Go North East: Latest News & Discussion

Dan

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24 Sep 2017, 5:22 pm #354

As I was on holiday last week, I missed quite a few posts. Just gone back through now...

(06 Sep 2017, 9:18 am)S830OFT Which boards on the 20 does Chester Le Street operate?

Chester-le-Street operate one journey on service 20 on weekdays only: the 07:10am journey from South Shields, arriving into Durham at 08:53am. The bus then operates services 13/X25, so should be an L94.

(06 Sep 2017, 4:09 pm)Citaro5326 Yesterday i went on 5332 on X10 and driver said he got told by leading driver it might be transferring to deptford , if so id imagine 5331 will join it for the 9 ?
Also what next stop screens are programmed into 6099 and 6100 other than 56

Not a lot at the moment. Probably just the 56 and X1.

Long term, it'll be any service which is operated by a bus with TFT monitors for Next Stop Announcements, but that's a long way off yet.

(11 Sep 2017, 9:58 am)JP6004 Got to say the pix of the B5s dont do it justice. Looks a lot better in real life

Used the X9/X10 for the first time yesterday (in public service). A number of folks commented on how eye-catching the bus was with all of the colours. One woman got very excited about the tables inside too: she took 'selfies' with her young daughter and then proceeded to ring someone up and tell them all about it.

The table designs may just be a gimmick rather than something which would actually be used by passengers, but these gimmicks are what get people talking! Word of mouth is free promotion!

(11 Sep 2017, 7:04 pm)stagecoachbusdepot Well from Jimmi’s video, either the display or the audio is wrong. From about 40 secs the display says Next Stop is Tees Barrage, at about 5min someone gets off, the display announces Tees Barrage, but the audio saying “This is Tees Barrage” doesn’t kick in until the bus is moving away from the stop, which seems a bit late.

(11 Sep 2017, 7:18 pm)S813 FVK I don't think it is wrong and is probably a case of 1 person getting off the bus takes less time than it does for that particular announcement to play. It certainly isn't specific to the X9/X10.

The audio announcement is set to play as soon as the doors have opened - sadly on all buses (even on other operators' buses), the door signal sometimes takes a while to actually register that the doors are open.

This cannot be controlled by the bus operators, and it is for bus manufacturers to improve their door signal speed.

Indeed, I noticed when I travelled on a bus yesterday that it took significantly longer to do the 'this is' announcement than usual, but sadly not something that can be controlled within the programme. I believe Hanover are developing an option to do the announcement on 'Doors Opening' rather than 'Doors Open' given the problems multiple operators have had with this.

As S813 FVK says, not specific to the X9/X10.

(12 Sep 2017, 7:12 am)Tom 6036 on 11-transfer or loan to Percy Main

(12 Sep 2017, 9:27 am)Jordan2104 They got it yesterday which went on a scholars. Possibly a loan due to shortages?

Bit late now, but Percy Main were operating a large number of extra services (mainly for the Cruise Ships).

6036 was one of a number which were transferred across following the end of the Metro Replacement contract - this in turn releases single deckers from their ordinary routes to operate the Cruise Ships services (which use single-decks).

In this instance, I suspect one of the Blue Arrows had to be used, once all of the fleet liveried single-decks had been allocated.

(12 Sep 2017, 3:51 pm)omnicity4659 I can see it has WiFi, USB and Tables, it says it twice. It runs direct via the A19, it's great value and its "contactless" (please use "contactless payments" or "contactless accepted" next time?!). But where does the bus go? Yes there's a full read blind, but if you're sat behind it and it says "Dalton Park then Middlesbrough", then where do you try and get on...?

With reference to 'contactless' - I don't think this is an issue at all.

From personal experience, in any sort of retail situation, I would ask "Is it contactless?" or "Do you do contactless?" when making a payment. Language evolves, and I think 'contactless' is a good example of this. Everyone understands the context of the situation and knows this word refers to a payment method.

I notice Arriva North East are starting to roll out a "contactless" vinyl on the first nearside window closest to the doors, on their buses. I've struggled to find a clear photo to demonstrate this, but it is visible on this photograph.

(12 Sep 2017, 6:11 pm)Malarkey Would've been the vehicle they had taken the machine from as 6012 was supposed to be withdrawn following Metro Replacements, but went to Percy Main to assist additional PVR due to roadworks in June, no further updates on the NEB Fleetlist to say whether it has been withdrawn or not.

It has indeed been withdrawn.

News has been slightly updated since - 6009 was the bus which transferred to Percy Main for the additional PVR due to the roadworks, while 6012 was in fact the bus which temporarily replaced 3891 pending the entry into service of 6147. 6012 was retained over the summer after 6147 entered service due to the extra services in operation of the summer, but no longer required now.

(13 Sep 2017, 5:32 pm)S813 FVK Have 3885 and 3887 been withdrawn? They have both broken down within the last week (3885 seemed to have a gearbox issue) and I have only seen 3886/9 recently.

3885 and 3888 withdrawn - the former for repair cost avoidance (with 6032 taking its place in the fleet at Stanley) and the latter due to the loss of Miscellaneous Works contracts.

3888 notably sold to Ensign, too. Should be collected on Monday.

(13 Sep 2017, 6:33 pm)Michael According to the Go North East fleet news, 4898 has been withdrawn, so it looks like it might not make to Deptford after all.

News, that it was intended to transfer to Deptford, can be found here: http://www.northeastbuses.co.uk/fleet/it...peratorF=2&fleetnoF=4898

4898 now reinstated, but unlikely that 4898/99 will transfer to Deptford now, with L94s in the fleet at Deptford taking their place.

(14 Sep 2017, 12:08 pm)RBZ 5459 640 is away for repairs.

Not repairs - just longevity testing by Optare:
http://northeastbuses.co.uk/fleet/item.php?operatorF=2&fleetnoF=9094

(14 Sep 2017, 4:25 pm)Citaro5326 Why has there being a angel on X1A past 2 days is it allocated to this peak working or something ?

The 17:00 trip on the X1A service is now operated by Chester-le-Street. Should be a Volvo B7TL though in reality is likely to turn out any double-deck that is available in the depot at half past 3 on that day! One to keep an eye on, for those interested in the wrong brand allocations.

(15 Sep 2017, 10:11 am)omnicity4659 6308 doesn't have a visual next stop display upstairs. Although, I'm very impressed with the service offered!

The announcements re diversions and attractions are great.

Yes, lots of positive feedback about the announcements so far. Most of the negative feedback has been about the low volume - this should have now been rectified, with the volume being increased higher than the volume setting used on the StreetDecks at Crook.

The visual LED display is planned to be retrofitted by Wrightbus at a later date once all of the buses have been delivered. It wasn't fitted during build due to the TFT monitor used for CCTV images being installed where the LED visual display would usually be mounted.

The LED visual display is planned to be retrofitted above the staircase, behind the front seats on the upper saloon.

(16 Sep 2017, 7:27 pm)S813 FVK Then they are forgiven.

Phew!

Yes - the Family Day Ticket is only ever ordinarily reduced from £13 to £10 for the duration of the summer on-bus, but it looks like it has been reduced to £10 permanently now (matching the M-Ticket version) in line with the introduction of the Big Days Out campaign. Excellent news, I'm sure everyone will agree.

(17 Sep 2017, 12:45 pm)Olympian3521 [quote pid='206934' dateline='1505590021']
Seen in Consett this morning was Castles express Streetdeck 6305.
It was on the bypass and headed for Castleside so was probably on the way to Crook

That has been a fairly frequent sighting on a Sunday morning over the summer months, for those of you out and about early enough! If any faults develop, or early signs of a fault developing arise, with the Stanley-based vehicles used on the Kynren Park & Ride, they are replaced by Crook-based vehicles for the night.

The engineers at Stanley then swap the buses back over the following morning, completing any necessary work to get the Stanley-based bus working again.

(23 Sep 2017, 11:04 am)L469 YVK Could Wrightbus not provide GNE with the Streetdeck demo that Arriva have been using recently?

Sadly not on this occasion.

The StreetDeck being used by Arriva at the moment has already been committed to other operators. It is planned for this vehicle to be used at Go North East late next month, however.