(29 Oct 2018, 1:32 am)Rapidsnap They will be depot runs as up Houghton Cut, A19 and Washington Highway is fastest route back to depot, if they were heading for Newcastle they prob would have headed towards the A1.

Though it would be interesting to see which depot has the most dead mileage, I would assume Percy Main would be near the top as they have dead runs to / from places like Blyth, Cramlington, Gateshead, Ashington, Kingston Park, Wideopen to name some of the further afield places. But then you have to take into account if some of these vehicles do other duties, I discovered a few months back that one of the 309s that terminated in Blyth runs dead to North Shields to do a 310. Only discovered that when I followed a Cobalt Clipper all the way down the coast from Blyth to N Shields where it then blinded up for the 310 to Newcastle or Cobalt South.

I've seen companies in the past like Preston Bus and Cardiff Bus actually create services to eliminate some dead mileage, though I believe both have done away with the practise. Though Preston have numbered their staff service the 4 and it's available to the public too. But in the cast of Preston Bus, back before Rotala and Stagecoach. Services that terminated on the outskirts away from the depot like the Larches Estate for the 27, instead of running back to the depot, it would change to the 127, run along its normal route to a location where it can head towards the depot. This also enable them to claim BSOG even if no one used the service they were getting some money back.

If GNE were to use this example, they could create something like D prefixed services to avoid confusion with normal services. So any buses terminating at Wallsend could run as the D6 to Percy Main via High Street, Tynemouth Road and Wallsend Road. For the 19 dead runs to Ashington, you could have the D19, start it from the depot run it through Tyne Tunnel Trading Estate and Cobalt before joining the A19 at Holystone and run it direct to Bedlington then up to Ashington. Ok it might increase the drivers duties slightly but they get BSOG and possibly some revenue from those who work overnight like cleaners etc.

(29 Oct 2018, 3:50 pm)Coppercap40 Anyone else having problems with the gne bus app not showing buses only bus stops ?

(29 Oct 2018, 4:27 pm)RBZ 5459 Question; the Match Day P&R livery which 3983 carries, are we likely to see that livery on other vehicles or has it been a one off/scrapped idea now?

(28 Oct 2018, 9:08 pm)Wybus I wonder what the longest dead runs are in normal operation, maybe Newcastle to Hexham, Gateshead to Durham?

(29 Oct 2018, 5:10 pm)park5354 Hexham to Rockwood Hill
Riverside to South Shields

(29 Oct 2018, 12:32 am)Jordan2104 Nope comes straight from depot

(29 Oct 2018, 5:23 pm)Jamie M Percy main to stanley

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(29 Oct 2018, 5:32 pm)park5354 Durham to Riverside

Middlesbrough to Riverside (on Xmas Eve/NYEve)

(28 Oct 2018, 10:41 pm)Andreos1 Back to the depot during peaks?!

(29 Oct 2018, 5:37 pm)deanmachine On Saturday Morning a couple of X5s run from Deptford to Blackhall Rocks, that's quite a distance, especially the drivers who don't know their way through High Heselden and come down through Hart Village.

(29 Oct 2018, 5:32 pm)park5354 Durham to Riverside

Middlesbrough to Riverside (on Xmas Eve/NYEve)

(29 Oct 2018, 5:40 pm)Jamie M If the 794 from PM doesnt use the tyne tunnel its slightly longer, but not much in it.

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What GNE goes from Riverside to Durham? I should know this having studied the shifts enough, but don't.

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(29 Oct 2018, 6:57 pm)Rapidsnap It's possible that the early morning 91 from West Chirton service might run dead from Team Valley to Stanley to do the 794.

(29 Oct 2018, 8:19 pm)Pulsar Has anyone seen 6911 in service at Percy Main? I have been on all of the other 2006 Volvo B7TL there but have never seen this one, also there is no pictures of it at Percy Main on flickr.

(29 Oct 2018, 9:52 pm)JM03 Yes, seen it on the 11 a couple of times