September 2020
Go North East
Photograph by Lee Calder
This vehicle has transferred from Washington Depot to Riverside, to be allocated to crew movement shuttles on service Q3.
June 2020
Go North East
Photograph by Guy Park-Royal
From Monday 1 June 2020, in line with guidance from the government, Go North East's bus services will start returning to what can be considered a 'normal' level of service on weekdays (albeit still reduced on weekends), also with some minor changes which had originally been planned to take place from 17 May 2020. As such, this vehicle has now been reinstated at Washington. It should be primarily allocated to the staff shuttle service running between Washington Depot and The Galleries, allowing better social distancing measures for the employees that need to use these services.
May 2020
Go North East
With an expected announcement from the UK Government on Sunday 10 May to relax some of the current "lockdown" restrictions in the current Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which could lead to an increased number of passengers travelling on Go North East's bus services, further re-allocations and service allocation revisions are being made, in order to increase social distancing on-board Go North East's bus services. This will include double-deck buses being allocated to services ordinarily allocated single-decks, and single-deck buses being allocated to those services which had been temporarily allocated minibuses for the duration of the crisis. Therefore this vehicle has been taken out of service at Hexham.
March 2020
Go North East
Photograph by A&LSP8
On March 23 2020, Boris Johnson placed the country on "lockdown", enforcing rules on people only leaving the house to shop for necessities, to exercise once a day, for medical needs or to provide care, or to travel to and from work (if they can't work from home). Shops, pubs, restaurants and theatres have all been closed, as well as mass gatherings being banned, schools being closed, and sporting events being cancelled. Therefore, further changes were made to bus timetables from Saturday 28 March, reflecting a mass reduction in customer demand for buses. As part of these timetable revisions; Chester-le-Street, Percy Main and Washington Depots were temporarily 'mothballed' with services operated out of key depots Consett, Deptford (including Peterlee outstation) and Riverside (including Hexham outstation) only. Therefore, this vehicle has transferred from Riverside Depot to Hexham.
November 2019
Go North East
Photograph by emdjt42
This vehicle has now entered service at Riverside Depot, on the NHS staff shuttle closed contract, in operation between the RVI and Freeman Hospital.
October 2019
Go North East
Photograph by kieron mathews
This vehicle, which is the second of the two new Mercedes-Benz 516CDI Sprinter/EVM VS30 Cityline vehicles for the NHS contract, has been delivered. It is currently undergoing preparation for service at Riverside. It features free Wi-Fi, high-back leather seats and two-tone 'wood effect' flooring.
