(13 Nov 2022, 8:11 am)Dan Disappointed to see no match day 21 feedback from gtom this morning!


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(13 Nov 2022, 11:49 am)MurdnunoC It's quite disappointing actually. It's often entertaining to read about how badly GNE have done after a Newcastle match. You never see the same furore directed at the company after a Sunderland match. I wonder why that is?

(13 Nov 2022, 11:49 am)MurdnunoC It's quite disappointing actually. It's often entertaining to read about how badly GNE have done after a Newcastle match. You never see the same furore directed at the company after a Sunderland match. I wonder why that is?

(13 Nov 2022, 1:07 pm)Unber43 For me its mainly because Im never in Sunderland when matches happen, however I do remember it being quite bad I think I was last stuck in traffic after a Sunderland match on the X36, we were about an hour late.

(13 Nov 2022, 2:25 pm)F114TML The only time I've been on shift on a match day, I was on the 16 towards Grindon.

I took over the bus (which had been told to run light to Wheatsheaf) 20 mins late, I did a run to Grindon and back to Red House. On return from Red House, I got to the stadium (I think just after the match had finished) on time with about 5 people on. I got to John Street 35 minutes late with about 55 people on (fight broke out on the bridge which gave us some entertainment). When I got to Hastings Hill I was told to terminate in the City Centre and run light to Red House for my last run of that part (then bus to depot) - a decker that IIRC was meant to be behind me did exactly the same and I followed it (I was 14-17 mins late throughout) until I terminated on John Street.

And of course I still had people trying to get to Southwick/Red House even though I had 'City Centre' in giant letters on the front.

(13 Nov 2022, 3:59 pm)Unber43 The amount of people which don't read the display. 

And just get on the bus cos of the colour.

(11 Nov 2022, 5:34 pm)streetdeckfan Xlines wasn't failing until the flu came about though, passenger numbers actually increased for the first time in years (if MG is to be believed anyway)

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(13 Nov 2022, 5:23 pm)L469 YVK I think pre-covid, GNE had a fairly sensible strategy.

XLines, "key" routes branded and corporate for anything else. Then during the recovery, things got a bit too "whacky" (Sunderland & District etc) rather than sticking to the basics.

XLines should've been made genreric though. 

To give Arriva's Northumbria operation credit, things were quite stable during covid except the brief shortages at Jesmond depot and during the subsequent jobs market, managed to retain drivers until recently but now don't know how they'll fare after shutting Jesmond down.

I do think if GNE's driver numbers recover, I could see them exploiting the gap north of Newcastle if Arriva's numbers don't recover.

As for the rest of the ex Jesmond work bar the 306, maybe a situation like March 2022 & GNE in North Tyneside, where Arriva abandon the routes (51, 52, 53, 54, 55) and Nexus & NCC go out to tender with GCT & Stagecoach picking them up in some form or another.

That'll then be Arriva's driver numbers sorted.

(13 Nov 2022, 5:49 pm)Storx What's your obsession with GNE 'exploiting North of Newcastle'. It would be nice for them to run their own services (11/12 (tunnel), 19, 51 (307), 317, 335, 342) without the tax payer having to foot the bill of them all.

Also X-lines utterly sucked. It replaced brands which were easily recognisable with something that was a copy of Stagecoach Gold / Arriva Sapphire 10 years too late (ironic both those are now scrapped). Every X-Lines route has had a service reduction. Blaming Covid is a crap excuse and some of them are quite severe aswell.

X20 - 100%
X84/X85 - 100%
X6/X7 - 50%
X9/X10 - 50%
X30/X31 - 50%
X70/X71 - 50%
X45/X46 - 50% (67% if you include the X47)
X1 - 33%
X21 - No Evenings

'Great' success that.

Compare that to Arriva Northumbria MAX / Sapphire which sucks as it's Arriva:

X21/X22 - No Change Sun - Fri, 33% Saturday
X10/X11 - 33%
306/308 - No Change Sun - Fri, 33% Saturday
X7/X8/X9 - No Change
X20 - No Change
X14 - Service Increase (acknowledge subsidy)
X15 - No Change
X16 - 100%
X18 - No Change

GNE can stay well away from around here for me with it's constant cutting exercises with it's fancy paint jobs to brainwash enthusiasts. If this was Arriva there would be outcry.

(13 Nov 2022, 4:09 pm)F114TML You could have "Mickey Mouse has a green willy" on the front and as long as the route number was right, people would get on.

Worst one was when I was on the 16, I had "Fawcett Street" on the front, and a woman in Vine Place got on and asked where I was going to, I said 'only to the next stop'. "Oh. Are you still going to Red House, then?"

(13 Nov 2022, 6:37 pm)Unber43 With GNE its worse they just look at the colour and we all know how great GNE are at assigning their branded buses. 

Oh look theres the green bus(97), then ends up at Wardley.

(13 Nov 2022, 6:07 pm)L469 YVK But what's going to happen if Arriva can't provide a suitable level of service on the 43/44/45? Jesmond's old moneymakers alongside the 306.

Surely another operator who has the resources available would look to exploit the gap.

As for GNE binning off a lot of routes, I agree with you on that especially the North Tyneside locals.

But Arriva's 50 series routes, they're the types of routes that GNE would bin but Arriva have kept going. But are they going to be able to viably keep them going running out of Blyth / Ashington or will they pull the plug with Nexus / NCC picking up the pieces?

(13 Nov 2022, 7:44 pm)Storx Think it all depends on how it works. The best scenario for everyone would be to sub contract some boards out similar to what GNE are to A-Line etc in the short term until they can get driver's.

I know it's the sort of routes that GNE gave away but there's still scope for movement ie downgrading to minibuses. The fact that they haven't been would suggest they're not as bad as some people think (we'll never know of course).

The costs of the depot though will surely outweight the costs of dead running. Jesmond was literally falling apart by the end you have to remember that, it's no different to CLS which was handled horrifically aswell and the driver issues there resolved pretty quickly bar Riverside which is still struggling to an extent.

It'll be interesting to see what happens with GNE long term aswell as there's quite a few marginal routes at awkward depots, the 6 in particular. Both really messed up imo and just to add the third in because why not Stagecoach in Sunderland is an absolute shambles aswell.

(13 Nov 2022, 6:07 pm)L469 YVK But what's going to happen if Arriva can't provide a suitable level of service on the 43/44/45? Jesmond's old moneymakers alongside the 306.

Surely another operator who has the resources available would look to exploit the gap.

(13 Nov 2022, 8:31 pm)L469 YVK But will Arriva manage to recruit drivers? Given that they lost a fair chunk from Jesmond, gonna be very hard to replace not forgetting that Blyth & Ashington also have minor shortages too on top.

Plus looking at things geographically, are there going to be many people in South East Northumberland looking to become bus drivers? And then anyone who lives further north in North Tyneside will likely be swayed by GNE (Percy Main) or Stagecoach (Walkergate / Slatyford) rather than Blyth or Ashington.

(13 Nov 2022, 8:31 pm)L469 YVK But will Arriva manage to recruit drivers? Given that they lost a fair chunk from Jesmond, gonna be very hard to replace not forgetting that Blyth & Ashington also have minor shortages too on top.

Plus looking at things geographically, are there going to be many people in South East Northumberland looking to become bus drivers? And then anyone who lives further north in North Tyneside will likely be swayed by GNE (Percy Main) or Stagecoach (Walkergate / Slatyford) rather than Blyth or Ashington.

Even if the 50 series routes all got downgraded to minibuses, are Arriva going to want the hassle of them routes including issues such as the Clean Air Zone that will cost money longer term? Asides from the the 306 that interworks with the 308 and the 43/44/45 which are money makers, the move to Blyth and Ashington is effectively Northumberland centered. The 51/52/53/54/55 barely touch Northumberland other than Cramlington (52/53).

If Arriva can't find replacement drivers to fill the gaps plus the headaches of the 47 & 50's, I reckon the 47/51/52/53/54/55 would just go out to tender with Stagecoach picking up the full 685. That would automatically sort the driver numbers out for Blyth & Ashington including Blyth picking up the 306 (as now) and Ashington or Blyth picking up the 43/44/45.

Going to be interesting in March as that is when the North Tyneside network tends to be reviewed with the Nexus contracts & tenders.

(13 Nov 2022, 9:04 pm)Storx Not much to add what mb134 said so I'd just be parroting.

One thing though is it'll be interesting to see what happens with Percy Main long term as they don't particularly have any work lately and I can't imagine there will be many people who want to run school buses which are the worst.

They've only really got the 1, 19, 309/310/311 and 41/41A now and they could lose the 1 in the evenings and 19 in whole if the contracts go wrong. The wages between the two aren't miles apart now either being £12.65 at Arriva vs £12.83 at GNE according to latest job adverts so that could be a positive for people picking Arriva not to mention the chore of urban work with Stagecoach which won't be some people's cup of tea. There's some drivers who are happily paid less on the minibus rota at Ashington to stay away from Newcastle.

(13 Nov 2022, 8:35 pm)mb134 What other operator will have the resources readily available? 

The M-F PVR of the 43/44/45 is 9. If we say around 2-3 drivers per bus per day, then you're looking at about 25 drivers per day needed to operate it. That's not accounting for Saturday or Sunday operation, holidays, driver sickness, driver training. So, as quite a conservative estimate, you'll need at least 30 drivers available to operate it if we assume there'll be some happy to do overtime. 

Given that all of the large operators are still, as far as I know, suffering to some degree from the shortage then I doubt any are in a position to actively seek that much work at present.

(13 Nov 2022, 4:09 pm)F114TML You could have "Mickey Mouse has a green willy" on the front and as long as the route number was right, people would get on.

Worst one was when I was on the 16, I had "Fawcett Street" on the front, and a woman in Vine Place got on and asked where I was going to, I said 'only to the next stop'. "Oh. Are you still going to Red House, then?"