(25 Feb 2014, 6:01 pm)tyresmoke wrote Cheers that makes sense! Am I right in thinking the 24X's are on 57 boards? Passed 7464 in Shotton this morning with a decent load.

(25 Feb 2014, 8:12 am)Dan wrote Of course this does not mean every bus belonging to the Go-Ahead parent company can refuel for as little as 49p per litre.
There are instances whereby 'outstationed' vehicles refuel away from Go North East premises - I believe that the vehicles based at Peterlee for example refuel on council-owned premises, with a deal set up there.
That figure will, if I am correct, exclude additional resources required for refuelling on modern-day vehicles at the very least. Recently manufactured vehicles such as the Mercedes Citaro and the Volvo B8RLE all require a substance called "AdBlue" (Google it if you're not familiar with it).This will come at an additional cost - how significant this additional cost is, I do not know.

(25 Feb 2014, 4:11 pm)Dan wrote Three pensioners getting off the 1600ish 23 service arrival into Sunderland; with two kids, three fare paying passengers and four pensioners getting on at Park Lane towards Hartlepool.

Usually far fewer passengers get on for that 1605ish departure from Park Lane, so I'm impressed...despite that loading still being poor given the time of day.

(26 Feb 2014, 8:05 am)Dan wrote 0802 departure carrying nowt but air. Ah, I forgot the pass holders can't ride for free until half 9!

(26 Feb 2014, 6:01 pm)tyresmoke wrote Well as its been released elsewhere, the order for Pulsars has been changed to Streetlites, for service 23 and Sapphire X4s and 5s. I believe the 306 will still be Pulsars for Jesmond. Unsure what fleet numbers they will carry.

(26 Feb 2014, 9:04 pm)JoshP wrote Ooo exciting stuff! Where did you find the information?

(26 Feb 2014, 11:36 pm)tango wrote That's intresting! Do you know what type they will be? I am thinking streetlite max for obvious reasons relating to capacity, I seem to remember reading somewhere before that vdl were developing a chassis for the streetlite model.

(26 Feb 2014, 11:36 pm)tango wrote That's intresting! Do you know what type they will be? I am thinking streetlite max for obvious reasons relating to capacity, I seem to remember reading somewhere before that vdl were developing a chassis for the streetlite model.

(16 Feb 2014, 6:58 pm)tyresmoke wrote Couple of last day allocations for Teesside yesterday:

Last day of service 4 (Redcar-Lingdale) had 1436, 1711 and 4651, with MPD 1711 operating the last trip.

Last X5 from Whitby was Stockton's 1512 (last trip for Stockton depot to Whitby also!)
Last X5 into Whitby was Prestige 4042 (Redcar based...) - others being 1104, 1105 and 4704!

Last service 30 to Saltersgill was Prestige 4001
Last service X6 to Kingsmead was Cadet 1917

As a result of service changes starting today, 3 buses were withdrawn overnight... Stockton lost Prestige 4045 and Redcar MPD's 1737 and 1739. Of course Redcar are still using disposal 1711 and 1743 so I don't suppose these two will be any different....

(23 Feb 2014, 12:17 am)Kuyoyo wrote Stockton MPD 1772 has gained a rear advert for Cooper Teesside

(22 Feb 2014, 9:28 am)tyresmoke wrote Probably worth mentioning that the Darlington Dalesbus will start from Middlesbrough this summer, in an attempt to attract would-be Moorsbus travellers onto the Dalesbus network instead as a replacement Sunday activity.

(27 Feb 2014, 6:00 pm)Roland Pratt wrote Scott?

ANE-1772.JPG (Size 354.83 KB | Downloads 23)

(23 Feb 2014, 12:34 pm)Kuyoyo wrote You seem to have an odd idea how radios work on buses - drivers can't contact other vehicles only a central control (Stagecoach's control is based at each depot) then any major information (road closure, accident etc) is passed by the control to the other vehicles (only messages from control can be heard on the other vehicles on the road). Arriva did have radios until last year when their central control at Jesmond was closed. Instead, drivers now simply contact their depot on the phone (obviously when safe to use the phone) to report late running or to report a breakdown.

(24 Feb 2014, 7:20 pm)andreos1 wrote I blame Thatcher!
If she hadn't shut down the pits - the populations of East Durham (and those working in the area), would still be using the services that went to each and every one of the colliery villages in the area.

Since the working population (those who do work) now travel away to out of town call centres or industrial estates, the demand that existed for public transport through to Sunderland has waned.
Just look at the old United or TMS timetables to see the reductions over the years.

ANE have down the same route others have and have focused routes down certain core corridors throughout East Durham.
IF (and it is a big if), ANE managed to keep the tendered work or adapt it when taken on commercially, I have a feeling the entire network across that area would be totally different.

(27 Feb 2014, 6:02 pm)Roland Pratt wrote That's interesting. Will Darlington still work it then?

(25 Feb 2014, 1:13 pm)Chris wrote Which is where your 'Low Cost' units come in. All the rage back in the eighties, but I'd be surprised if the cost differential between 'low cost' and 'full cost' is as high now as it was back then. The days of bread vans are thankfully near enough gone.

(27 Feb 2014, 6:12 pm)Roland Pratt wrote So you'd rather have nothing at all than a 'bread van'?!

All the rage back in the eighties, but I'd be surprised if the cost differential between 'low cost' and 'full cost' is as high now as it was back then. The days of bread vans are thankfully near enough gone.

(27 Feb 2014, 6:12 pm)Roland Pratt wrote So you'd rather have nothing at all than a 'bread van'?!

(27 Feb 2014, 6:19 pm)Roland Pratt wrote As well as greedy local authorities to blame for decimating services we also have the EU and the politically correct DDA lobby who between them have constantly changed the specs of buses to please the vociforous minority* who insist on wheelchairs being allowed on all local services, and the tree huggers. Between them they have caused the cost of buying operating buses to spiral out of control with the result that far from improving the network for the disabled it has decimated it for everyone.

*at first they wanted split entrances, then they u turned and wanted wide low entrances, then even when they get 100% wheelchair accessible they are still not satisfied.

(27 Feb 2014, 6:03 pm)Roland Pratt wrote That's what he said!

(27 Feb 2014, 6:03 pm)Roland Pratt wrote When does it start? Is it same days of operation as Moorsbus used to be?

(27 Feb 2014, 5:10 pm)aureolin wrote So for the X4, we'll have sapphire spec Streetlites? If so seems a bit of an irrational decision. Budget midi buses on what's meant to be the 'gold standard' of Arriva?

(27 Feb 2014, 6:35 am)Dan wrote The 23 really doesn't require anything bigger than a Solo (just refer to previous posts in regards to the poor passenger numbers). Buying the bigger version, which would be more expensive, would be the cherry on the cake for how idiotic this investment is.

I had originally thought (admittedly without referring to timetables) that Pulsar operation would allow the 23/24 to interwork at Sunderland and driver changeovers could occur in Durham for greater convenience to the company, but if Streetlites are going ahead then this won't be possible. Combined with the cascades to allow for Dart withdrawal, assuming service 23 is one of the better performing Solo routes, I could manage to comprehend the decision-making.

Still plenty of time for the decision to change again...

(27 Feb 2014, 9:02 pm)Kuyoyo wrote Only replying now 'cos I've only just noticed this

Very much impossible to do without a major re-write of the timetables or the additional of an extra bus into the schedule to allow for long layovers at Park Lane. You could swap the 23/24 departure times from Sunderland without then adding interworking with the 22 (and that would mean re-re-routing the 23 back to the Marina in Hartlepool) to keep the basic 15 minutes frequency from Peterlee to Hartlepool, Sunderland and Durham on the 3 routes.