(27 Oct 2019, 10:00 pm)Andreos1 wrote

Any idea what livery they're gonna stick it in?

Hmm " alt="" title="">

 

I wish the group luck!

As much as I dislike them, I'm sure even I could control my bitterness towards those purple Solars.

Not sure that I'd chuck around such crass comments like that, after someone has decided to spend their hard earned cash preserving one.

Early morning starts on a cold purple Solar before a climb up the hill to the station, long days and the inevitable wait after one doesn't turn up - after rolling down the hill from the station (and then when one turns up - getting my eyes taken out for the privilege), spotting many a spare, those wing mirror issues of yore, packed like sardines (but it not being the main money maker at Deptford - apparently), parked up on the path at Houghton Broadway - spewing coolant (but never broken down - apparently)...

Them were the days.

Those Kia Picanto Solo's are pretty tame (just more expensive and less frequent) in comparison.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dwbphotos/15954775559

It’s going to be restored into this livery


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(27 Oct 2019, 8:31 pm)Dan wrote

No chance of 4949 or 4966 being preserved - the former's gearbox is goosed, the latter has long since been stripped for spare parts. One way trip to the scrap yard.

That's a damn shame about 4966, probably the best Scania we had (which is presumably why all its prime parts were looted).

4949 on the other hand was appalling and deserves its fate.

(27 Oct 2019, 8:31 pm)Dan wrote

No chance of 4949 or 4966 being preserved - the former's gearbox is goosed, the latter has long since been stripped for spare parts. One way trip to the scrap yard.

Damn. 4949 was such a phoenix from the ashes, too.

718 parked up with Engineer at the wheel on Holmeside in Sunderland

Noticed 4938, 4941, 4947 and 4948 are missing from latest fleet list assume they have been scrapped by Alpha now?

I think 4944 is now withdrawn as hasn’t tracked for good few days too.

Go North East Green Arrow 5493 / NK69 FBE by kieron mathews, on Flickr

Entered service today

(28 Oct 2019, 8:42 am)R838PRG wrote

Noticed 4938, 4941, 4947 and 4948 are missing from latest fleet list assume they have been scrapped by Alpha now?

I think 4944 is now withdrawn as hasn’t tracked for good few days too.

4941 is now a training bus. It's parked at Ferguson's in Cramlington

Sounds like it's been acquired by Phoenix to replace their Volvo B10M trainer. They usually park buses at Fergusons.

(28 Oct 2019, 9:27 pm)Rapidsnap wrote Sounds like it's been acquired by Phoenix to replace their Volvo B10M trainer. They usually park buses at Fergusons.

Its weirdly in GNE training livery

I finally got bored enough to actually read the vinyls on the X21, and I noticed it says "Discover Durham... where a towering cathedral and ancient castle stand high above a tight coil of the River Wear above a city of charm and interest"

I'm not usually one to complain about inconsequential things, but I'm fairly certain the Wear does not 'coil' since it's not a 'a spiral shape or a series of circles, each one inside another'

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(29 Oct 2019, 11:32 am)streetdeckfan wrote I finally got bored enough to actually read the vinyls on the X21, and I noticed it says "Discover Durham... where a towering cathedral and ancient castle stand high above a tight coil of the River Wear above a city of charm and interest"

I'm not usually one to complain about inconsequential things, but I'm fairly certain the Wear does not 'coil' since it's not a 'a spiral shape or a series of circles, each one inside another'

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Perhaps meaning it coils round the cathedral, better than saying it bends

(29 Oct 2019, 12:07 pm)JP6004 wrote

Perhaps meaning it coils round the cathedral, better than saying it bends

I would have used the term meanders, which is what it actually does

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(29 Oct 2019, 12:11 pm)streetdeckfan wrote I would have used the term meanders, which is what it actually does

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Not one to complain about inconsequential things, though. " alt="" title="">

There's a difference between a piece of marketing and an A level Geography essay, though, not least in terms of audience. I'm pretty sure most readers would know what was meant, even though you'd acquire a lot of red ink if you handed that to a geography teacher...

(29 Oct 2019, 11:32 am)streetdeckfan wrote I finally got bored enough to actually read the vinyls on the X21, and I noticed it says "Discover Durham... where a towering cathedral and ancient castle stand high above a tight coil of the River Wear above a city of charm and interest"

I'm not usually one to complain about inconsequential things, but I'm fairly certain the Wear does not 'coil' since it's not a 'a spiral shape or a series of circles, each one inside another'

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Oh, give it a rest.

You'll all be pleased to know GNE have changed the stops/terminus points on the app to be a bit clearer such as stating which Bus Station the terminus is on some routes, Stanley Bus Station, Durham Bus Station etc and all southbound X21s should now track

(29 Oct 2019, 3:38 pm)Jimmi wrote You'll all be pleased to know GNE have changed the stops/terminus points on the app to be a bit clearer such as stating which Bus Station the terminus is on some routes, Stanley Bus Station, Durham Bus Station etc and all southbound X21s should now track

Seems strange they're fixing all the issues on the old app when the new app is on its way soon. We've gone without southbound X21 tracking for 6 months now, a few more isn't going to make much difference!

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(29 Oct 2019, 4:00 pm)streetdeckfan wrote Seems strange they're fixing all the issues on the old app when the new app is on its way soon. We've gone without southbound X21 tracking for 6 months now, a few more isn't going to make much difference!

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I'll remind you of that when a comment is made about the lack of announcements on the X21.

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(29 Oct 2019, 4:13 pm)Dan wrote I'll remind you of that when a comment is made about the lack of announcements on the X21.

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I've actually got rather used to not having them now, but since you brought it up...

Is there any word of when we're getting the next stop announcements back on the X21?

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(29 Oct 2019, 11:32 am)streetdeckfan wrote I finally got bored enough to actually read the vinyls on the X21, and I noticed it says "Discover Durham... where a towering cathedral and ancient castle stand high above a tight coil of the River Wear above a city of charm and interest"

I'm not usually one to complain about inconsequential things, but I'm fairly certain the Wear does not 'coil' since it's not a 'a spiral shape or a series of circles, each one inside another'

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Oh how your life must be a living hell!  It seems GNE disappoints you in many ways, don't like the buses, don't like the livery, don't like this, don't like that.  Oh dear!

(29 Oct 2019, 4:00 pm)streetdeckfan wrote Seems strange they're fixing all the issues on the old app when the new app is on its way soon. We've gone without southbound X21 tracking for 6 months now, a few more isn't going to make much difference!

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Newcastle bound 26s now track on app, only taken them since the service's inception almost 2 years ago to sort it...

When GNE terminate services at Gateshead Interchange, would a Return ticket be valid between Newcastle and Gateshead? A bit daft terminating services at the wrong place!

(29 Oct 2019, 8:24 pm)gordondack wrote

Oh how your life must be a living hell!  It seems GNE disappoints you in many ways, don't like the buses, don't like the livery, don't like this, don't like that.  Oh dear!

You're right there, GNE does disappoint me, not because I don't like what they do, but because I know they could do it so much better!

I don't not like the Xlines livery, in fact I do very much like it, I just think it's so generic, if I didn't know anything, I'd think it was just an updated Stagecoach Gold livery! One of the things GNE is known for is that their 'brightly coloured buses are almost as recognisable as the iconic landmarks they visit', but they're not anymore.

To me it seems like a lot of the time they have great ideas, but then execute them so poorly.

Take the recent changes to the under 19 tickets, why didn't they work with colleges to accept student ID as proof of age before the changes rather than wait for all the complaints to come in and only then do something about it?

If they had actually bothered to take notice of the market research they would have known that nobody wants to carry around their passport just to get a reduced fare.

Why did they remove the ability to get young person tickets on The Key? The only reason I can think of is because it means they don't have to pay someone to check people are entitled to the ticket, why hire someone else when a driver could just do it. But the downside of that is it makes it way less convenient for people to travel by bus, buses spend more time stopped because the driver has to check everyone's ID, and people have to rely on GNE's app for monthly tickets, and as I've said many times, GNE's app is about as reliable as that Metrocity EV!

Sorry to bring this up again, but there's the NSAs on the X21. Why weren't the new announcements ready for the launch of the new route? There were already announcements for both the X21 and 18, so they would have only had to record I think 9 new stop names as well as the new route name (and program it all in). This could all have been done well in advance of the launch of the new route, but 6 months later we're still without them!

In all honesty, I don't really care that the NSAs on the X21s aren't working, I know the route so it doesn't affect me in the slightest, but when it's in the timetables and in massive writing on the bus that it's a 'talking bus', passengers will get on board expecting the bus to actually talk.

I'm no legal expert, but to me that is a grade A case of false advertising, and that's why I get so frustrated by it!

(29 Oct 2019, 9:21 pm)OrangeArrow49 wrote When GNE terminate services at Gateshead Interchange, would a Return ticket be valid between Newcastle and Gateshead? A bit daft terminating services at the wrong place!

If you mean terminating early so the bus can turn around to make time. You’d just tell a driver of another bus in Gateshead that you’ve been kicked off and told to get on this one.

(29 Oct 2019, 9:45 pm)deanmachine wrote

If you mean terminating early so the bus can turn around to make time. You’d just tell a driver of another bus in Gateshead that you’ve been kicked off and told to get on this one.

When there are delays, sometimes GNE post on Twitter for passengers to get a bus to Gateshead Interchanges then change buses, or passengers in Gateshead change buses towards Newcastle. I wasn't sure if a Return would be valid (I get a day ticker anyway, but just wanted to find out the answer!).

(29 Oct 2019, 9:43 pm)streetdeckfan wrote

You're right there, GNE does disappoint me, not because I don't like what they do, but because I know they could do it so much better!

I don't not like the Xlines livery, in fact I do very much like it, I just think it's so generic, if I didn't know anything, I'd think it was just an updated Stagecoach Gold livery! One of the things GNE is known for is that their 'brightly coloured buses are almost as recognisable as the iconic landmarks they visit', but they're not anymore.

To me it seems like a lot of the time they have great ideas, but then execute them so poorly.

Take the recent changes to the under 19 tickets, why didn't they work with colleges to accept student ID as proof of age before the changes rather than wait for all the complaints to come in and only then do something about it?

If they had actually bothered to take notice of the market research they would have known that nobody wants to carry around their passport just to get a reduced fare.

Why did they remove the ability to get young person tickets on The Key? The only reason I can think of is because it means they don't have to pay someone to check people are entitled to the ticket, why hire someone else when a driver could just do it. But the downside of that is it makes it way less convenient for people to travel by bus, buses spend more time stopped because the driver has to check everyone's ID, and people have to rely on GNE's app for monthly tickets, and as I've said many times, GNE's app is about as reliable as that Metrocity EV!

Sorry to bring this up again, but there's the NSAs on the X21. Why weren't the new announcements ready for the launch of the new route? There were already announcements for both the X21 and 18, so they would have only had to record I think 9 new stop names as well as the new route name (and program it all in). This could all have been done well in advance of the launch of the new route, but 6 months later we're still without them!

In all honesty, I don't really care that the NSAs on the X21s aren't working, I know the route so it doesn't affect me in the slightest, but when it's in the timetables and in massive writing on the bus that it's a 'talking bus', passengers will get on board expecting the bus to actually talk.

I'm no legal expert, but to me that is a grade A case of false advertising, and that's why I get so frustrated by it!

Instead of complaining about GNE, why not complain about Arriva who also operate in Bishop Auckland (where you say you travel from) and quite clearly offer a worse service in terms of investment & punctuality...

Also take your complaints to HQ instead of complain on here

(29 Oct 2019, 10:01 pm)S830OFT wrote

Instead of complaining about GNE, why not complain about Arriva who also operate in Bishop Auckland (where you say you travel from) and quite clearly offer a worse service in terms of investment & punctuality...

Also take your complaints to HQ instead of complain on here

I do complain a lot about Arriva, in fact I think I probably complain the same amount, if not more, about Arriva as I do GNE. This isn't the first time I have brought up any of these (usually there is some context), I just happened to condense a few of my complaints into one post to demonstrate the point I was trying to make.

It's not that they are making bad decisions,

I just think that if GNE put more effort into planning then everything they do would turn out much better. It seems to me like they are launching things before they're ready, or even fully thought through! The reason my complaints sound so petty is because quite honestly GNE don't really do that much to annoy me, but the things they do wrong are things that could have so easily been avoided!

(29 Oct 2019, 9:45 pm)deanmachine wrote

If you mean terminating early so the bus can turn around to make time. You’d just tell a driver of another bus in Gateshead that you’ve been kicked off and told to get on this one.

I think the issue is occasions like last week when 56s were terminating in gateshead and passengers needed to catch a different service in Newcastle to find their 56 home, in gateshead.

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(29 Oct 2019, 10:30 pm)streetdeckfan wrote

I do complain a lot about Arriva, in fact I think I probably complain the same amount, if not more, about Arriva as I do GNE. This isn't the first time I have brought up any of these (usually there is some context), I just happened to condense a few of my complaints into one post to demonstrate the point I was trying to make.

It's not that they are making bad decisions,

I just think that if GNE put more effort into planning then everything they do would turn out much better. It seems to me like they are launching things before they're ready, or even fully thought through! The reason my complaints sound so petty is because quite honestly GNE don't really do that much to annoy me, but the things they do wrong are things that could have so easily been avoided!

GNE did not plan for wrightbus to go belly up.

(29 Oct 2019, 9:52 pm)OrangeArrow49 wrote

When there are delays, sometimes GNE post on Twitter for passengers to get a bus to Gateshead Interchanges then change buses, or passengers in Gateshead change buses towards Newcastle. I wasn't sure if a Return would be valid (I get a day ticker anyway, but just wanted to find out the answer!).

I would imagine a message would be laid over the radio to drivers advising them about service 56 being curtailed at Gateshead if it's multiple trips to allow 56 passengers to travel through to/from Newcastle, think I've seen 56 drivers wait for the first available bus to pull in and transfer the passengers if it's just a one particularly late running trip.

Newcastle end is the confusing bit, how are passengers meant to know 56's are not picking them up there? Not everyone has or looks at Facebook/Twitter when waiting for the bus and no real other way to find out this is happening unless you get a good driver advise 56 passengers about it maybe?

Do we know when the E400s will be in service yet?

I'm just itching to find out if they're any better than Arriva's (which honestly isn't that difficult). And I also can't wait to forget about the low ceiling upstairs and knock myself out on the top step like I do every time I get on one!