Until you reach the evening when only Durham to Middlesbrough run and the timetable is set-up for Durham operation. Not to mention requiring two registrations on VOSA to cover the two op licenses...................

What's to stop Durham operating evening runs? Saltmeadows (now Riverside) operate evening runs on the 85/86 in Washington, instead of the Washington depot. Belmont ANE depot operate the evening 82/83 in Washington, as oppose to the Washington GNE depot. Plenty of Pulsars sitting in the depot on an evening.

It it was considered, and proven to be operationally more efficient, then I guess two registrations would be the least of their worries... hardly think it's a deal breaker anyway? 

What's to stop Durham operating evening runs? Saltmeadows (now Riverside) operate evening runs on the 85/86 in Washington, instead of the Washington depot. Belmont ANE depot operate the evening 82/83 in Washington, as oppose to the Washington GNE depot. Plenty of Pulsars sitting in the depot on an evening.

It it was considered, and proven to be operationally more efficient, then I guess two registrations would be the least of their worries... hardly think it's a deal breaker anyway? 

I think there would be more of an issue with sending drivers on higher pay rates into territory where everyone else is on significantly less. I know it happens from time to time with loans etc but to do it scheduled, every day, would probably cause unions to kick up a fuss etc. I know I wouldn't be happy working on a route alongside Jesmond who were getting paid £2-£3 more than me to do the same work

I think there would be more of an issue with sending drivers on higher pay rates into territory where everyone else is on significantly less. I know it happens from time to time with loans etc but to do it scheduled, every day, would probably cause unions to kick up a fuss etc. I know I wouldn't be happy working on a route alongside Jesmond who were getting paid £2-£3 more than me to do the same work

Is there a significant difference in pay like? How is this fair, within the same company?

Is there a significant difference in pay like? How is this fair, within the same company?

Two separate companies, legally - Arriva Durham County and Arriva Northumbria

Two separate companies, legally - Arriva Durham County and Arriva Northumbria

Really doesn't seem fair in the slightest, why should people in one area get paid more than those in another, when doing the same job and separated by pretty much only a river. In which area is the pay higher?

Really doesn't seem fair in the slightest, why should people in one area get paid more than those in another, when doing the same job and separated by pretty much only a river. In which area is the pay higher?

Happens all over, you even have different pay rates in a depot let alone different companies.

I know a driver who lives in Blyth, yet he works at Ashington because he gets paid more.

But then I live opposite a Blyth driver.... who lives in... you guessed it... Ashington!

Strange that.

Aye... good luck with that one.

I was thinking about this earlier today, and I reckon it would probably make more sense for Jesmond to have the Durham boards. It'd give Arriva the flexibility of dropping a bus in, and pulling a late one out, should this happen at either end of the route. 

How would this affect the boards which start from Coxhoe on a morning and Chester-le-Street - a lot more dead running to allow Jesmond to operate it, not to mention the dead running back on an evening.  You could argue that they could extend the X2 to run earlier, but rather than making drastic changes like that, surely it would make sense just to add an extra 5 mins running time in and maybe some recovery time at each terminus?

Happens all over, you even have different pay rates in a depot let alone different companies.

Do drivers at the different depots know this, and what is it down to? Profit of the individual depots or?

I wouldn't be very happy if I was getting paid less than someone at a depot 5 minutes down the road, if they were doing exactly the same job.

I think there would be more of an issue with sending drivers on higher pay rates into territory where everyone else is on significantly less. I know it happens from time to time with loans etc but to do it scheduled, every day, would probably cause unions to kick up a fuss etc. I know I wouldn't be happy working on a route alongside Jesmond who were getting paid £2-£3 more than me to do the same work

Hadn't realised that was the case, and I'm surprised the unions are letting it go at present. Essentially the same dispute that's going on in London isn't it, and Unite are fighting that one.

How would this affect the boards which start from Coxhoe on a morning and Chester-le-Street - a lot more dead running to allow Jesmond to operate it, not to mention the dead running back on an evening.  You could argue that they could extend the X2 to run earlier, but rather than making drastic changes like that, surely it would make sense just to add an extra 5 mins running time in and maybe some recovery time at each terminus?

Extra running time and another bus or two would probably do the trick.

Do drivers at the different depots know this, and what is it down to? Profit of the individual depots or?

I wouldn't be very happy if I was getting paid less than someone at a depot 5 minutes down the road, if they were doing exactly the same job.

Yeah at least within Durham County I think we're all on the same pay across the 5 depots - but there are different pay scales depending on what job you do or how long you have been with the company. Unsurprisingly always a hot topic for discussion between drivers!

Happens in all companies though, interested to know what's happened with the Consett drivers now working from Stanley at GNE, assume it's been kept as a low cost unit within the depot like Saltmeadows moving to Riverside is?

Do drivers at the different depots know this, and what is it down to? Profit of the individual depots or?

I wouldn't be very happy if I was getting paid less than someone at a depot 5 minutes down the road, if they were doing exactly the same job.

I'm assuming it's in reference to 'low cost units'. The low cost being pay the staff less than their colleagues, in order to make a profit from public tenders. It's not right, and it should never happen anywhere that pay scales are in operation. I'm not denying that it does happen, and that it happens elsewhere too, but that's ultimately up to the workers. 

I know of unionised companies split into as many as 5 legal entities, and everyone is on the same set of pay scales. Regardless of what work they're allocated to.

I feel the need to scrap the 34.

Sometimes the route isn't worth a Smart car being allocated to it.

You can't compare with the X84/85 anyway, given they morphed from a couple of pre-existing services ie the 684 and 687. They've been massively successful yes but, in the case of the X84 in particular, much of its custom base (being the longer of the expresses) are simply people who used the 684 anyway. Certainly in my experience, that's the busier of the two routes in any case.

GNE have no such services to morph into competitors for the X2/12 and therefore brings with it greater risk!

Really doesn't seem fair in the slightest, why should people in one area get paid more than those in another, when doing the same job and separated by pretty much only a river. In which area is the pay higher?

There was legislation set up, to ensure male and female workers (employed by the same organisation), were paid equally.

Unfortunately, nowt to ensure employees in one division obtain the same levels of pay as their colleagues down the road.

But if someone was to complain to someone higher up than the powers that be at Arriva, they'd have to make changes anyway if reliability was as poor as reported by a customer due to the timetable being neither "realistic" nor "achievable".................

I think Arriva are aware of the situation but do not want to alter things that reflect on profit.The Darlington X1 which is in terms a new service has timing issues but just soldiers on as there is nothing that can be realistically done with a tight timetable. Makes us wonder why VOSA do not push for action

Another day, and guess what? More X12/X2 punctuality issues...

0740 X12 departure from Durham - 10 late into Stockton
0741 X2 departure from Durham - 9 late into Newcastle

In the interests of fairness, both the 0811 X2 departure from Durham, and the 0820 X2 departure from Newcastle, are both running to timetable.

1305 X12 from Middlesbrough Bus Station arrived around 10 minutes late and left around 10 minutes late too.
7440 was on this journey.

Anybody who will be waiting for the 1825 x21 from Sunderland to peterlee/Darlington this journey is currently running approximately 20 mins late, this is due to the driver been unable to see out of nearside mirror

1305 X12 from Middlesbrough Bus Station arrived around 10 minutes late and left around 10 minutes late too.
7440 was on this journey.

http://www.arrivabus.co.uk/journeyplanne...pl=livemap

The 1715 X12 is running in front of the 17 mins late 1700 at the moment  Just passing through Bowburn.

A couple are late:

Bus X2 16:51 Durham Bus Station to Newcastle Upon Tyne Eldon Square + 7
Bus X2 16:55 Newcastle Upon Tyne Eldon Square to Durham Bus Station + 9

A couple are late:

Bus X2 16:51 Durham Bus Station to Newcastle Upon Tyne Eldon Square + 7
Bus X2 16:55 Newcastle Upon Tyne Eldon Square to Durham Bus Station + 9

More than a couple:

0740 X12 - Durham to Boro - 9L by the time it reached Stockton
0741 X2 - Durham to Newcastle - 9L by the time it reached Newcastle
0815 X12 - Durham to Boro - 9L by the time it reached Stockton
0841 X2 - Durham to Newcastle - 12L by the time it reached Birtley
0845 X12 - Durham to Boro - 9L by the time it reached Coxhoe
1020 X2 - Newcastle to Durham - 8L by the time it reached Chester Moor
1021 X2 - Durham to Newcastle - 13L by the time it reached Harlow Green
1050 X12 - Durham to Boro - 9L by the time it reached Coxhoe
1051 X2 - Durham to Newcastle - 7L by the time it reached Pity Me
1120 X2 - Newcastle to Durham - 10L by the time it reached Chester Moor
1121 X2 - Durham to Newcastle - 8L by the time it reached Low Fell
1220 X12 - Durham to Boro - 17L by the time it reached Stockton
1250 X12 - Durham to Boro - 12L by the time it reached Sedgefield
1450 X2 - Newcastle to Durham - 10L by the time it reached Chester Moor
1451 X2 - Durham to Newcastle - 20L by the time it reached Harlow Green
1525 X12 - Durham to Boro - 9L by the time it reached Shincliffe
1630 X12 - Durham to Boro - 9L by the time it reached Stockton
1640 X12 - Boro to Durham - 12L by the time it reached Sedgefield
1700 X12 - Durham to Boro - 17L by the time it reached Coxhoe

That's pretty shocking like.

More than a couple:

0740 X12 - Durham to Boro - 9L by the time it reached Stockton
0741 X2 - Durham to Newcastle - 9L by the time it reached Newcastle
0815 X12 - Durham to Boro - 9L by the time it reached Stockton
0841 X2 - Durham to Newcastle - 12L by the time it reached Birtley
0845 X12 - Durham to Boro - 9L by the time it reached Coxhoe
1020 X2 - Newcastle to Durham - 8L by the time it reached Chester Moor
1021 X2 - Durham to Newcastle - 13L by the time it reached Harlow Green
1050 X12 - Durham to Boro - 9L by the time it reached Coxhoe
1051 X2 - Durham to Newcastle - 7L by the time it reached Pity Me
1120 X2 - Newcastle to Durham - 10L by the time it reached Chester Moor
1121 X2 - Durham to Newcastle - 8L by the time it reached Low Fell
1220 X12 - Durham to Boro - 17L by the time it reached Stockton
1250 X12 - Durham to Boro - 12L by the time it reached Sedgefield
1450 X2 - Newcastle to Durham - 10L by the time it reached Chester Moor
1451 X2 - Durham to Newcastle - 20L by the time it reached Harlow Green
1525 X12 - Durham to Boro - 9L by the time it reached Shincliffe
1630 X12 - Durham to Boro - 9L by the time it reached Stockton
1640 X12 - Boro to Durham - 12L by the time it reached Sedgefield
1700 X12 - Durham to Boro - 17L by the time it reached Coxhoe

And that is with no issues with the running times 

And that is with no issues with the running times 

Couple of days of this, and Arriva will get a massive email with well over 100 examples on it. They did ask for specific examples though... 

Howay then folks, top ten unreliable Arriva services in the North East. Can include bands as one route  (i.e X21 /X22 or 57/57a or even 43/44/45). If two duplicate route numbers across North East network exist, state either NOR for Northumbria (i.e X21NOR) or DCO for Durham County (i.e X21DCO).

Howay then folks, top ten unreliable Arriva services in the North East. Can include bands as one route  (i.e X21 /X22 or 57/57a or even 43/44/45). If two duplicate route numbers across North East network exist, state either NOR for Northumbria (i.e X21NOR) or DCO for Durham County (i.e X21DCO).

I'd take a guess as this for Northumbria (don't see much south of the Tyne) 
308
X18 (in winter, due to the routes nature)
X21/22 -never seems to be on time
57/a -again, never seems to be on time 

Howay then folks, top ten unreliable Arriva services in the North East. Can include bands as one route  (i.e X21 /X22 or 57/57a or even 43/44/45). If two duplicate route numbers across North East network exist, state either NOR for Northumbria (i.e X21NOR) or DCO for Durham County (i.e X21DCO).

- X2/X12
- 308
- X18
- 1/1B/5/5A 

- X2/X12
- 308
- X18
- 1/1B/5/5A 

Given I'm a regular user of 1/1B, personally I find they are always on time.

Given I'm a regular user of 1/1B, personally I find they are always on time.

Since it started to interwork with 5/5a there is catch up time at Bishop and likewise on the journey out to Darlo College which was a graet improvement on when it was a stand alone service however it took several atempts by planning to come up with this solution. However it is planned to stop going to the College so we will have to see what happens them The X1 does not have any catch up time and often ends up nearly on the service 1 departure slot