(27 Feb 2015, 6:15 pm)Jimmi wrote Not done the 56 yet (keep meaning too) but I have done the 60 I can't really remember what the announcements sounded like but I remember them being alright.

For me it's just the ring the bell... Bit that annoys me on the 21 if they just didn't have that bit I would have no problem with Steve and Karen's announcements.

I will admit that there are flaws with Arriva's announcements too, some of them could do with coming out faster as with the announcements for certain stops you have practically passed the stop by the time it has been announced, some of the stops on the 7 have no announcements and there was no announcements at all on the morning journeys up to Framwellgate Moor.

Although at least with the monotonous Arriva announcements I have found if you do the journey often enough you can tune out the announcements out, some days on the 7 I sometimes think that they aren't even working because I have tuned them out. Some would say that this is a bad thing.

I wouldn't normally advise using the 56 from Sunderland all the way to Newcastle, but I think it'd be great for some members of the forum to do it then hop on an X21/X22 from Newcastle to Ashington to compare. I've been on just about every single route in the North East which has Next Stop Announcements now (perhaps yet to ride one or two of the "Venture" branded services) and I've come to the conclusion that the regional accent makes the announcements so much better. It's a voice that customers are likely to be familiar with, and it's one that isn't robotic and monotonous.

The announcements on all of Go North East's buses new in 2013 are great in my opinion. There's a hiccup on the announcements for "Drifter" service 60, whereby the first announcement out of Park Lane (towards Parkside) is played as the bus is actually entering Park Lane (from Parkside), but other than that, they're spot on.

I believe the 'Please ring the bell and remain seated until the bus has stopped' comes from the "Red Arrows" X1 service. That announcement is tolerable on the X1 because it's a limited stop service, and the announcements don't play all too often anyway. On the "Angel" 21 service, where the bus passes a stop every 30 seconds, I can understand how it would be a little bit irritating. I've certainly done the full 21 route (and onwards to Bishop Auckland on a Sunday X21) on a number of occasions now, and aside from that line being used, there's nothing wrong with the announcements on there either. My biggest gripe about the announcements on the X1 is the gimmick, "The next stop... You guessed it... Herrington Buuurn!" Like I say, as the first bus operator in the region to introduce Next Stop Announcements, you'd expect them to make mistakes and learn from them (which they have!)

At the end of the day, it's all down to personal preference. There's no right and wrong way of doing the announcements, and we can ultimately only give our opinions.