(18 Sep 2014, 7:06 pm)AdamY wrote Which areas of Washington don't have a direct service to Sunderland Royal Hospital when the changes to service 8 take effect?

Just Barmston, Picktree and Rickleton, compared to now.

(18 Sep 2014, 7:13 pm)aureolin wrote Just Barmston, Picktree and Rickleton, compared to now.

Granted, there are parts of Washington which don't have a direct service to the Royal Hospital, but I don't think this revision is as drastic as Andreos suggests. Re-routing service 8 will not leave huge swathes of Washington without a link to the Royal Hospital mostly because that link doesn't exist (at least in recent years).

If the revised service 8 is successful then perhaps there's scope to reroute service 73 to create new links from North Washington to the Royal Hospital.

There are also those at Teal Farm who walk/use a 37 to Waterview Park and those from Spout Lane (and the estate just off it) who can use the 8 on the A1231 slip roads.
You also have people in Washington Village, Glebe, JFK Est, Brady Square etc who had the option of an 8 being just a short walk away.

The 8 also provided an alternative to the 78, for those referred to specialists at Sunderland, from other areas within the Chester area (not served by the 78).
This now requires a change of bus and I know of two family members who will be affected by the change.

However, I do appreciate there can't be the level of service which guarantees a bus to anywhere and everywhere.

When mention of the 8 being re-routed was suggested, I did think (and mentioned on here), that a diversion via Pallion would work - maintaining links to the hospital from all areas.
Whether timings were impossible or it wasn't an option - who knows...

(18 Sep 2014, 8:02 pm)Andreos1 wrote There are also those at Teal Farm who walk/use a 37 to Waterview Park and those from Spout Lane (and the estate just off it)  who can use the 8 on the A1231 slip roads.
You also have people in Washington Village, Glebe, JFK Est, Brady Square etc who had the option of an 8 being just a short walk away.

The 8 also provided an alternative to the 78, for those referred to specialists at Sunderland, from other areas within the Chester area (not served by the 78).
This now requires a change of bus and I know of two family members who will be affected by the change.

However, I do appreciate there can't be the level of service which guarantees a bus to anywhere and everywhere.

When mention of the 8 being re-routed was suggested, I did think (and mentioned on here), that a diversion via Pallion would work - maintaining links to the hospital from all areas.
Whether timings were impossible or it wasn't an option - who knows...

I did forget about Glebe and Brady Square if I'm honest. Those in Glebe can still get the 2A from the police station bus link, or a short walk to Biddick. Brady Square can do the same, as the stop for the 2A is just round the corner (on Parkway), from where they would have to walk for the 8. 

I'd say the ones that can walk from the Village or JFK estate for the nearest 8 stop (Fatfield Road) could probably source the energy to change buses, but it does of course result in additional expense, through the removal of ability to purchase a single or return. It always baffled me that the A2B tickets were scrapped years ago...

To be honest, when the changes were announced, I thought that both services 8 and 8A would operate all-day (or at least until 6-ish) with buses alternating between the different routes thus maintaining links to the Royal Hospital - albeit with a reduced frequency.

From the comments on here, I gather that a few services per day will operate as service 8A while the rest operate as service 8.

(18 Sep 2014, 8:16 pm)AdamY wrote To be honest, when the changes were announced, I thought that both services 8 and 8A would operate all-day (or at least until 6-ish) with buses alternating between the different routes thus maintaining links to the Royal Hospital - albeit with a reduced frequency.

From the comments on here, I gather that a few services per day operate as service 8A while the rest operate as service 8.

Only peak times operate as 8A - a few in the morning, one in the evening.

DWP are moving some staff to a new complex on hylton riverside, so the rerouting of the 8 is helping staff in that sense, also chester road has too many buses running down and i'm sure passengers from picktree (zero), rickleton (very few) and barmston (handful) can easily connect at the galleries for the royal.

(18 Sep 2014, 9:07 pm)nk55 wrote DWP are moving some staff to a new complex on hylton riverside, so the rerouting of the 8 is helping staff in that sense, also chester road has too many buses running down and i'm sure passengers from picktree (zero), rickleton (very few) and barmston (handful) can easily connect at the galleries for the royal.

It's a good move, to many buses on chester road 

Why im happy that there are changes being made to service 825:

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/nort...ol-7794623

(19 Sep 2014, 3:26 pm)Robert wrote Why im happy that there are changes being made to service 825:

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/nort...ol-7794623

Glad they are making changes, if the children are holding back by not getting on the first bus then they need to make sure they do.

Maybe have extra driver on each bus to make sure buses aren't over crowded?... even though it might cost extra..

(19 Sep 2014, 3:38 pm)Michael wrote Glad they are making changes, if the children are holding back by not getting on the first bus then they need to make sure they do.

Maybe have extra driver on each bus to make sure buses aren't over crowded?... even though it might cost extra..

Basically, in the 825 case, they withdrew service 830 (Tanfield Lea - School) and extended service 825 from Stanley to Flint Hill. This meant that not only do you have the people from Stanley, South Stanley and South Moor getting on but you also have the people from Flint Hill and Tanfield Lea as well, causing the bus to get busy.

Also what im a bit annoyed with is how the company are getting all the blame passed onto them eventhough its the School that are responsible for making the changes and GNE are only contracted to run them...

(19 Sep 2014, 3:56 pm)Robert wrote Basically, in the 825 case, they withdrew service 830 (Tanfield Lea - School) and extended service 825 from Stanley to Flint Hill. This meant that not only do you have the people from Stanley, South Stanley and South Moor getting on but you also have the people from Flint Hill and Tanfield Lea as well, causing the bus to get busy.

Also what im a bit annoyed with is how the company are getting all the blame passed onto them eventhough its the School that are responsible for making the changes and GNE are only contracted to run them...

What can I say...? It's The Chronicle - they love to portray bus companies in a bad light...  :s

Well the article says the company operate them on a commercial basis? If the buses are that far apart at 7:57am then 8:19am if the earlier one is the X31 no wonder people aren't getting on it if the one twenty minutes later arrives to school in time.

(19 Sep 2014, 3:38 pm)Michael wrote Glad they are making changes, if the children are holding back by not getting on the first bus then they need to make sure they do.

Maybe have extra driver on each bus to make sure buses aren't over crowded?... even though it might cost extra..

Or Alternatively a School Teacher should do a Head Count before allowing the Service to leave the School, therefore ensuring Health and Safety for all Students, Once the first Bus is Full the remaining Students get on the one Behind and so on, Whether the Students pay attention to Health and Safety or not is a totally different matter, don't mean to cause offence here and if I do I Apologize, but I think the Majority of those who choose to Stand, do that so they can talk and remain within there Group of Friends so that they are not Isolated from them, this would then result in seats being empty rather than the Bus in Question being Overcrowded as suggested in the News Article above.

(19 Sep 2014, 4:05 pm)Drifter60 wrote Well the article says the company operate them on a commercial basis? If the buses are that far apart at 7:57am then 8:19am if the earlier one is the X31 no wonder people aren't getting on it if the one twenty minutes later arrives to school in time.

Yeah but whats wrong with the people getting on at Stanley Bus Station from getting on the 828 which, although it comes later than the 825, is scheduled to get to the school at the same time as the 825. The people know about this bus but choose to use the 825 and then wonder why it is becoming so busy.

Also, the services are not commercial and are operated on a contractual basis.

Typical reply: Get the earlier bus, we shouldn't have to get an earlier bus. We had similar problems with Arriva service 7 to Framwellgate Moor on a morning as they stopped running up there all day and left us with two direct buses with the second journey being the one everyone got on as the first journey got there too early and started at Aycliffe Town Centre, then the next 7 terminated at Durham Bus Station so you would have to battle with everyone getting off other buses and the passengers already on the 64 and then the 2nd journey to Fram which all New College students got on because it got there just before they started which is why everyone got this journey and the bus would be full most mornings and people would sometimes be left behind. It took a full year before they reacted and extended the journey that terminated at Durham Bus Station up to Fram. Although Darlington depot saw some sense by allocating a Pulsar to that busy journey after a month.

(19 Sep 2014, 4:05 pm)Drifter60 wrote Well the article says the company operate them on a commercial basis? If the buses are that far apart at 7:57am then 8:19am if the earlier one is the X31 no wonder people aren't getting on it if the one twenty minutes later arrives to school in time.

Yes, I had heard prior to reading the article - that the services were all commercial, rather than contracted/organised by the school or DCC.

Robert may be able to answer this next bit - are the kids allowed into the school on arriving (ie the doors are open from 8am) or are kids told to wait until the bell goes before entering the building?

This may have a bearing on kids wanting to wait in a warm/dry bus station having a bit crack on, rather than hang about at school - bored and under the control of teaching staff.

The ticket data is also an interesting one.
No idea if it still happens, but there were always kids which sneaked onto a bus amongst the queues back in the day.
Appreciate those numbers won't be huge - but there may be discrepancies in ticket data as a result of kids sneaking on.

(19 Sep 2014, 4:55 pm)Andreos1 wrote Yes, I had heard prior to reading the article - that the services were all commercial, rather than contracted/organised by the school or DCC.

Robert may be able to answer this next bit - are the kids allowed into the school on arriving (ie the doors are open from 8am) or are kids told to wait until the bell goes before entering the building?

This may have a bearing on kids wanting to wait in a warm/dry bus station having a bit crack on, rather than hang about at school - bored and under the control of teaching staff.

The ticket data is also an interesting one.
No idea if it still happens, but there were always kids which sneaked onto a bus amongst the queues back in the day.
Appreciate those numbers won't be huge - but there may be discrepancies in ticket data as a result of kids sneaking on.

I think the doors open for students at around 8:15 with the X31 arriving into the school around 3 minutes later at 8:18. And, also, as far as im aware, the services are contracted but this could be confirmed by a employee or somebody that knows a bit about it.

(19 Sep 2014, 4:03 pm)Dan wrote What can I say...? It's The Chronicle - they love to portray bus companies in a bad light...  :s

They usually don't need help in doing so either. Employees above the social media policy do it for them.

Chronicle has been the same for at least the past 10 years. Everything is made to look like a massive issue, and the locals are always made to look like victims. 

Edit: Hadn't realised it had made front page too.

(19 Sep 2014, 6:43 pm)Robert wrote I think the doors open for students at around 8:15 with the X31 arriving into the school around 3 minutes later at 8:18. And, also, as far as im aware, the services are contracted but this could be confirmed by a employee or somebody that knows a bit about it.

Some of Stanley's scholars are partially secured whilst others are fully secured - none are fully commercial as far as I know. As you say, changes will have to be run by the school (or even proposed by the school) and Go North East can't cut and change services willy-nilly.

(19 Sep 2014, 6:52 pm)aureolin wrote They usually don't need help in doing so either. Employees above the social media policy do it for them.

Chronicle has been the same for at least the past 10 years. Everything is made to look like a massive issue, and the locals are always made to look like victims. 

Can't argue with that!

(19 Sep 2014, 3:26 pm)Robert wrote Why im happy that there are changes being made to service 825:

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/nort...ol-7794623

What's strange is I know of that Charlotte Crawford who was mentioned in the article.

And that Mandy Hall in the comments was right, the Chester scholars are outrageous!

I could right an essay on how bad they are!

(19 Sep 2014, 8:07 pm)Marcus wrote What's strange is I know of that Charlotte Crawford who was mentioned in the article.

And that Mandy Hall in the comments was right, the Chester scholars are outrageous!

I could right an essay on how bad they are!

Aye, i know her too (obviously since i do get on the same bus as her). She also took the photo and its a shame as i could have had my chance to get into a newspaper (although my face would be pixalated)

(On Fleet News) "the changes to National Express work as detailed here". Where?

(22 Sep 2014, 6:02 pm)Roland Pratt wrote (On Fleet News) "the changes to National Express work as detailed here". Where?

http://northeastbuses.co.uk/forum/attach...p?aid=5880

(22 Sep 2014, 6:03 pm)Dan wrote http://northeastbuses.co.uk/forum/attach...p?aid=5880

Thanks.

Timetables for the changes on the 2.11.14 now have the current style..

8/8A/78/78A are styled as Lime.

---

On VOSA today:

PB0003954/255 - GO NORTH EAST LIMITED, 117 QUEEN STREET, GATESHEAD, NE8 2UA

Variation Accepted by SN: Operating between Newbiggin Hall Est and Walbottle Campus given service number 132/141/142 effective from 29-Sep-2014. To amend Route and Timetable.

(25 Sep 2014, 8:29 am)Michael wrote Timetables for the changes on the 2.11.14 now have the current style..

8/8A/78/78A are styled as Lime.

Of course, it must be said that there are still 3 'Lime' branded vehicles left in service. The service isnt totally 'unbranded' yet so i dont think Go North East would want to advertise a service that is branded as unbranded. The same thing happened with the Street Shuttle over in Washington. The timetables were updated and then not long later the brand was withdrawn. If GNE also say that the buses are to be green (you posted a fb message a few weeks ago which 'kind of confirms' it) then would it make a difference? Of course, just because the new buses are meant to be (cant say confirmed just yet imo) green doesnt mean that they will be branded 'Lime'.

The 78/8/78A/8A are still lime branded services. In the same way the 61 was a Drifter branded services until of the official change to simplicity brand, which occurred in November. Even though Simplicity vehicles had been operating on the service since June.

The 78/8/78A/8A are still Lime Branded until a new brand is introduced, in the same way that the M1 was still a MetroLink branded services, even though, the vehicles had been repainted.

(26 Sep 2014, 5:10 pm)Drifter60 wrote The 78/8/78A/8A are still lime branded services. In the same way the 61 was a Drifter branded services until of the official change to simplicity brand, which occurred in November. Even though Simplicity vehicles had been operating on the service since June.

The 78/8/78A/8A are still Lime Branded until a new brand is introduced, in the same way that the M1 was still a MetroLink branded services, even though, the vehicles had been repainted.

Wouldnt say i agree with you there in my opinion. If there are no buses branded for the services then the brand doesnt exist and therefore the services are classed as 'unbranded' routes.