North East Buses

(13 Jun 2022, 3:09 pm)Michael wrote [ -> ]Hopefully in the next week or so, with them being major changes.

Should be...

Major changes - 4 weeks notice
Minor changes - 2 weeks notice

Yeah the Sep 5th Changes come out on Aug 5th so a month before.

(13 Jun 2022, 3:49 pm)Unber43 wrote [ -> ]Anyone know whens these are coming out, I thought it would be this week.
Also would this mean other services 39/A/B are coming into the park lane interchange where the 55 & Stand R stops as there will be plenty of room with the 2/2A aswell

Also what is the 861

861 will be a school bus. Probably for Seaham High.

(13 Jun 2022, 3:49 pm)Unber43 wrote [ -> ]Anyone know whens these are coming out, I thought it would be this week.
Also would this mean other services 39/A/B are coming into the park lane interchange where the 55 & Stand R stops as there will be plenty of room with the 2/2A aswell

Also what is the 861

I wonder if the 38 will use Park Lane, too.

(13 Jun 2022, 4:21 pm)F114TML wrote [ -> ]I wonder if the 38 will use Park Lane, too.

Park lane is losing the 55/62.

So the 38/2/2A/39/39A might aswell use Park lane especially for the Washington Connection & Doxford Park.

39/39A/39B - Using 55 Stand to Doxford/Washington

39/39/39B towards Penny Well using Stand S.

2/2A using stand E towards Silksworth. Use current stand towards Washington. 

38 using Stand R

(13 Jun 2022, 4:34 pm)Unber43 wrote [ -> ]Park lane is losing the 55/62.

So the 38/2/2A/39/39A might aswell use Park lane especially for the Washington Connection & Doxford Park.

39/39A/39B - Using 55 Stand to Doxford/Washington

39/39/39B towards Penny Well using Stand S.

2/2A using stand E towards Silksworth. Use current stand towards Washington. 

38 using Stand R

The 24 (Sunderland to South Shields) is likely to stay at Stand Q too.

Is the 26 going to Deptford

(13 Jun 2022, 5:17 pm)Unber43 wrote [ -> ]Is the 26 going to Deptford

Would it not need to go from Washington to make room for the 8 and 34? And hopefully a Tender win or Two such as the 81/82 perhaps?

Hopefully timetables will have a nexus logo if the journey is paid for by them.

Why did they stop doing that?

Just been reported on BBC Look North tonight that Nexus have received £4.3m rescue package to save services being cut, would love to know where they got that money from given they are skint.

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/nor...s-24215229

Full list of cuts being made by Go North East and Nexus responses
Service 2/2A - Silksworth, Grangetown, Sunderland, Barnwell (2A), Shiney Row (2), Washington Galleries

Cuts: Sunday daytime frequencies reduced to every 60 minutes, offering a combined 30 minute frequency on common sections. Evening frequencies will be reduced to every hour and short trips between Silksworth and Sunderland are planned to be withdrawn.

Nexus response: No action taken “as a minimum level of service has been maintained”.

Service 5 - Jarrow, Fellgate, Boldon, South Tyneside Hospital, Chichester and South Shields

Cuts: Some early morning, evening and Sunday journeys will no longer operate.

Nexus response: Nexus will step in to support additional morning, evening and Sunday journeys to maintain links to South Tyneside Hospital and other local amenities. On a Sunday, the current plan is to operate a new service 5A every 60 minutes to help cover Sunday trips from the service 5 and also part-replace the 558. The 5A will operate South Shields - Chichester - South Tyneside Hospital - Whiteleas - Cleadon - Boldon - Fellgate – Jarrow.

Service - 12/12A Winlaton, Blaydon, Newcastle

Cuts: This service would be revised to operate every 20 minutes on Monday to Saturday daytimes between Newcastle and Winlaton, with all journeys operating via Shibdon Bank, Parkhead Estate, Winlaton, returning via Hanover Estate, Snook Hill Estate, Parkhead Estate, Shibdon Bank and to Blaydon. Some north parts of Winlaton (Blaydon Bank, Wylam View, Heddon View, Back Lane) lose a direct bus to/from Newcastle. Alternative options will be available via the 49/49A and interchange at Blaydon Bus Station. Evening and Sunday service would operate hourly. Some early morning, evening and Sunday journeys will no longer operate on a commercial basis.

Nexus response: Nexus will step in to support early morning, evening and Sunday journeys.

Service - 20/X20 South Shields, Sunderland, Houghton Le Spring, Durham

Cuts: The section of route between South Shields and Sunderland will be replaced by a new Go North East service, 24, following the same route. Service 20 will continue, operating between Sunderland and Durham. Evening trips will no longer serve Doxford International, but service X20 will be revised to additionally serve Doxford International during AM and PM peak trips. Sunday service on X20 will be withdrawn. Some early morning trips can no longer be operated on a commercial basis.

Nexus response: Nexus is working with Durham County Council to step in to support early morning journeys.

Service 25 - Langley Park, Chester Le Street, Birtley, Eighton Banks, Wrekenton,Gateshead, Newcastle

Cuts: Go North East will no longer operate service 25, with the section between Newcastle, Harlow Green and Eighton Banks replaced by an extended service 1 that will operate hourly. The rest of the route will not be replaced.

Nexus response: Nexus will step in to provide a new service 81/82 to maintain and provide links lost from commercial withdrawals of services 28, 25 and 82. However, a section of the current 25 route will remain unserved on Portobello Road in Barley Mow and Nexus says it will “consider further provision” there.

Service 28/28A/28B - Chester Le Street, Ouston, Beamish, Kibblesworth (28A/28B), Wrekenton (28), Gateshead, Newcastle

Cuts: Go North East is withdrawing this service.

Nexus response: Nexus is currently working on plans with Durham County Council to provide a new service through Kibblesworth also serving Ouston. In addition, Nexus is exploring options to retain links between Gateshead and Birtley as part of wider proposals to also cover lost links in the Washington area as a result of the withdrawal of service 82.

Service 29 - Kibblesworth, Low Fell, Gateshead

Cuts: Go North East is withdrawing this service.

Nexus response: Nexus is currently working on options with Durham County Council to provide a new service to Kibblesworth.

Service 35/35A - Low Moorsley, Hetton Le Hole, Houghton Le Spring, Silksworth (35A), Sunderland, Southwick, Castletown, Town End Farm, Boldon

Cuts: The section of route between Town End Farm and Boldon will no longer be provided commercially by Go North East, while some early morning and evening trips are no longer commercially viable too.

Nexus response: Nexus will step in to save the section of route between Town End Farm and Boldon and also provide support for early morning and evening journeys on the wider routes, in order to protect a “unique link on the bus network”.

Service 38/38A/38C - Sunderland Docks, Sunderland, Ashbrooke, Leechmere, Hollycarrside, Tunstall Bank Estate

Cuts: Go North East is withdrawing this service, but will maintain the link between the Docks and Sunderland City Centre with a new service 38, operating an anticlockwise loop every 60 minutes. Whilst most areas of the 38 route have access to alternative services within 400m, some parts of Tunstall Bank Estate and Myrella Crescent will fall outside of that.

Nexus response: Nexus will step in to ensure there is still a bus serving Tunstall Bank Estate by rerouting its own service 37.

Service 49/49A - Winlaton, Shibdon Bank (49A), Blaydon (49), Swalwell,Metrocentre, Dunston, Gateshead

Cuts: Sunday service revised to operate every 20 minutes. Service 49C Monday to Friday early morning trips will now operate as service 49, operating via Bolam Street Flats instead of Rose Street, and Redheugh. Some early morning, evening and Sunday journeys will no longer operate on a commercial basis.

Nexus response: Nexus will step in to support morning, evening and Sunday journeys.

Service 51/52 - Gateshead, Wrekenton, Fewster Square, Heworth, Gateshead, Newcastle

Cuts: Sunday daytime frequency reduced to every 30 minutes from every 20 minutes and evening frequencies reduced to every 60 minutes, from every 30 minutes. Some early morning journeys will no longer operate on a commercial basis.

Nexus response: Nexus will step in to support morning, evening and Sunday journey to ensure that customers “will continue to have reasonable options for travel outside busier times”.

Service 55 - Peterlee, Easington Lane, Hetton Le Hole, Houghton Le Spring,Doxford International, Sunderland

Cuts: Go North East is withdrawing this service. Links to Sunderland can continue to be made, albeit with interchange in Houghton Le Spring.

Nexus response: Nexus is working with Durham County Council to see how best to protect local links, including those between Houghton/Hetton and South Hetton, on an evening at a reduced frequency.

Service 57 - Wardley, Heworth, Fewster Square, QE Hospital, Gateshead, Newcastle

Cuts: Go North East is planning to operate between Wardley and Heworth only on evenings, with trips interworked with service 58 to allow for onward connections. Some early morning journeys will no longer operate on a commercial basis.

Nexus response: Nexus will step in to provide morning trips.

Service 58 - Heworth, Fewster Square, Felling, Gateshead, Newcastle

Cuts: Service will be extended to Follingsby to co-ordinate with the revised service 4 frequency and offer a combined frequency of every 7/8 minutes between Heworth and Follingsby. A new service, X58, will be introduced at peak times to operate more direct limited stop journeys between Newcastle/Gateshead and Follingsby.

Nexus response: Nexus is not taking any action.

Service 62/62A - Sunderland, Ryhope, Seaham, Easington Lane, South Hetton, Peterlee

Cuts: Go North East is withdrawing this service. This will mean a loss of service on Sea View, but alternative options are available on alternative services within 400m, including services 22, 23, 39, 39A, 60, and 61 from Ryhope Village.

Nexus response: Nexus is not taking any action.

Service 67 - Metrocentre, Dunston, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Wardley

Cuts: Go North East planned to withdraw this service in its entirety.

Nexus response: Nexus is stepping in to ensure that the section of route between Metrocentre, Dunston and the QE Hospital continues. Alternative services are available between the QE Hospital and Wardley, albeit with interchange.

Service 69 - Winlaton, Blaydon, Swalwell, Whickham, Lobley Hill, Bensham, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Wardley

Cuts: Go North East is withdrawing this service.

Nexus response: Nexus is “considering the best way to protect the unique links service 69 provides”, including access to the QE Hospital, but hopes to save it.

Service 78/78A - Castleside, Consett, Stanley, Chester Le Street, Shiney Row, Sunderland

Cuts: This service will no longer serve Castleside in County Durham and some early morning and evening trips will no longer be commercially viable.

Nexus response: Nexus is working with Durham County Council to consider supporting additional morning and evening journeys to maintain links.

(13 Jun 2022, 5:57 pm)Malarkey wrote [ -> ]Just been reported on BBC Look North tonight that Nexus have received £4.3m rescue package to save services being cut, would love to know where they got that money from given they are skint.

Councils. Probably taken from budgets for maintaining the very roads that these buses will be running on.

(13 Jun 2022, 5:58 pm)omnicity4659 wrote [ -> ]Councils. Probably taken from budgets for maintaining the very roads that these buses will be running on.

Looks that way, I have amended my original post which documents Nexus's response to the bailout.

(13 Jun 2022, 1:22 pm)ASX_Terranova wrote [ -> ]How long will it take for the changes to be finalised and for GNE to put it on their website?

I don't think that Nexus tenders have been awarded yet (or they might be in the 10 days standstill period), and the closing date for the Durham tenders isn't until towards the end of the month.

I imagine it’s come from the 3 councils, despite their constant rate rises Gateshead has sizeable reserves it could call on.

I do think there should be something enshrined that if you abandon a commercial operation you are barred from bidding or must meet strict caveats when it comes up to tender.

(13 Jun 2022, 7:24 pm)Ambassador wrote [ -> ]I do think there should be something enshrined that if you abandon a commercial operation you are barred from bidding or must meet strict caveats when it comes up to tender.

I know this comment has been made a couple of times now and I'm just picking your post to quote because it's the most recent, but it would be absolutely ludicrous to suggest this, if the winning bid from the previous commercial operator is the one which is cheapest/represents best value - or are we all an advocate of taxpayers forking out even more money than they need to, to keep these services running, where the commercial operator has 'abandoned' them?

In a similar vein, should SME operators who only run contracted bus services and never take a punt on running a commercial bus service (the likes of your Gateshead Central Taxis, A-line Coaches, etc) be penalised because the only gaps in the market that they exploit are those funded by the taxpayer?

I doubt the 47 & X45 will be a 'flat' 15 minute combined frequency unless GNE want a higher PVR and longer layovers? The most efficient interworking pattern will be X45/X71/X72 with the 47 standalone and also the X30/X31 standalone. At best, the combined frequency would be something like a 10/20 split or a 12-13 / 17-18 split with the times of the X71/X72 also taken into account. Again, I could be wrong if GNE have other plans?

(13 Jun 2022, 7:36 pm)L469 YVK wrote [ -> ]I doubt the 47 & X45 will be a 'flat' 15 minute combined frequency unless GNE want a higher PVR and longer layovers? The most efficient interworking pattern will be X45/X71/X72 with the 47 standalone and also the X30/X31 standalone. At best, the combined frequency would be something like a 10/20 split or a 12-13 / 17-18 split with the times of the X71/X72 also taken into account. Again, I could be wrong if GNE have other plans?

Wait are the 47 being upgraded to Streetdecks?

(13 Jun 2022, 7:41 pm)Unber43 wrote [ -> ]Wait are the 47 being upgraded to Streetdecks?

I doubt it unless GNE are wanting to dilute the 'XLines' brand? Would most likely be B5TLs off the X21 with 8x StreetDecks (+ 1x 67 plate) going the other way. That would keep all the XLines decker routes 69 plate or newer with passengers on the X21 also getting a few 'extras' thrown in too.

Now the next bit I'm putting across from a commercial point of view and not an enthusiasts (i.e engines, reliability etc).

Depending on interworking patterns, if the X30/X31 are standalone with the evening & Sunday X30/X72 taken care off by Riverside (unless there's something else that could interwork with the evening & Sunday 6 & 12), StreetDecks would be the best option for the X45/X71/X72 if the 16B/47/X5/X45 are interworked on evenings & Sundays due to their commercially sensitive nature (with a small number of E400MMC thrown in to allow planned downtime). That would then see 9x E400MMC going on the X21 (with B5TLs for the 47) with 5x E400MMC remaining at Consett (3x for X30/X31 & 2x spare).

The big point is that StreetDecks would be better suited to more commercially sensitive work (Sunday 16B, X5 etc) and are more fuel efficient in most cases. Likewise, StreetLites would be far more appropriate capacity and efficiency wise for the evening & Sunday X30/X72.

Why would putting streetdecks on the 47 dilute the Xlines brand?

(13 Jun 2022, 7:58 pm)F114TML wrote [ -> ]Why would putting streetdecks on the 47 dilute the Xlines brand?

Thats what I was thinking, just because you put new buses on a route, doesn't dilute the Xline Brand.

(13 Jun 2022, 7:24 pm)Ambassador wrote [ -> ]I imagine it’s come from the 3 councils, despite their constant rate rises Gateshead has sizeable reserves it could call on.

I do think there should be something enshrined that if you abandon a commercial operation you are barred from bidding or must meet strict caveats when it comes up to tender.

I imagine the other North East Councils are the same, but using reserves to pay for services on an ongoing basis is extremely bad practice.

I've not followed the meetings for a couple of months, but JTC agreed back in Nov/Dec time that councils would be asked to increase their transport levy. Maybe that has now happened.

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