And they've cut one or two journeys from Newcastle between 5 and 7pm.

(28 Jul 2014, 3:06 pm)DaveyBowyer wrote And they've cut one or two journeys from Newcastle between 5 and 7pm.

You've made the timetable up haven't you?

(28 Jul 2014, 3:07 pm)Tom wrote You've made the timetable up haven't you?

No!

http://www.northumberland.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=3972

(28 Jul 2014, 3:08 pm)DaveyBowyer wrote No!

http://www.northumberland.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=3972

Sorry!
That's great news - but what's going to happen with the 310?

(28 Jul 2014, 3:09 pm)Tom wrote Sorry!
That's great news - but what's going to happen with the 310?

The whole running board will probably get 6116 or 6117 allocated unless they're going to chance the B9TL. I know that a good few early morning and early to late evening journeys have been cut. They need to keep the frequency up if they want more custom or alternatively, adopt these tag lines:

- You seen this silver bus in Newcastle when you boarded your green bus!

- We may not be fast on paper but we get you there ON TIME!

- Silver is just smart!

- Our buses may not gan down the "motorway" but we don't take that much longer!

- Don't add more expense to your retail therapy with our Blue zone buzzfare that can be used on our fast TEN!

- Don't pay out of your nose with our fantastic value Cobalt Clipper savers!

(28 Jul 2014, 3:17 pm)DaveyBowyer wrote - You seen this silver bus in Newcastle when you boarded your green bus!

- We may not be fast on paper but we get you there ON TIME!

- Silver is just smart!

- Our buses may not gan down the "motorway" but we don't take that much longer!

- Don't add more expense to your retail therapy with our Blue zone buzzfare that can be used on our fast TEN!

- Don't pay out of your nose with our fantastic value Cobalt Clipper savers!

Anyone ever told you, you should work in advertising?

(28 Jul 2014, 3:17 pm)DaveyBowyer wrote The whole running board will probably get 6116 or 6117 allocated unless they're going to chance the B9TL. I know that a good few early morning and early to late evening journeys have been cut. They need to keep the frequency up if they want more custom or alternatively, adopt these tag lines:

- You seen this silver bus in Newcastle when you boarded your green bus!

- We may not be fast on paper but we get you there ON TIME!

- Silver is just smart!

- Our buses may not gan down the "motorway" but we don't take that much longer!

- Don't add more expense to your retail therapy with our Blue zone buzzfare that can be used on our fast TEN!

- Don't pay out of your nose with our fantastic value Cobalt Clipper savers!

It does say on the timetable "other journeys operate on this route", maybe the 310 is every 15 mins as well, creating a 7/8 minute frequency along the coast road.

(28 Jul 2014, 3:22 pm)nk55 wrote It does say on the timetable "other journeys operate on this route", maybe the 310 is every 15 mins as well, creating a 7/8 minute frequency along the coast road.

Aw right, unless they're just including the journeys on the timetable that include Blyth! My apologies!

(28 Jul 2014, 3:22 pm)nk55 wrote It does say on the timetable "other journeys operate on this route", maybe the 310 is every 15 mins as well, creating a 7/8 minute frequency along the coast road.

The 310 is already every 15 minutes.

How much PVR is going up by 1?

(28 Jul 2014, 3:57 pm)Michael wrote How much PVR is going up by 1?

Two or three.

(28 Jul 2014, 3:59 pm)Tom wrote Two or three.

Well its spares used up then... wonder if we will see a couple more on the orders this year to accommodate it so it still has spares

(28 Jul 2014, 4:01 pm)Michael wrote Well its spares used up then... wonder if we will see a couple more on the orders this year to accommodate it so it still has spares

Yes and they haven't coped well at all without them so far!

(28 Jul 2014, 4:03 pm)Tom wrote Yes and they haven't coped well at all without them so far!

Dan might know,

(28 Jul 2014, 3:20 pm)Drifter60 wrote Anyone ever told you, you should work in advertising?

A marketing genius!

(28 Jul 2014, 12:30 pm)Kuyoyo wrote Given the low bridge along the route - I would assume any improvement to the X7 would be a frequency increase given there's nothing bigger in terms of single deckers available.

Are you on about the Railway Bridge just beyond Ryhope...I always thought a Decker would squeeze under that, I could have sworn I have seen a decker along there...I must be thinking of somewhere else

(28 Jul 2014, 12:44 pm)Dan wrote Already been kicked out of Darlo once - doubt they'd be mad enough to try it again!

I agree with you on this one Dan, GNE got there fingers burnt quite bad on the last venture into mDarlo

Due to the common occurances of the 56 spares operating off route, they could well give Percy Main either due to the reliability of the B9's. They can't use anything from Riverside due to the PVR on the TEN going up by 1. I think the MMC's will be on the cards for the Red Arrows next year to allow the following to happen:

- 6049 to Riverside for TTX freeing 3963.
- 2 spare MMC's for Red Arrows freeing 3943.
- 6050 filling PVR on TEN freeing 3942.
- 6051 on TEN freeing 6071 with Tacho.
- 6071 (T) and 6052 acting as spares for TTX and TEN freeing 3941 and 3964.
- 6053 to 6054 to CLS for Angel with 3962 and 65 staying as spares.
- 6001 to 6007 with 6055 going on the Pronto.
- 6099 to Percy Main joined by 3963 for Cobalt Spares.
- 6100 staying at Deptford joined by 3943 acting as Fab 56 Spares.
- 3942 and 3963 either staying at Riverside for last resort or local use or going to Percy Main for DFDS work or 1 at Riverside and 1 at Crook acting as spare for the Pronto.

(28 Jul 2014, 4:05 pm)Michael wrote Dan might know,

I know nothing...
What I will say, is that I don't think GNE will forfeit those red spares - we've seen that Percy Main cannot cope without them, and seemingly think it's acceptable to allocate single deckers again.

I think it could be a classic case of resources being pumped into part of the network with competition, whilst being drained from parts of the network without.

I'm not particularly familiar with the Cobalt Clipper routes, but when I have seen the 310, it hasn't justified double deckers on a 15 minute frequency. Especially given that there's little to no competition on the 310 route, would it not therefore be sensible to pump the resources being somewhat wasted into another part of the network (ie the 309)? This would give Arriva a run for their money, whilst benefitting pasengers on that route.

(28 Jul 2014, 4:24 pm)Dan wrote I know nothing...
What I will say, is that I don't think GNE will forfeit those red spares - we've seen that Percy Main cannot cope without them, and seemingly think it's acceptable to allocate single deckers again.

I think it could be a classic case of resources being pumped into part of the network with competition, whilst being drained from parts of the network without.

I'm not particularly familiar with the Cobalt Clipper routes, but when I have seen the 310, it hasn't justified double deckers on a 15 minute frequency. Especially given that there's little to no competition on the 310 route, would it not therefore be sensible to pump the resources being somewhat wasted into another part of the network (ie the 309)? This would give Arriva a run for their money, whilst benefitting pasengers on that route.

Completely agree with the point about the 310 as I used it regularly into Shields and it's always empty on the upper deck. Is always heaving on the Coast Road mind.

(28 Jul 2014, 4:19 pm)DaveyBowyer wrote Due to the common occurances of the 56 spares operating off route, they could well give Percy Main either due to the reliability of the B9's. They can't use anything from Riverside due to the PVR on the TEN going up by 1. I think the MMC's will be on the cards for the Red Arrows next year to allow the following to happen:

- 6049 to Riverside for TTX freeing 3963.
- 2 spare MMC's for Red Arrows freeing 3943.
- 6050 filling PVR on TEN freeing 3942.
- 6051 on TEN freeing 6071 with Tacho.
- 6071 (T) and 6052 acting as spares for TTX and TEN freeing 3941 and 3964.
- 6053 to 6054 to CLS for Angel with 3962 and 65 staying as spares.
- 6001 to 6007 with 6055 going on the Pronto.
- 6099 to Percy Main joined by 3963 for Cobalt Spares.
- 6100 staying at Deptford joined by 3943 acting as Fab 56 Spares.
- 3942 and 3963 either staying at Riverside for last resort or local use or going to Percy Main for DFDS work or 1 at Riverside and 1 at Crook acting as spare for the Pronto.

They could use something from Riverside as the PVR increase is 3942. Which is based at Hexham.

(28 Jul 2014, 4:16 pm)marxistafozzski wrote Are you on about the Railway Bridge just beyond Ryhope...I always thought a Decker would squeeze under that, I could have sworn I have seen a decker along there...I must be thinking of somewhere else

Yes - the one marked 14ft 3in, which rules out anything over that height (aka low height), so they would have to go for the low height version of the Gemini 3 bodywork or the low height E400MMC (which is 13ft 10in).

(28 Jul 2014, 4:28 pm)Robert wrote They could use something from Riverside as the PVR increase is 3942. Which is based at Hexham.

The allocation for the vehicles allocated to the TEN is fluid. Vehicles which start off at Riverside can end up at Hexham that evening (which is why I updated our fleet lists to show Riverside/Hexham for the Volvo B9TLs).

3942 is the same, with 3941/63/64 acting as spares for the TEN and TTX. As GNE aim to have one spare vehicle for a PVR of 8, you can see that a vehicle would not be removed from Riverside/Hexham, given that there wouldn't be enough spares between the TTX and TEN.

Crook:
- 8 Volvo B9TL's (6001 to 6007 and 6055) for Pronto
- 1 Volvo B7TL (3943) acting as spare for above

Riverside:
- 6049 (T), 6050 and acting as spare for the TEN / TTX.
- 6071 (T) joining and branded for TTX with Buggy Bay removed.
- 6051 joining TEN and branded for the TEN.
- 6052 joining TEN and branded for the TEN.
- 3963 and 3964 acting as surplus.

CLS:
- 6053 and 6054 joining Angel and branded Angel.
- 3962 and 3965 acting as spare for Angel.

Deptford:
- 6099 and 3941 acting as spare for Fab 56.

Percy Main:
- 6100 and 3942 acting as spare for Cobalts.

Washington:
- 14 + 2 new MMC's for Red Arrows.

(28 Jul 2014, 3:57 pm)Michael wrote How much PVR is going up by 1?

To answer your question Michael, the PVR goes up for 15 to 17 - meaning 2 extra vehicles required.

(28 Jul 2014, 4:26 pm)Tom wrote Completely agree with the point about the 310 as I used it regularly into Shields and it's always empty on the upper deck. Is always heaving on the Coast Road mind.

Of course, the frequency on the Coast Road wouldn't alter greatly - 15 min freq for the 309 and 30 min freq for the 310 works out roughly the same.

Don't know if the PVR would change from 15, mind...

(28 Jul 2014, 5:03 pm)Dan wrote Of course, the frequency on the Coast Road wouldn't alter greatly - 15 min freq for the 309 and 30 min freq for the 310 works out roughly the same.

Don't know if the PVR would change from 15, mind...

Well by the looks of things, the only thing that's changing on the Cobalt Clippers is the frequency between Blyth and Whitley Bay going up otherwise, everything will remain the same and according to the bottom of the NCC timetable with other journeys outside of Northumberland also being operated, they'll be published by GNE and Nexus.

The 310 will continue to operate upto every 15 minutes and despite the fact that the loads aren't warranted for a double deck between North Shields and Battle Hill, it gets a pretty good load between High Farm and Newcastle and remember that the 310 has to run 6 minutes behind the 309 between Cobalt South and Battle Hill due to the fact that it goes via High Farm.

Frequencies from 31/08:

- 309 between Blyth and Newcastle operating every 15 minutes (60 evenings and 30 Sunday daytime) with a PVR of 10 / 11.

- 310 operating between North Shields and Newcastle every 15 minutes (25-35 to Cobalt South during the evenings, 60 to Newcastle during the evenings and 30 during Sunday daytime) with a PVR of 6.

- 309 / 310 operating between Cobalt South and Battle Hill to Newcastle every 6-9 minutes (29-31 evenings and 13-17 during Sunday daytime).

- 309 / 310 operating between Station Road slip road and Newcastle every 7-8 minutes (30 evenings and 15 during Sunday daytime).

(28 Jul 2014, 5:22 pm)DaveyBowyer wrote Well by the looks of things, the only thing that's changing on the Cobalt Clippers is the frequency between Blyth and Whitley Bay going up otherwise, everything will remain the same and according to the bottom of the NCC timetable with other journeys outside of Northumberland also being operated, they'll be published by GNE and Nexus.

The 310 will continue to operate upto every 15 minutes and despite the fact that the loads aren't warranted for a double deck between North Shields and Battle Hill, it gets a pretty good load between High Farm and Newcastle and remember that the 310 has to run 6 minutes behind the 309 between Cobalt South and Battle Hill due to the fact that it goes via High Farm.

Frequencies from 31/08:

- 309 between Blyth and Newcastle operating every 15 minutes (60 evenings and 30 Sunday daytime) with a PVR of 10 / 11.

- 310 operating between North Shields and Newcastle every 15 minutes (25-35 to Cobalt South during the evenings, 60 to Newcastle during the evenings and 30 during Sunday daytime) with a PVR of 6.

- 309 / 310 operating between Cobalt South and Battle Hill to Newcastle every 6-9 minutes (29-31 evenings and 13-17 during Sunday daytime).

- 309 / 310 operating between Station Road slip road and Newcastle every 7-8 minutes (30 evenings and 15 during Sunday daytime).

Has a 310 timetable been published or are we assuming here..?

Or what they could do, is stop having them interworking with the following happening:

- 309 operating with 6102 - 6111 with 6117 as spare.
- 310 operating with 7 new Versa's or Citaros. Plenty of single deck spares available at Percy Main.
- 6101 (T) replacing 3963.
- 6112 and 6113 allowing 6071 (T) to go spare and to replace 3942.
- 6114 and 6115 allowing 3962 and 3965 to actually act as Angel spares.
- 6116 replacing 3941
- 3964 still acting as spare for TEN & TTX.
- 3941, 3942, 3963 would all be spare.

(28 Jul 2014, 5:25 pm)Dan wrote Has a 310 timetable been published or are we assuming here..?

Assuming but I don't think that they'll cut the frequency. When will GNE announce the changes themselves?

(28 Jul 2014, 5:38 pm)DaveyBowyer wrote Assuming but I don't think that they'll cut the frequency. When will GNE announce the changes themselves?

Lately its being 6 weeks before?, i think around that number