(30 Jul 2021, 1:34 pm)cbma06 Don’t forget the original SDO used to operate buses to Durham/Bishop Auckland/South Shields/Newcastle etc… and not just in the Sunderland district area

I don’t mind the brands, but don’t like route branding especially when the bus does other routes, especially on Arriva buses when anything from the depot turns up 


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(30 Jul 2021, 1:34 pm)cbma06 Don’t forget the original SDO used to operate buses to Durham/Bishop Auckland/South Shields/Newcastle etc… and not just in the Sunderland district area

I don’t mind the brands, but don’t like route branding especially when the bus does other routes, especially on Arriva buses when anything from the depot turns up


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(30 Jul 2021, 2:30 pm)deanmachine Wasn't Murton depot Wear Buses as well even though it wasn't anywhere near the river Wear? I don't think many people in Seaham and Murton will be too offended with buses that have "Sunderland District" on the front of them when they can get all the way to Sunderland for £1.70 instead of the current £3.60/£3.10 respectively.

(30 Jul 2021, 2:30 pm)deanmachine Wasn't Murton depot Wear Buses as well even though it wasn't anywhere near the river Wear? I don't think many people in Seaham and Murton will be too offended with buses that have "Sunderland District" on the front of them when they can get all the way to Sunderland for £1.70 instead of the current £3.60/£3.10 respectively.

(30 Jul 2021, 6:34 pm)Drifter60 I don’t think anyone will be offended! As I say, I welcome the promotion. And it’s welcome to see new zones introduced to lower travel to new areas, for instance Seaham to Durham is usually an all zone ticket whereas with this a County Durham ticket would be valid? Actually just as I wrote this, I’m wondering would it? As technically you leave County Durham in Hetton and Moorsley, is the ticket still valid as long as you don’t alight in Tyne and Wear area? 

(30 Jul 2021, 6:34 pm)Drifter60 Just not a fan of the livery really. And also this sort of hark back to yesteryear is what we’ve previously been told doesn’t connect with passengers. I’m 27 and didn’t even realise “Sunderland District Buses” was a previous name and I’m someone from this forum who takes an interest in buses. So I do wonder is the point of the brand? Surely not many people 10 years either side of my age are going to know the history of this brand name and surely those aged 17-37 are a growth marker who you’re more likely to convince to go green and ditch the car, particularly the younger end of that age band. So I just question the usefulness? The brands like “Coaster” “Prince Bishop” “XLINES” that are easy one or two word names work best, “East Gateshead Rider” “Sunderland District Purple” is just too many syllables in my eyes.

(30 Jul 2021, 6:58 pm)streetdeckfan I wonder if it's got anything to do with Scarborough and District at East Yorkshire.

(30 Jul 2021, 7:04 pm)S813 FVK Given they’ve taken the opposite view and banished the Scarborough & District brand from use, probably not.

(30 Jul 2021, 6:34 pm)Drifter60 I don’t think anyone will be offended! As I say, I welcome the promotion. And it’s welcome to see new zones introduced to lower travel to new areas, for instance Seaham to Durham is usually an all zone ticket whereas with this a County Durham ticket would be valid? Actually just as I wrote this, I’m wondering would it? As technically you leave County Durham in Hetton and Moorsley, is the ticket still valid as long as you don’t alight in Tyne and Wear area? Nonetheless welcome the introduction of new tickets and zones and the evening fare offer is also a great initative. 

Just not a fan of the livery really. And also this sort of hark back to yesteryear is what we’ve previously been told doesn’t connect with passengers. I’m 27 and didn’t even realise “Sunderland District Buses” was a previous name and I’m someone from this forum who takes an interest in buses. So I do wonder is the point of the brand? Surely not many people 10 years either side of my age are going to know the history of this brand name and surely those aged 17-37 are a growth marker who you’re more likely to convince to go green and ditch the car, particularly the younger end of that age band. So I just question the usefulness? The brands like “Coaster” “Prince Bishop” “XLINES” that are easy one or two word names work best, “East Gateshead Rider” “Sunderland District Purple” is just too many syllables in my eyes.

(30 Jul 2021, 3:04 am)streetdeckfan If it's not included then I do feel like the zone map is slightly misleading having Newcastle and Gateshead in the same bubble.
Plus, iirc Newcastle and Gateshead have been considered the same area in terms of ticketing with previous zones.

(01 Aug 2021, 12:47 pm)Adrian I agree, and I've seen a few queries around this already. The merging of the Newcastle and Gateshead bubbles suggest its inclusive, especially when the dashed boundary line doesn't split the two.

There also seems to be some confusion at whether these tickets compliment the existing Go Zones or replace them. Colouring the zones identically to the Go Zones doesn't help here. 

I note that the ticket page states "The ticket offers are designed to offer a range of very simple headline fares with easy-to-understand fare zones that match borough and county boundaries.", but I've noticed that Springwell falls outside of the City of Sunderland zone, despite the original Springwell being part of the administrative boundary. 

(01 Aug 2021, 1:12 pm)streetdeckfan Having got in touch with customer services I was informed that Newcastle is in fact outside of the Gateshead zone, so would result in being charged the full fare rather than it being capped.

It's bordering on false advertising to me, there definitely needs to be something done to make it clearer that it's not included

(01 Aug 2021, 7:04 pm)citaro5284 Err....Newcastle is not in Gateshead, cannot get much clearer than that mind.

(01 Aug 2021, 12:47 pm)Adrian I agree, and I've seen a few queries around this already. The merging of the Newcastle and Gateshead bubbles suggest its inclusive, especially when the dashed boundary line doesn't split the two.

There also seems to be some confusion at whether these tickets compliment the existing Go Zones or replace them. Colouring the zones identically to the Go Zones doesn't help here. 

I note that the ticket page states "The ticket offers are designed to offer a range of very simple headline fares with easy-to-understand fare zones that match borough and county boundaries.", but I've noticed that Springwell falls outside of the City of Sunderland zone, despite the original Springwell being part of the administrative boundary. 

(01 Aug 2021, 7:04 pm)citaro5284 Err....Newcastle is not in Gateshead, cannot get much clearer than that mind.

(01 Aug 2021, 10:16 pm)Ambassador In most cases aren’t Newcastle and Gateshead the same fare anyway?

Travelling from Chester and Birtley, Gateshead and Newcastle are always the same fare

(01 Aug 2021, 10:35 pm)streetdeckfan With the usual ticketing they are, but since trips within Gateshead will be capped at £1.70 there will be the situation where travelling to Gateshead will be £1.70 but crossing over the Tyne one extra stop will result in the price jumping up to £3-4

(01 Aug 2021, 10:41 pm)Ambassador Surely they wouldn’t do that? That would make it cheaper to get off at Gateshead and hop onto the Metro….the literal plan that was the 1980s public transport strategy for Tyneside. 

It’s nice seeing a bus company that is a monopoly having to fight for passengers and seeing what it’s capable of. It’s core market is hugely eroded so it now needs to compete with Uber and Minicabs for leisure as opposed to the car.