square as they were helping arriva since they don't have radios and there was only temporary arrangements announced for the gateshead routes (exept the X21) nothing for the Q1/2/3, 33N, X21 or C&Cs.
(04 Sep 2021, 8:16 am)GNE6312 wrote [ -> ]Some disruptions can be unpredictable. Fir example on Sunday when there were protest marches1 and no nexus were at Eldon Square as they were helping arriva since they don't have radios and there was only temporary arrangements announced for the gateshead routes (exept the X21) nothing for the Q1/2/3, 33N, X21 or C&Cs.
Why doesn't Arriva has radios?
(04 Sep 2021, 8:16 am)GNE6312 wrote [ -> ]Some disruptions can be unpredictable. Fir example on Sunday when there were protest marches1 and no nexus were at Eldon Square as they were helping arriva since they don't have radios and there was only temporary arrangements announced for the gateshead routes (exept the X21) nothing for the Q1/2/3, 33N, X21 or C&Cs.
They can be, but I know when I've enquired previously, customer services have told me that the last journey of a service will always be covered regardless.
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when i ask GNE drivers to try to find out where a bus is that hasn't arrived I've had responses of bus doesn't have one? its broken? and the good old shrug of shoulders.
Don't ANE drivers all get staff mobiles>
(04 Sep 2021, 8:31 am)Adrian wrote [ -> ]They can be, but I know when I've enquired previously, customer services have told me that the last journey of a service will always be covered regardless.
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And so it should be. Missing out the last bus of the night is inexcusable. From my own experience of travelling on the last bus home, aside from people travelling back home from Newcastle or the Metrocentre, there are quite a lot of elderly people who use the bus to travel back from their local watering hole. Some are less able and as technologically savvy as others. So unless there are other passengers at the bus stop aware of what is going on, how to do you communicate that the last bus isn't operating to them? How do you relay the other options available? Walking might not be an option.
(04 Sep 2021, 8:25 am)Keeiajs wrote [ -> ]Why doesn't Arriva has radios?
It's crazy isn't it? It's also very annoying. I used to work in the engineering department at one of their depots and sometimes I would have to do driver changeovers to release a bus for whatever purpose it was required. Unless the changeover was due to take place within a bus station, which was not without its problems, it used to be an absolute nightmare as you had to approximate a time to where a bus would be and hope that you wouldn't get held up in traffic or that the bus wouldn't be running early. I've actually had to chase buses down before to do the changeover, sometimes to the irritation of the driver who would have instruct passengers to change buses. At bus stations, there were similar problems as you had no way of communicating with the driver so, more often than not, the bus would pull onto a stand and I would have to pull up onto an adjacent stand and explain to the driver what was going on.
(04 Sep 2021, 8:16 am)GNE6312 wrote [ -> ]Some disruptions can be unpredictable. Fir example on Sunday when there were protest marches1 and no nexus were at Eldon Square as they were helping arriva since they don't have radios and there was only temporary arrangements announced for the gateshead routes (exept the X21) nothing for the Q1/2/3, 33N, X21 or C&Cs.
Not sure why Nexus would be helping Arriva. You sure it wasn't the controller who usually works in Haymarket who you seen. Wouldn't be surprised if (s)he just went MIA it's what usually happens when then there's disruption especially on the Metro when there's usually 3 'customer service advisors' (ticket inspectors) at the stations in Newcastle but as soon as a there's a whiff of disruption they just vanish.
Also I thought Arriva could communicate via the ticket machines now anyway.
(04 Sep 2021, 10:34 am)Storx wrote [ -> ]Also I thought Arriva could communicate via the ticket machines now anyway.
Yeah I'd been told that messages for service regulation, bus changes etc can all be sent out via Ticketer and flagged as important so that the driver can read it at their next stop.
(04 Sep 2021, 9:35 am)Rob44 wrote [ -> ]when i ask GNE drivers to try to find out where a bus is that hasn't arrived I've had responses of bus doesn't have one? its broken? and the good old shrug of shoulders.
Don't ANE drivers all get staff mobiles>
Bus drivers dont have crystal balls and control can take ages to get back to the driver for non important calls, a bus can not just sit and wait for 5-10 mins while the information is found, why not try the go north east app or bustimes.org and that way you can instantly see where the bus is
(04 Sep 2021, 10:21 pm)N1cholas wrote [ -> ]Bus drivers dont have crystal balls and control can take ages to get back to the driver for non important calls, a bus can not just sit and wait for 5-10 mins while the information is found, why not try the go north east app or bustimes.org and that way you can instantly see where the bus is
Actually you mention the appt... i was actually looking at it and a 56 was coming into gateshead so i thought ok, 10 minutes it will be here ( market street). After 10 no sign do looked again and there is the same bus heading south passed the civic centre. Thats when I asked the driver of the 57 and got the usual shrug when i asked if 56 was due. To top it off he sat fro at least 10 minutes so if he had contacted control they would have had 10 minutes to respond.... maybe saying as the punter to jump on your bus to gateshead and get a 56 from there?
Not good on twitter for service 26. According to the 2 separate tweets the 1716 and 1746 from South Shields to Lukes Lane were both unable to operate. Meaning went from the 1640 service with a large gap until 1816 before the next one (providing that operates) 96 minutes gap.
(05 Sep 2021, 6:47 am)Rob44 wrote [ -> ]Actually you mention the appt... i was actually looking at it and a 56 was coming into gateshead so i thought ok, 10 minutes it will be here ( market street). After 10 no sign do looked again and there is the same bus heading south passed the civic centre. Thats when I asked the driver of the 57 and got the usual shrug when i asked if 56 was due. To top it off he sat fro at least 10 minutes so if he had contacted control they would have had 10 minutes to respond.... maybe saying as the punter to jump on your bus to gateshead and get a 56 from there?
I've had that many a time with the app.
When there's bad traffic, the X21 will often either not go to West Auckland, or it'll go to West, but on the return journey just go along the bypass from West to Bishop, bypassing Tindale and Woodhouse Estate.
On the app it'll still show that the bus is due in x minutes, but you can watch it on the tracker going nowhere near.
Either that, or the bus just drops off the app and they pretend that journey doesn't exist.
Despite many of the things I hate about the Arriva app, one thing it does do well is show the delays and cancellations. They don't try to hide it like GNE does!
(05 Sep 2021, 4:46 pm)ifm001 wrote [ -> ]Not good on twitter for service 26. According to the 2 separate tweets the 1716 and 1746 from South Shields to Lukes Lane were both unable to operate. Meaning went from the 1640 service with a large gap until 1816 before the next one (providing that operates) 96 minutes gap.
Few more missing tonight too.
Last minute tweets of course.
The last X1 beyond Washington is also cancelled. Good luck to those needing to get beyond Washington (where the 23:30 run terminates).
https://twitter.com/gonortheast/status/1...18662?s=19
I'd hope the 23:30 was extended. I'd hope passengers were informed earlier than 5mins before the 23:00 was due to set off (assuming there had been a tweet about the inbound run an hour or so earlier).
(05 Sep 2021, 10:03 pm)Andreos1 wrote [ -> ]Few more missing tonight too.
Last minute tweets of course.
The last X1 beyond Washington is also cancelled. Good luck to those needing to get beyond Washington (where the 23:30 run terminates). https://twitter.com/gonortheast/status/1...18662?s=19
I'd hope the 23:30 was extended. I'd hope passengers were informed earlier than 5mins before the 23:00 was due to set off (assuming there had been a tweet about the inbound run an hour or so earlier).
Whilst I’m sure that Go North East will do all they can to extend the 23:30 beyond The Galleries, it really isn’t as simple as doing all you hope for:
- will the driver have sufficient driving hours to continue to Newcastle?
- if they did, would the driver have sufficient hours rest until their next shift?
- does the driver actually want to stay back beyond their booked finishing time as overtime?
Again, there’s no disputing how poor this is (and is something happening across the industry - which really goes against all bus operators are trying to achieve) but things really aren’t that black and white. I’m sure bus companies wish they were.
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(05 Sep 2021, 10:03 pm)Andreos1 wrote [ -> ]Few more missing tonight too.
Last minute tweets of course.
The last X1 beyond Washington is also cancelled. Good luck to those needing to get beyond Washington (where the 23:30 run terminates). https://twitter.com/gonortheast/status/1...18662?s=19
I'd hope the 23:30 was extended. I'd hope passengers were informed earlier than 5mins before the 23:00 was due to set off (assuming there had been a tweet about the inbound run an hour or so earlier).
The last X1 of the night - it’s only hourly on a Sunday night.
(04 Sep 2021, 8:25 am)Keeiajs wrote [ -> ]Why doesn't Arriva has radios?
They never have. When there's an issue, the driver has to get off the bus and phone in - and so much of their rural network has a lousy mobile signal.
(05 Sep 2021, 10:20 pm)BusLoverMum wrote [ -> ]They never have. When there's an issue, the driver has to get off the bus and phone in - and so much of their rural network has a lousy mobile signal.
Very useless. I mean what if a bus is stuck in a county and no signal...really shows how much they care.
(05 Sep 2021, 10:20 pm)BusLoverMum wrote [ -> ]They never have. When there's an issue, the driver has to get off the bus and phone in - and so much of their rural network has a lousy mobile signal.
That assumes someone even answers the phone. I've been on the bus a couple of times where the driver has tried to phone in and they've got no answer.
(05 Sep 2021, 10:24 pm)Keeiajs wrote [ -> ]Very useless. I mean what if a bus is stuck in a county and no signal...really shows how much they care.
Supposedly they trialed radios in the past here but struggled with signal on some of the routes due to being rural and being too far from the depot, probs have more chance of contacting via phone than radio although harder to send details of Disruptions without one.
Don't know if Arriva has the ability to send messages to drivers via the Ticketer ticket machines or not, I'm aware Plymouth Citybus has the ability to do so.
AFAIK Arriva North East and Northumbria, especially Northumbria have never used Radios or trialled them.
(06 Sep 2021, 6:12 pm)Rapidsnap wrote [ -> ]AFAIK Arriva North East and Northumbria, especially Northumbria have never used Radios or trialled them.
Durham County did, up to around 2015.
They now have use of the text messaging system built into Ticketer for the majority of their driver communication.
(06 Sep 2021, 6:57 pm)RobinHood wrote [ -> ]Durham County did, up to around 2015.
They now have use of the text messaging system built into Ticketer for the majority of their driver communication.
Yeah, it happened on the 35, here was a crash at herrigton and they listed the diversion through the ticket machine.
Also both 35/X20/60/X6 had timetables today!
Another day and another load of services being cancelled - bad week for GNE so far and it's only Tuesday.
(07 Sep 2021, 1:50 pm)Michael wrote [ -> ]Another day and another load of services being cancelled - bad week for GNE so far and it's only Tuesday.
It's not magically going to go away the staff shortage unfortunately. I don't think there's enough going through the driving school at the minute either.
(07 Sep 2021, 1:50 pm)Michael wrote [ -> ]Another day and another load of services being cancelled - bad week for GNE so far and it's only Tuesday.
It's gonna happen. We are in a struggling time. What's to say half of the mechanics and drivers are of due to covid. It's probably the reason the amount of service cancelled