North East Buses

(06 Apr 2014, 8:19 pm)GMitchelhill wrote [ -> ]Were you still lying in bed when you took the photo.

Yeah

Got a good few photos, from Edinburgh, Portobello and Berwick. I'll upload them tomorrow.

Going to try and get to the Edinburgh Lothian Buses Open Day, anyone know when it is?

(10 Apr 2014, 8:43 am)Tom wrote [ -> ]Going to try and get to the Edinburgh Lothian Buses Open Day, anyone know when it is?

Still TBC - http://lothianbuses.com/our-community/community/events

I imagine there'll be a few from here going?

(10 Apr 2014, 9:57 am)aureolin wrote [ -> ]Still TBC - http://lothianbuses.com/our-community/community/events

I imagine there'll be a few from here going?

I'll try my best.

(10 Apr 2014, 8:43 am)Tom wrote [ -> ]Going to try and get to the Edinburgh Lothian Buses Open Day, anyone know when it is?

In the past it has always been the last Saturday in September, which will be the 27th this year.

Going for a halfy half day today - couldn't resist a snap of the AD122 on the first day of operation but had already agreed to go out with mates, so we shall see how today pans out!
'Tis a Get Around though, so I'm making the most of it.

Will update my journeys on the bus section throughout the day..

0919 #X3 Wheatsheaf to Newcastle - GNE 4934
1010 #X85 Newcastle to Hexham - GNE 5230
1140 #688 Hexham Rail Station to Hexham Bus Station - GNE 5210
1148 #X85 Hexham to Newcastle - GNE 5232
1239 #21 Newcastle to Gateshead - GNE 60??
1240 #X9 Gateshead to Middlesbrough - GNE 6048
1430 #X10 Middlesbrough to Stockton - GNE 6043
1523 #X7 Stockton to Sunderland - GNE 5335
1635 #35 Park Lane to SoL Metro - GNE 5301

(12 Apr 2014, 8:30 am)Dan wrote [ -> ]Going for a halfy half day today - couldn't resist a snap of the AD122 on the first day of operation but had already agreed to go out with mates, so we shall see how today pans out!
'Tis a Get Around though, so I'm making the most of it.

Will update my journeys on the bus section throughout the day..

0919 #X3 Wheatsheaf to Newcastle - GNE 4934
1010 #X85 Newcastle to Hexham - GNE 5230

Did the above services have many passengers on, Dan?

(12 Apr 2014, 9:14 am)Tom wrote [ -> ]Did the above services have many passengers on, Dan?

X3 had 4x Conc. pass, 3x Key Card and 1x Network One - so it probably made a loss on that journey.

X85 currently has 6x Conc. pass, 1x single, 1x Key and 1x ? (Appears young enough to be a fare paying passenger though)

(12 Apr 2014, 9:17 am)Dan wrote [ -> ]X3 had 4x Conc. pass, 3x Key Card and 1x Network One - so it probably made a loss on that journey.

X85 currently has 6x Conc. pass, 1x single, 1x Key and 1x ? (Appears young enough to be a fare paying passenger though)

Sounds like the X85 is doing all right, but the X84 always seems considerably busier to me!

(12 Apr 2014, 9:19 am)Tom wrote [ -> ]Sounds like the X85 is doing all right, but the X84 always seems considerably busier to me!

It should be! X85 only really has people travelling between Hexham, Corbridge and Newcastle (in direct competition with Arriva/Stagecoach 85) whereas X84 serves the villages and don't really have many other services (ie Ovington, Wylam) as well as people travelling straight from Hexham to Newcastle.

(12 Apr 2014, 11:31 am)northern156 wrote [ -> ]It should be! X85 only really has people travelling between Hexham, Corbridge and Newcastle (in direct competition with Arriva/Stagecoach 85) whereas X84 serves the villages and don't really have many other services (ie Ovington, Wylam) as well as people travelling straight from Hexham to Newcastle.

And not forgetting that the X84 is essentially the same as the former 684 service - so the route was already established.

Anyone going on any bashes this (Easter) Saturday? I'm wanting to go somewhere and I might as well tag along with someone/a group of people if it saves me having to formulate a plan myself.

(13 Apr 2014, 9:29 pm)northern156 wrote [ -> ]Anyone going on any bashes this (Easter) Saturday? I'm wanting to go somewhere and I might as well tag along with someone/a group of people if it saves me having to formulate a plan myself.

If I've got the money to do it - this is what I have in mind...

(13 Apr 2014, 9:43 pm)Dan wrote [ -> ]If I've got the money to do it - this is what I have in mind...

I've been looking forward to this for a while so I'll definitely be there.

(13 Apr 2014, 9:47 pm)aureolin wrote [ -> ]I've been looking forward to this for a while so I'll definitely be there.

Oops, that's me forgetting which Sunday is Easter Sunday.
It's next week, not the week after (when the Olympian Day is)!

So I've got no plans for next Saturday, no... I may just use it as a final day to go out with mates before the revision starts to properly kick in and I become ignorant again.

Have edited my journey details somewhat of that "round the UK" trip I've mentioned previously...

First day being done on a Tuesday, and the next on a Wednesday.

Newcastle (0625) - Edinburgh (0807): East Coast
Edinburgh (0935) - Glasgow (1100): Citylink (Fares as low as £1)
Glasgow (1200) - Dundee (1423): Citylink (Fares as low as £1)
Dundee (1550) - Aberdeen (1710): Citylink Gold (Fares as low as £1)
Aberdeen (1915) - London (0645): Megabus (Fares as low as £10)
London (0930) - Cardiff (1300): Megabus Gold (Fares as low as £5)
Cardiff (1515) - London (1900): Megabus (Fares as low as £5)
London (2000) - Newcastle (2256): East Coast - hopefully in First Class.

I aspire to do this trip when Lothian's new buses enter service in Edinburgh and Stagecoach's new Volvo B5LH/ADL buses enter service in Dundee. There's always something new to get in London, and I fancy going to Cardiff because the TV show "Torchwood" was set there (I'm a big fan).
Aberdeen looks good for variety and Glasgow has loads of coaches from what I've seen - will be a nice opportunity to build up my photographs of those vehicle types.

Not sure what the allocations are going to be like. Obviously on the "Gold" services and East Coast train services I'll have plug sockets. I'm assuming the normal Citylink services don't have plug sockets, but does anyone know what the two normal Megabus services are usually allocated? Really could do with that overnight one being allocated an Astromega with plug sockets...

(14 Apr 2014, 10:57 pm)Dan wrote [ -> ]Have edited my journey details somewhat of that "round the UK" trip I've mentioned previously...

First day being done on a Tuesday, and the next on a Wednesday.

Newcastle (0625) - Edinburgh (0807): East Coast
Edinburgh (0935) - Glasgow (1100): Citylink (Fares as low as £1)
Glasgow (1200) - Dundee (1423): Citylink (Fares as low as £1)
Dundee (1550) - Aberdeen (1710): Citylink Gold (Fares as low as £1)
Aberdeen (1915) - London (0645): Megabus (Fares as low as £10)
London (0930) - Cardiff (1300): Megabus Gold (Fares as low as £5)
Cardiff (1515) - London (1900): Megabus (Fares as low as £5)
London (2000) - Newcastle (2256): East Coast - hopefully in First Class.

Wow. That's ambitious to say the least. Have you ever done an overnighter on a Megabus before? I've done it once and got about half-an-hours sleep. On that occasion it was a Compass Royston operated coach and it was cramped, stuffy, wet and generally awful. I was tired and miserable the next day and just wanted to go to bed. It made my day at The National Archive in Kew almost unbearable; every subsequent visit I went down the day before and stayed in a hostel. Because of that one allocation I've used National Express ever since - comfortable seats, plug sockets and only £3.50 difference in price!

(15 Apr 2014, 7:18 am)AdamY wrote [ -> ]Wow. That's ambitious to say the least. Have you ever done an overnighter on a Megabus before? I've done it once and got about half-an-hours sleep. On that occasion it was a Compass Royston operated coach and it was cramped, stuffy, wet and generally awful. I was tired and miserable the next day and just wanted to go to bed. It made my day at The National Archive in Kew almost unbearable; every subsequent visit I went down the day before and stayed in a hostel. Because of that one allocation I've used National Express ever since - comfortable seats, plug sockets and only £3.50 difference in price!

I did the 01:40am-ish Megabus from Newcastle to London, due to arrive in at around 07:00am. Was duped by a London-based coach operator and I rather unfortunately had to endure that - but it was a direct service.
Didn't get any sleep but did rest my eyes. I wasn't too bad though, especially given that I had been to Middlesbrough the previous day until the final X10 was due to leave.

Have never done that Aberdeen - London one before though, but it's a comfortable time setting off and a nice arrival time too. It's service M11 - but I really can't work out what the allocations are as Flickr has a lot of photos. Whatever it is, providing it isn't duped it looks like a double-deck coach so it will be fitted with plug sockets.

(15 Apr 2014, 7:23 am)Dan wrote [ -> ]I did the 01:40am-ish Megabus from Newcastle to London, due to arrive in at around 07:00am. Was duped by a London-based coach operator and I rather unfortunately had to endure that - but it was a direct service.
Didn't get any sleep but did rest my eyes. I wasn't too bad though, especially given that I had been to Middlesbrough the previous day until the final X10 was due to leave.

Have never done that Aberdeen - London one before though, but it's a comfortable time setting off and a nice arrival time too. It's service M11 - but I really can't work out what the allocations are as Flickr has a lot of photos. Whatever it is, providing it isn't duped it looks like a double-deck coach so it will be fitted with plug sockets.

Well, that's the chance you take with Megabus I suppose. I will say one thing about them - they always seem to be on time. When I used to get the 16:00 National Express service from Victoria on a Friday afternoon, it was always around 20 to 30 mins late. Megabus also have scheduled service for around 16:00 and it was always on time.