(27 Feb 2015, 5:58 pm)Dan wrote We've done this so many times now.
You need to get yourself on the full 56 from Sunderland to Newcastle... Far more tolerable than an hour and a bit on an Arriva service with monotonous announcements - even at 5am in the morning (I've done it many times now!)
The ones on the 56 sound professional and retain the regional accent. How it should be done, in my opinion. None of the gimmicks, none of the repetitiveness...
Most judge the announcements based on the very first buses to get them in the entirety of the North East. Of course Go North East was going to make mistakes and learn from them...
Here here, I don't fully understand why the next-stop announcements on the 21 specifically seems to get so much hate from people who have used the service a handful of times. Like I've said before, I've rode those Hybrids hundreds of times on commutes to school and for leisure, and not once complained. I actually find the mix of two voices very nice, and the fact that they are local north-eastern people who both have an evident accent.
It's like with Lolynes, as an example. People ride them once or two and think they're damp, smelly and slow. I used to get them regularly on scholars and eventually found they provided very nice rides...it all comes down to stereotyping, in one form or another!