I can't see a point in the 1A... the only link that I can see that would arise would be Newbiggin to Widdrington/Amble (possible now via 35 to Woodhorn and then 1/X20 north), and Newbiggin to Bebside & Blyth (35 to Woodhorn/Ashington then 1 onwards, or X21 to Bedlington Stn then 1 onwards).

The cost in operating 10 additional vehicles, and then 4 operating from Ashington would make the service very unsustainable... for the sake of connecting Newbiggin with Blyth, Widdrington and Amble essentially...

(27 Nov 2018, 8:05 pm)S830OFT wrote Temsas are staying at Redcar, it has been said many times no other depot would take them.

Why won't any other depot take them I haven't actually been on one my self but from what I have seen online they seem decent buses.

Also another idea bring back the 41. It should run every 30 mins every day ot the week.

(28 Nov 2018, 5:29 pm)GNE6312 wrote Why won't any other depot take them I haven't actually been on one my self but from what I have seen online they seem decent buses.

Also another idea bring back the 41. It should run every 30 mins every day ot the week.

Arriva won't move the Temsas as they are a unique vehicle with unique traits and parts. Much more efficient both labour and cost wise to keep them all together.

Bring back the 41 with this route
41
Blyth 
South beach
Sandringham drive
High pit
Cramlington
Beacon hill
Seaton burn
Wideopen
Regent centre
Gosforth
Newcastle

Every 30 mins 7 days a week
Allocation: wright pulsar
Cascades for the route:
1407/09/10/14/24/25/26/27 to blyth

(04 Dec 2018, 2:12 pm)GNE6312 wrote Bring back the 41 with this route
41
Blyth 
South beach
Sandringham drive
High pit
Cramlington
Beacon hill
Seaton burn
Wideopen
Regent centre
Gosforth
Newcastle

Every 30 mins 7 days a week
Allocation: wright pulsar
Cascades for the route:
1407/09/10/14/24/25/26/27 to blyth

What would replace those Pulsars at Stockton? No need for an extra bus from Blyth to Newcastle, one thing Arriva could do is extend the 58 from Seaton Sluice to Blyth.

...or don't extend anything as the route between Seaton Sluice and Blyth is covered by the X7 and 308, and the 41 is already mostly covered by the X9 lol

Services 56/57/57A: Revamped to meet a new specification of 5 Star Luxury and make the service more attractive opposed to competitiors. Reintroduced to the New "SWOOSH" brand to Raise the Standards and make Every Journey Redefined. These services will receive more autonomy which will enable Arriva to improve services locally and reinvest in local services.

56: This service will be revised to operate hourly with a new 56A service introduced. Between Durham and Ferryhill services will combine to provide a bus up to every 30 minutes. This service will also be extended to Toft Hill replacing service 86. This service will see the introduction of some refurbished vehicles with complimentary features including Next Stop Audio and Visual Information, Dedicated Uniformed Drivers and Extra Comfy Leather Seats.

56A: This service will operate between Durham and Spennymoor via Bowburn, Coxhoe, West Cornforth, Ferryhill. The introduction of this service will enable service 8A to be withdrawn.

57: This service will be extended to Peterlee to offer new links with Coxhoe and provide more service links between Peterlee and Durham. This service will see a brand new fleet of vehicles which will offer complimentary features including Free on-board Wi-Fi, USB Charging Faciltys, Next Stop Audio and Visual Information, Dedicated Uniformed Drivers, Extra Comfy Leather Seats and Little Seat Tables at Most Seats.

57A: As the fastest bus linking Durham with Hartlepool this service will see a brand new fleet of vehicles which will offer complimentary features including Free on-board Wi-Fi, USB Charging Faciltys, Next Stop Audio and Visual Information, Dedicated Uniformed Drivers, Extra Comfy Leather Seats and Little Seat Tables at Most Seats.

Discounted Tickets:
Passengers travelling between Durham and Coxhoe will benefit from special fares including £1 Single Fares and £8 Week Tickets. These Tickets will not be valid on MAX X12 service. Also a special 57A Day Return Ticket between Durham and Hartlepool priced at £5.

Drivers:
To ensure that services operate to schedule these services will receive additional layover time at both ends of the route. All drivers on this service will receive a Swoosh uniform. If a Swoosh driver is unavailable Arriva will supply a spare driver off another service.

Fleet:
56/56A: Refurbished Vehicles
57/57A: Brand New Vehicles

The Swoosh brand will make the sight of these services unique and iconic which will make the services more attractive to use.

Firstly, the Swoosh brand wouldn't be possible, following Arriva's rebrand and brand strategy. It would have to be the normal Arriva or Arriva Sapphire brand.

Secondly, where's all this money going to come from for new buses and all these expensive refurbishments? The 56/57/57A doesn't create that much profit...

57 used to go to Peterlee until it was withdrawn, layover was put on service 22/24 at each end which did combat delays , but now the 23 is in the mix the services are heavy delayed again, yesterday there was 2 24’s going to Durham one was at Peterlee bus station and the other was going round oakerside


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(19 Dec 2018, 6:38 pm)omnicity4659 wrote Firstly, the Swoosh brand wouldn't be possible, following Arriva's rebrand and brand strategy. It would have to be the normal Arriva or Arriva Sapphire brand.

Secondly, where's all this money going to come from for new buses and all these expensive refurbishments? The 56/57/57A doesn't create that much profit...

Well Arriva are always changing things around so pretty much anything is possible. The money will be recived from another part of Arriva that is doing well with all of it's products. The 56 | 57 services have been victims of under investment for quite a long time and I for one believe the residents of Country Durham who use these services frequently for employment and education or just a trip to the shop are entitled to good quality transport. 

Additionally with service 57A providing the fastest service between Hartlepool and Durham passengers should expect a Gold Standard service provided with modern day features available on-board.

(19 Dec 2018, 6:59 pm)S830OFT wrote Well Arriva are always changing things around so pretty much anything is possible. The money will be recived from another part of Arriva that is doing well with all of it's products. The 56 | 57 services have been victims of under investment for quite a long time and I for one believe the residents of Country Durham who use these services frequently for employment and education or just a trip to the shop are entitled to good quality transport.  

Additionally with service 57A providing the fastest service between Hartlepool and Durham passengers should expect a Gold Standard service provided with modern day features available on-board.

Where would the growth come from? 
You can't spend money, without expecting to re-coup some of that investment - in this case, more bums on seats and increased revenue. 
I'm not sure where those bums on seats will come from. 
I appreciate there is new housing in Bowburn, Coxhoe and over towards Shotton, however I'm not sure there is enough demand from residents to travel exclusively to points served on those routes. 
Houses have been purchased in those areas, I would guess due to the proximity to the A1 and A19.

(19 Dec 2018, 7:16 pm)Andreos1 wrote Where would the growth come from? 
You can't spend money, without expecting to re-coup some of that investment - in this case, more bums on seats and increased revenue. 
I'm not sure where those bums on seats will come from. 
I appreciate there is new housing in Bowburn, Coxhoe and over towards Shotton, however I'm not sure there is enough demand from residents to travel exclusively to points served on those routes. 
Houses have been purchased in those areas, I would guess due to the proximity to the A1 and A19.

If the service is well advertised potential passengers will jump on-board. Also if the service is upgraded to a high standard it may attract a new class of customers to travel on these services.

(19 Dec 2018, 6:59 pm)S830OFT wrote Well Arriva are always changing things around so pretty much anything is possible. The money will be recived from another part of Arriva that is doing well with all of it's products. The 56 | 57 services have been victims of under investment for quite a long time and I for one believe the residents of Country Durham who use these services frequently for employment and education or just a trip to the shop are entitled to good quality transport. 

Additionally with service 57A providing the fastest service between Hartlepool and Durham passengers should expect a Gold Standard service provided with modern day features available on-board.

In addition to what has been suggested by others,

Withdrawing the 8A would leave service 8 with nothing to interwork with, potentially leaving a bus sat doing nothing in Spennymoor for about 50-55 minutes every hour.

Dropping the 56 to hourly between Ferryhill and Bishop would likely push some people onto competitors services to reach Bishop Auckland (113 in Ferryhill and 18 in Coundon)

Don't think too many passengers really do the 57A from Durham to Hartlepool, I could be wrong but I think the Trimdon Village - Hartlepool stretch is subsidized by the council?

(19 Dec 2018, 7:54 pm)Jimmi wrote In addition to what has been suggested by others,

Withdrawing the 8A would leave service 8 with nothing to interwork with, potentially leaving a bus sat doing nothing in Spennymoor for about 50-55 minutes every hour.

Dropping the 56 to hourly between Ferryhill and Bishop would likely push some people onto competitors services to reach Bishop Auckland (113 in Ferryhill and 18 in Coundon)

Don't think too many passengers really do the 57A from Durham to Hartlepool, I could be wrong but I think the Trimdon Village - Hartlepool stretch is subsidized by the council?

A suggestion to the 8 is to have it run to Spennymoor and back then interwork onto the X21 using Gas Buses.

(19 Dec 2018, 7:31 pm)S830OFT wrote If the service is well advertised potential passengers will jump on-board. Also if the service is upgraded to a high standard it may attract a new class of customers to travel on these services.

Anything which is advertised well, has the potential to succeed. 
However if the product isn't what people want, then I can't see it working.

I love the idea of a comfy bus, with all mod cons, running on time and sustainable enough to survive and see additional investment.
I want it to take me to work in a quicker, cheaper manner than the car does. I guess other people do too. 
Will those buses you propose do that? Will the people of Bowburn, Coxhoe and Shotton get to work quicker and cheaper than they would in the car? Will your buses tick enough boxes to attract people from their cars and justify the investment you propose?

(19 Dec 2018, 7:57 pm)S830OFT wrote A suggestion to the 8 is to have it run to Spennymoor and back then interwork onto the X21 using Gas Buses.

That would be a logistical nightmare, the times would have to match up correctly on the 8, X21 & X22 (plus the 5/5A & 7 between Darlington and Aycliffe) to make that work and in their current forms they do not, if the 8 went standalone a round trip would take 2 and a half hours but the X21 currently takes about 4 hours and X22 takes 3, so only way that would really work is to give X21 & X22 roughly half an hour layover at Peterlee/Sunderland which won't happen due to extra resources needing to be required and driving hours could be a issue especially on the X21 and you would end up with X22 being parked up for around 35 minutes in Middlesbrough as well (alternatively terminate both services at Seaham to allow times to match without long layover excluding Middlesbrough on X22).

If the 8 was to be cut to terminate in Spennymoor, the allocation of EcoCities would be a issue if it was to perform the current Sunday loop within Spennymoor due to a turning issue, although it is actually not impossible to get them round.

(19 Dec 2018, 8:09 pm)Andreos1 wrote Anything which is advertised well, has the potential to succeed. 
However if the product isn't what people want, then I can't see it working.

I love the idea of a comfy bus, with all mod cons, running on time and sustainable enough to survive and see additional investment.
I want it to take me to work in a quicker, cheaper manner than the car does. I guess other people do too. 
Will those buses you propose do that? Will the people of Bowburn, Coxhoe and Shotton get to work quicker and cheaper than they would in the car? Will your buses tick enough boxes to attract people from their cars and justify the investment you propose?

Well with proposed discounted fares between Coxhoe and Durham for just a £1 and Hartlepool to Durham for just £5 the passenger will benefit from fares that are cheaper than competitors. Also passengers can be rest assured their journey will be in a clean and tranquil environment.

Exactly, it would also mean "Frequenta" service 2 wouldn't have enough gas buses, they struggle as it is having a full pvr of gas buses on the 2 these days

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(19 Dec 2018, 9:13 pm)JamesDunkley wrote Exactly, it would also mean "Frequenta" service 2 wouldn't have enough gas buses, they struggle as it is having a full pvr of gas buses on the 2 these days

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The Gas Buses should be debranded from Frequenta 2 as they are always on the X21 with the X21s on the 2. I think it is time we see the Gas Buses repainted into corporate colours.

Extend the 45/44 to Newcastle airport via Horton grange, berwick hall, ponteland & Newcastle airport
Along berwick hall road buses will be hail and ride
From berwick hall road buses will turn right into north road then onto thornhill road where buses will run hail and ride till the first stop or vise versa depending on directions then back onto north road on to cheviot view then to airport.

(26 Dec 2018, 6:53 pm)GNE6312 wrote Extend the 45/44 to Newcastle airport via Horton grange, berwick hall, ponteland & Newcastle airport
Along berwick hall road buses will be hail and ride
From berwick hall road buses will turn right into north road then onto thornhill road where buses will run hail and ride till the first stop or vise versa depending on directions then back onto north road on to cheviot view then to airport.

When Dinnington already has the 42A to the Airport...
Arriva are just fine, but they should bring the 44 back to Morpeth.

And when there's two existing high-frequency links to Newcastle International, along with the 42A, along the 44/45 route!

As for the 44, there's only really a need for a peak time link from Newcastle to Stannington. May be better to reroute the 43 between Nedderton and Morpeth to run via Stannington, or introduce an additional Sapphire X22 service between Newcastle and Bedlington which spurs off to Stannington via Nedderton?

(27 Dec 2018, 12:48 am)omnicity4659 wrote And when there's two existing high-frequency links to Newcastle International, along with the 42A, along the 44/45 route!

As for the 44, there's only really a need for a peak time link from Newcastle to Stannington. May be better to reroute the 43 between Nedderton and Morpeth to run via Stannington, or introduce an additional Sapphire X22 service between Newcastle and Bedlington which spurs off to Stannington via Nedderton?

Stannington to Newcastle would better iff with PCL gonna go and think something up and put it on PCL or glen valley

Never mind bring back Newcastle to morpeth - bring back Hazlerigg to whitley bay!

(27 Dec 2018, 9:28 am)GNE6312 wrote Stannington to Newcastle would better iff with PCL gonna go and think something up and put it on PCL or glen valley

Can't really see PCL coming into Nexus Land as their contracts are off Northumberland County Council.

Summer 2019 will be an exceptionally busy season for family's jetting off on relaxing holidays and sailing off on undiscovered adventures, which is why personally I think for those visiting and from the North East should be able to enjoy themselves as much as possible at the Coastal destinations.

Arriva:
With services as far South as Sunny Scarborough and as far North as Beautiful Berwick (home of Holy Island). The network stretches across beautiful coastlines, glorious countrysides and Iconic Town's and Cities galore.

I propose some new ticket types for the summer to ensure passengers can explore as much as possible...

'Summer Sightseeing Seekers" A new Bus and Rail combined ticket that will get you a day, week or month of unlimited travel across the entire North East Network.
Day - Adult: £15.00 - Child: £10 - Family: £25.
Week - Adult: £55.00 - Child: £30 - Family: £75
Month - Adult: £210.50 - Child: £120 - Family: £300. Fares that are above £50 can only be purchased in a Travel Shop or Train/Bus Station.

(Up to 2 adults and three children)
This ticket will be valid on most Arriva Buses and Cross Country Trains across the North East.
 
(Not Valid on Whitby Park and Ride, Moors/Dales bus, Northern Trains, Grand Central, Transpennie Express, London North Eastern Railway). Only valid on Cross Country Trains in Standard class between Berwick and Darlington.

Cross Coastal Connect services:
X4: Redcar - Whitby
X93: Whitby - Scarborough via Robin Hood's Bay
X18: Amble - Alnwick - Seahouses - Berwick.
306: North Shields - Whitley Bay via Tynemouth.
308: Whitley Bay -  Blyth.

These services will continue to operate to normal routes and times, although will come with guided commentary between the destinations displayed above. The guided commentary will only be annouced on journeys between 10 am and 4 pm.

Some of these services will come with additional capacity, meaning some journeys will be guaranteed a double decker allocation.

With this new proposal I hope that this summer more family's adventure on the Bus and Trains opposed to driving. Not only will this see fewer cars on the road, but more people using these scenic services which come with Free Wi-Fi, Charging Faciltys, Comfortable Seating and much much more...

20
Blyth
Cowpen
Bebside ASDA
A189
Newbiggin
Woodhorn
Lynemouth
Ellington & cresswell
Widdrington station
Widdrington
Red row
Hadston
Amble
Warkworth
Alnmouth village
Almouth railway station
Alnwick

Every hour

Depot: Ashington

Allocation: brand new volvo b5tl wright gemini 3s

Features: NSAs, guided commentry all year long for the full route, E-leather seats, sofas behind the stairs and 2 at the back upstairs all with a complimentary round tabel with at the back (all will curve around the round tabel with a gap to enter them , 4 more tabels at various other areas upstairs, usbs at most seats,  4 3ping plug sockets at each tabel. This will run under the Arriva sapphire brand however with the extra features mentioned.

This service withdraws the 1 beyond Wansbeck hospital with keeping the blyth to widdrington passage.

(11 Jan 2019, 2:42 pm)GNE6312 wrote 20
Blyth
Cowpen
Bebside ASDA
A189
Newbiggin
Woodhorn
Lynemouth
Ellington & cresswell
Widdrington station
Widdrington
Red row
Hadston
Amble
Warkworth
Alnmouth village
Almouth railway station
Alnwick

Every hour

Depot: Ashington

Allocation: brand new volvo b5tl wright gemini 3s

Features: NSAs, guided commentry all year long for the full route, E-leather seats, sofas behind the stairs and 2 at the back upstairs all with a complimentary round tabel with at the back (all will curve around the round tabel with a gap to enter them , 4 more tabels at various other areas upstairs, usbs at most seats,  4 3ping plug sockets at each tabel. This will run under the Arriva sapphire brand however with the extra features mentioned.

This service withdraws the 1 beyond Wansbeck hospital with keeping the blyth to widdrington passage.

Now I don't think we need Year round commentary for this Route. Imagine this; "We are now entering Ashington, home to criminals with regular sightings of arrests taking place, if you look to your left you will witness the unexpected"

I think Next Stop Announcements would be more appropriate as this route is not going to be the most scenic.

Is arriva back on strike from the 27th January for 10 days?.


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(11 Jan 2019, 7:02 pm)cbma06 wrote Is arriva back on strike from the 27th January for 10 days?.


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Looks like it, few papers reporting it: 

https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/1...s-drivers/