(20 Feb 2020, 5:21 pm)Coppercap40 9069 and 6007 had a coming together in Eldon Sq bus stn this afternoon

(20 Feb 2020, 5:04 pm)Andreos1 There's no obvious reason to me, why this is being done.

(20 Feb 2020, 5:21 pm)Coppercap40 9069 and 6007 had a coming together in Eldon Sq bus stn this afternoon

(20 Feb 2020, 5:04 pm)Andreos1 Never knew AG ended up as part of EY. Always associated it with the PTE and Busways. 

There's some interesting comments on this Flickr image: 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/fray_bentos/4977515184

I've kept quiet on these liveries on purpose. 
I like them, I think they've done a good job doing them and from an enthusiasts perspective, I think it's a cracking idea. 
There's a but coming...

But... 
I don't get it from a non enthusiasts point of view. 
There's no obvious ties to GNE and if I was a passenger getting on to a rail replacement, I'd just think I was getting on an independent operators coach. 
There's no obvious reason to me, why this is being done.

(21 Feb 2020, 3:15 am)streetdeckfan Does there need to be a point or reason? It gives them an opportunity to be a bit more creative than they can on their usual vehicles, while paying homage to brands of the past.
At the end of the day, their coach operations are just something they do on the side, there doesn't need to be brand recognition the same way they do with public services.

(21 Feb 2020, 10:34 am)Andreos1 Of course there does. 
You just don't sign off and approve a design, paint job and associated costs without having a business case (justification and reasoning included) behind it.
Particularly when they're in the middle of a re-branding project, which sees vehicles floating around in a mixture of identies.

(21 Feb 2020, 10:53 am)N1cholas These coaches look so much better than before, fresh, clean and i bet by the end of the weekend pictures from enthusiasts will be all over the web, clicks to northerncoaching.co.uk will probably get some numbers, it may be a gimmick but it is different, and looks a lot better than tatty looking white coaches where you can see where the nat ex vinyls used to be

(21 Feb 2020, 1:23 pm)streetdeckfan Are GNE having a lot more breakdowns and 'incidents' on board than usual, or their social media are actually starting to post updates when services aren't running now?

(21 Feb 2020, 3:46 pm)WheelBus1986 On one hand, all credit to the team for putting up all the breakdowns and issues. but the normal "customer" on the comments section just love to poke fun at GNE.

There were 5 breakdowns one day and the comments just kept rolling about how awful GNE were. No one cared that out of a fleet of 700+ vehicles only 5 were VOR which is a tiny tiny percentage of the overall fleet and is credit to good maintenance or lack of them reporting breakdowns on SM

(21 Feb 2020, 4:01 pm)streetdeckfan Some of the comments people put up are absolutely pathetic, but they make for some good light entertainment!

The thing is, GNE could have no breakdowns, and run every bus exactly to timetable and people would still complain saying it turned up late!
I mean, as everyone knows I do love a good complaint, but only when it's deserved! If I complained on Twitter every time the X21 was over 2 minutes late, GNE would have blocked me!

(21 Feb 2020, 10:39 am)streetdeckfan Obviously from that perspective there needs to be a reason, but I was responding from more of the perspective of the non-enthusiast that you were mentioning.
I do agree with your point about the timing of the re-paints, although with the StreetDeck delay I'd imagine there could be some spare slots as vehicles may not be able to be off the road long enough for a repaint!

(21 Feb 2020, 6:43 pm)Wybus But I see little point in using these old names, a different one on each vehicle, especially ones like Charterplan which has no connection to the north east. A passenger will just think a load of different firms have turned up to do the rail replacement or the contact work.

(22 Feb 2020, 10:58 am)streetdeckfan And when a plain white coach turns up they'll think it's just a large faceless corporation doing it!
I'm sure the image they want to portray to passengers is that they are a small local firm doing it.

(22 Feb 2020, 11:14 am)Dan I bet I can guess at least one question being asked on Monday night..!

(22 Feb 2020, 11:17 am)streetdeckfan Do they have NSA? ?

(22 Feb 2020, 11:20 am)Michael Doubt it, the coaches are for private hire, i even doubt national express have stop announcements, pointless if you ask me.