North East Buses

(27 Jun 2022, 6:37 pm)Washingtonian wrote [ -> ]Yeah I think I recall something like that being mentioned one time. If by some chance my service suggestions for the 2/2A were to be implented it would maintain the link from Silksworth to the Hospital with two buses an hour, and four buses an hour to Sunderland which I think would be fair. I don't mind certain villages having a direct link to certain places but I do find it unfair when its at the expense of other places having little or no service, or having to go around the world in 80 days to get to where they need or want to be. For a long time it has seemed certain villages get what they ask for while others get nothing. For example, I remember a few years ago when the old M2/3 were reduced from every 10 minutes combined to every 15 minutes. I'm sure the people of Lambton and Ayton complained and shortly after GNE ran extra short journeys from The Galleries to Ayton and back. 

Maybe they will get their wish again soon!

It's the same with the 78 and Pelaw Bank/Pelton Fell.
Apparently sending the 78 via Pelaw Bank is due to them acting on passenger feedback.
Despite those passengers also having the option of using/changing on to the 8 or 34.

Meanwhile, passengers in Pelton Fell shared their feedback and were ignored.
Not only did they lose the twice hourly 78, they lost the 28 and 28a until DCC stepped in.

(27 Jun 2022, 7:23 pm)Andreos1 wrote [ -> ]Maybe they will get their wish again soon!

It's the same with the 78 and Pelaw Bank/Pelton Fell.
Apparently sending the 78 via Pelaw Bank is due to them acting on passenger feedback.
Despite those passengers also having the option of using/changing on to the 8 or 34.

Meanwhile, passengers in Pelton Fell shared their feedback and were ignored.
Not only did they lose the twice hourly 78, they lost the 28 and 28a until DCC stepped in.

Yeah they won't be happy going from 9 buses an hour during the day to only 5!

Yeah it's frustrating mate. I think a big problem GNE have is that they have such a big focus on high frequency routes that serve the same areas rather than splitting some of the routes to serve other neglected areas on say an hourly basis. Of course there are some services where high frequencies do work (The 56 being a good example - that is a fantastic service IMO) But I use my example of Oxclose from my previous post. How is it attractive/fair for the people there having to double back to the Galleries to get a connecting bus to Chester le Street when they could send one of the 50s to go through there. Lambton would still have a direct link to Chester albeit hourly and I very much doubt there is much demand for a half hourly frequency for the whole day - apart from maybe at peak times. My previous suggestiion for Service 8 would still give a second bus to Chester per hour anyway although the times would very likely be out from being exactly every 30 minutes.

(27 Jun 2022, 5:05 pm)Washingtonian wrote [ -> ]Yeah I had thought about this for my suggestion. I doubt there are many passengers who actually travel the whole route from Silksworth to Washington Galleries, so your suggestion for the 42/63 may be better for that section.

Couldn't you possibly create some form of Sunderland loop service and terminate all your 2's and 3's at Sunderland.

The loop consisting of the 2/2A from Sunderland to Silksworth then the 33 redirected via Barnes Park, The Royal and Chester Road into Sunderland. You'd open loads of new links to the hospital without going round the world and would give Tunstall effectively a more frequent service to Sunderland going either way and open lots of connections to Sainsbury's at Silksworth.

There's already the 13 doing the 33 route and BSIP blah blah blah.

Very aware the 55's firmly dead in the water, but had a thought on what I'd do with it.
- Curtailed to terminate in South Hetton, with through services to Peterlee in the peak and all day Sunday.
- All services serve Doxford International again.
- In Sunderland, diverted via Allendale Road in Farringdon and the Royal Hospital.
- Possible interworking with the 61 or 38 (assuming the new 38 is half hourly, or the 61 timetable allows), or even a merger with the 38.


I haven't included Saturday and Sunday services on the timetable because I couldn't be bothered.

(27 Jun 2022, 9:24 pm)F114TML wrote [ -> ]Very aware the 55's firmly dead in the water, but had a thought on what I'd do with it.
- Curtailed to terminate in South Hetton, with through services to Peterlee in the peak and all day Sunday.
- All services serve Doxford International again.
- In Sunderland, diverted via Allendale Road in Farringdon and the Royal Hospital.
- Possible interworking with the 61 or 38 (assuming the new 38 is half hourly, or the 61 timetable allows), or even a merger with the 38.


I haven't included Saturday and Sunday services on the timetable because I couldn't be bothered.

From Houghton you could take Burdon Lane, and connect through Moorside, then Doxford.

(27 Jun 2022, 9:27 pm)Unber43 wrote [ -> ]From Houghton you could take Burdon Lane, and connect through Moorside, then Doxford.

If I'm reading you right, that seems like a really strange and unnecessary diversion meaning the bus is going back on itself three times.

(27 Jun 2022, 8:55 pm)Storx wrote [ -> ]Couldn't you possibly create some form of Sunderland loop service and terminate all your 2's and 3's at Sunderland.

The loop consisting of the 2/2A from Sunderland to Silksworth then the 33 redirected via Barnes Park, The Royal and Chester Road into Sunderland. You'd open loads of new links to the hospital without going round the world and would give Tunstall effectively a more frequent service to Sunderland going either way and open lots of connections to Sainsbury's at Silksworth.

There's already the 13 doing the 33 route and BSIP blah blah blah.

Yeah thats a good call. To be honest I wanted to seperate the Silksworth - Sunderland part off my suggestions for 2/2A/3/3A but wasn't sure what the passenger numbers are like in these areas.

This is a revolutionary idea: Bus/Taxi Intergration.
Same tickets valid on both, would allow for easy connections and would cover more areas without overstretching resources as you would use the taxis to fill the gaps.

(30 Jun 2022, 7:05 pm)ASX_Terranova wrote [ -> ]This is a revolutionary idea: Bus/Taxi Intergration.
Same tickets valid on both, would allow for easy connections and would cover more areas without overstretching resources as you would use the taxis to fill the gaps.

They did that in the West of England between Cityfox Taxis and First, as a "last mile" sort of thing. No idea if it's still a thing as Cityfox were the sorts who'd fiddle sheets.

A lot of taxi drivers around here are self employed and rely on full whack taxi fares to earn a wage no more than bus drivers in some places. So where is the money going to come from without tripling the cost of tickets?

(30 Jun 2022, 7:05 pm)ASX_Terranova wrote [ -> ]This is a revolutionary idea: Bus/Taxi Intergration.
Same tickets valid on both, would allow for easy connections and would cover more areas without overstretching resources as you would use the taxis to fill the gaps.

You've just described a DRT pretty much.

(30 Jun 2022, 7:51 pm)omnicity4659 wrote [ -> ]They did that in the West of England between Cityfox Taxis and First, as a "last mile" sort of thing. No idea if it's still a thing as Cityfox were the sorts who'd fiddle sheets.

Cityfox is most certainly not a thing any more and that is a can of worms best left untouched if certain transport blogs are to be believed

If you were to merge the 74 & 684, what would be the most opitmal route?
I've got an idea but i'm not sure about it.

(06 Jul 2022, 10:03 pm)ASX_Terranova wrote [ -> ]If you were to merge the 74 & 684, what would be the most opitmal route?
I've got an idea but i'm not sure about it.

I can't see a merged route working? It would work as well as merging the 27 and the 309. Too many communities would lose out along both routes.

(07 Jul 2022, 6:02 am)omnicity4659 wrote [ -> ]I can't see a merged route working? It would work as well as merging the 27 and the 309. Too many communities would lose out along both routes.

I was thinking keep the 74 & 684 but run the merge route as well.

New X17 (Hourly): Stanley to Newcastle via East Stanley, Beamish, Ayton, Lambton & The Galleries

New X77 (Bi-Hourly, May to September Only): Blanchland to Newcastle Eldon Square via Barleyhill, Edmundbuyers, Derwent Resevoir Car Park (North), Shotley Bridge, Blackhill, Consett then Limited Stop Calling at Lanchester, Washington Galleries & Clayton Street West Only.

ASX_Terranova what would be the route it would take to go from Hill Street in Corbridge, to the Robin Hood in on the Military Road?
Also in reality it takes more than four minutes to get from Hexham Bus Station to St Andrew’s Cemetery during the day.
Depending on the traffic light sequence on Loosing Hill and Priestpopple it can sometimes take 1-2 minutes just to get out of the bus station.

The upcoming changes got me thinking about whether there was any way to merge the 204 into other routes in a bid to save drivers. It is also a bit of a random route that appears to serve no purpose beyond getting people on a bus to Durham so they can get another bus to where they actually want to be.

The only GNE routes that head in the same rough direction are the 65 and the 20. So I had a play around and this is what I came up with. A new 20/20A and a new 65/65A. I have based this on the frequencies/routes once the upcoming changes take place while also trying to maintain all of the links that exist currently.

The 20/20A do take longer than currently but it was my view that that would just make the x20 a more justified express.

I've done a rough mock up of the basic timetable premise and routes. Id be interested to hear people's thoughts.

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(12 Jul 2022, 11:41 pm)User2613 wrote [ -> ]The upcoming changes got me thinking about whether there was any way to merge the 204 into other routes in a bid to save drivers. It is also a bit of a random route that appears to serve no purpose beyond getting people on a bus to Durham so they can get another bus to where they actually want to be.

The only GNE routes that head in the same rough direction are the 65 and the 20. So I had a play around and this is what I came up with. A new 20/20A and a new 65/65A. I have based this on the frequencies/routes once the upcoming changes take place while also trying to maintain all of the links that exist currently.

The 20/20A do take longer than currently but it was my view that that would just make the x20 a more justified express.

I've done a rough mock up of the basic timetable premise and routes. Id be interested to hear people's thoughts.

I like it, however couldn't you just extend the 65 to Sunderland hourly, to make it every 30 mins with the X6, with an added 2 PVR, however I do love all 4 routes, just not to interwork.

(12 Jul 2022, 11:58 pm)Unber43 wrote [ -> ]I like it, however couldn't you just extend the 65 to Sunderland hourly, to make it every 30 mins with the X6, with an added 2 PVR, however I do love all 4 routes, just not to interwork.

I hadn't really looked at extending to Sunderland given the number of routes that already doing that so made them interwork to avoid the need for remote reliefs. That said I did toy with the idea of extending one of the routes through Durham over to somewhere like Brandon as Durham has a distinct lack of east to west through routes.

(12 Jul 2022, 11:41 pm)User2613 wrote [ -> ]The upcoming changes got me thinking about whether there was any way to merge the 204 into other routes in a bid to save drivers. It is also a bit of a random route that appears to serve no purpose beyond getting people on a bus to Durham so they can get another bus to where they actually want to be.

The only GNE routes that head in the same rough direction are the 65 and the 20. So I had a play around and this is what I came up with. A new 20/20A and a new 65/65A. I have based this on the frequencies/routes once the upcoming changes take place while also trying to maintain all of the links that exist currently.

The 20/20A do take longer than currently but it was my view that that would just make the x20 a more justified express.

I've done a rough mock up of the basic timetable premise and routes. Id be interested to hear people's thoughts.

That is one of the best ideas I have seen for quite some time... I am sure its not perfect but i see a lot of benefits!