Due to a national driver shortage, reflecting labour shortages now being seen in many sectors across the country, and a short-term increase in sickness absence, we are making some temporary changes to a small number of our high-frequency services from Saturday 25 September.


https://www.gonortheast.co.uk/temporary-...-september

We now know the reason the X11 TT and B1 are being cancelled. Ah well nowt can be done.

Hopefully things pick up in a few months

(20 Sep 2021, 1:01 pm)Train8261 wrote We now know the reason the X11 TT and B1 are being cancelled. Ah well nowt can be done.

Hopefully things pick up in a few months

I can see the X11 returning next summer - could even start in Spring, hopefully next time, its planned better - having a hot spare at Washington for example - maybe even a extra run.........


I would do two runs each way:

Leave for Scarborough at: 7:30am and 8:30am

Leave for Newcastle at: 17:45pm and 18:45pm

Above is an example ^

Could they have spaced the buses out a bit more heading towards Lambton & Ayton from The Galleries. It was also a problem before the changes as well. Depending on time of day and/or delays you could have the 82, 84 & 50 all leave directly one after another.

(20 Sep 2021, 12:46 pm)Michael wrote Due to a national driver shortage, reflecting labour shortages now being seen in many sectors across the country, and a short-term increase in sickness absence, we are making some temporary changes to a small number of our high-frequency services from Saturday 25 September.


https://www.gonortheast.co.uk/temporary-...-september

I'd have thought they could still run those special services on key dates in the lead up to Christmas mind.
Thinking goth weekend and Whitby as an example.
License to print money, with goths, steampunks and whatever else people identify as - coming from all four corners of the UK. Including (I assume), Tyneside.

(20 Sep 2021, 1:49 pm)ASX_Terranova wrote Could they have spaced the buses out a bit more heading towards Lambton & Ayton from The Galleries. It was also a problem before the changes as well. Depending on time of day and/or delays you could have the 82, 84 & 50 all leave directly one after another.

There's so much more that could be done on a number of routes. Not just those ones. 

Appreciate there is a bigger picture to look at re headway through Lambton with the 2/2a and then the likes of the 78 on Chester Road, but utilising the resource better could not only save money, it could make money too!

Nowt to do with sickness absence. The race to the bottom in wages has finally come back to bite them on the arse and existing staff are leaving for pastures new, just like at Arriva who are having to pay agency drivers £16 an hour to try and plug the gaps......

(21 Sep 2021, 1:11 am)Driver9*** wrote Nowt to do with sickness absence. The race to the bottom in wages has finally come back to bite them on the arse and existing staff are leaving for pastures new, just like at Arriva who are having to pay agency drivers £16 an hour to try and plug the gaps......

It’s entirely to do with sickness absence - Go North East aren’t actually that short of drivers on paper, but high sickness levels are resulting in the current disruption.

The reasons for that sickness is what you could argue may be driven by some staff needlessly being off sick, but that’s by no means everyone.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The off-peak running time has remained the same between Chester and Newcastle but the frequency reduced. I hope that doesn't affect reliability with more people boarding fewer buses per hour

(21 Sep 2021, 6:27 am)DeltaMan wrote The off-peak running time has remained the same between Chester and Newcastle but the frequency reduced. I hope that doesn't affect reliability with more people boarding fewer buses per hour

Providing that all these 21s actually run, in the current climate this is probably an increase in the number of buses running per hour...

(21 Sep 2021, 6:30 am)Dan wrote Providing that all these 21s actually run, in the current climate this is probably an increase in the number of buses running per hour...

Fair point!

(21 Sep 2021, 5:21 am)Dan wrote It’s entirely to do with sickness absence - Go North East aren’t actually that short of drivers on paper, but high sickness levels are resulting in the current disruption.

The reasons for that sickness is what you could argue may be driven by some staff needlessly being off sick, but that’s by no means everyone.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well that's certainly no the case at my depot, although I work for Arriva. About 120 drivers in total of which about 10 are currently classed as "sick", which is maybe 2 or 3 above average.

Since everything opened up again we are losing around 2 drivers a week, mainly younger ones. We have a couple of new starters this week who have previously been sacked by the company in the past.

Am just wondering what the reason is for so many buses between Newcastle and Chester Le Street. The 21 every 7 minutes then the X21 every 30 then add in the 25 and 28/28A and with Arriva X12 they must be a bus ever 4/5 minutes at the very least. If they struggling for drivers would it not make sense to put 21 permanently to every 15 minutes between Newcastle and Chester Le Street and every 30 to Durham and then time the X21 to so it still provides a service every 15 minutes between Newcastle and Durham. Could still perhaps do 10 minutes at busier times such as mornings and rush hour but I really don’t see the point for the majority of the day because they would help with shortages surely.

(22 Sep 2021, 7:11 am)col87 wrote Am just wondering what the reason is for so many buses between Newcastle and Chester Le Street.  The 21 every 7 minutes then the X21 every 30 then add in the 25 and 28/28A and with Arriva X12 they must be a bus ever 4/5 minutes at the very least.  If they struggling for drivers would it not make sense to put 21 permanently to every 15 minutes between Newcastle and Chester Le Street and every 30 to Durham and then time the X21 to so it still provides a service every 15 minutes between Newcastle and Durham. Could still perhaps do 10 minutes at busier times such as mornings and rush hour but I really don’t see the point for the majority of the day because they would help with shortages surely.

Not overly familiar with that area but presumably passenger numbers probably warrant such a high frequency.

(22 Sep 2021, 7:11 am)col87 wrote Am just wondering what the reason is for so many buses between Newcastle and Chester Le Street. The 21 every 7 minutes then the X21 every 30 then add in the 25 and 28/28A and with Arriva X12 they must be a bus ever 4/5 minutes at the very least. If they struggling for drivers would it not make sense to put 21 permanently to every 15 minutes between Newcastle and Chester Le Street and every 30 to Durham and then time the X21 to so it still provides a service every 15 minutes between Newcastle and Durham. Could still perhaps do 10 minutes at busier times such as mornings and rush hour but I really don’t see the point for the majority of the day because they would help with shortages surely.

With the loadings the 21 gets it wouldn't cope with a frequency of every 15 minutes. It would almost certainly get overcrowded at times.

Sent from my moto g(8) power lite using Tapatalk

(22 Sep 2021, 7:11 am)col87 wrote Am just wondering what the reason is for so many buses between Newcastle and Chester Le Street.  The 21 every 7 minutes then the X21 every 30 then add in the 25 and 28/28A and with Arriva X12 they must be a bus ever 4/5 minutes at the very least.  If they struggling for drivers would it not make sense to put 21 permanently to every 15 minutes between Newcastle and Chester Le Street and every 30 to Durham and then time the X21 to so it still provides a service every 15 minutes between Newcastle and Durham. Could still perhaps do 10 minutes at busier times such as mornings and rush hour but I really don’t see the point for the majority of the day because they would help with shortages surely.

In simple terms demand. There's actually way less buses then there used to be along the corridor in the late 90s, early 00s.

From what I recall the peak loadings are the first part of the Durham Rd corridor itself so Newcastle-Birtley/Barley Mow as opposed to running through to Chester which the 28/28A and for part route, the 25, don't serve. The X12 is now hourly too.

If one 21 is missing you immediately notice the effects at bus stops (particualrly Gateshead Interchange and places like the Cannon and Birtley Station lane)

i think you'll find that they are very short of drivers on paper. There are empty lines on virtually every rota. In one single month 38 drivers left with only 8 of them being replaced as its takes a while to get new recruits through there test and lot of them don't make it through. On day cancellations are a regular thing and many that are cancelled don't even make it onto the list that is being posted. If people this is all due to a "national driver shortage" because high sickness levels and covid then your very wrong.

(24 Sep 2021, 6:59 pm)CookieMonster wrote i think you'll find that they are very short of drivers on paper. There are empty lines on virtually every rota. In one single month 38 drivers left with only 8 of them being replaced as its takes a while to get new recruits through there test and lot of them don't make it through. On day cancellations are a regular thing and many that are cancelled don't even make it onto the list that is being posted. If people this is all due to a "national driver shortage" because high sickness levels and covid then your very wrong.

The Brexit chicken has come home to roost !

(24 Sep 2021, 7:10 pm)Economic505 wrote The Brexit chicken has come home to roost !

I'll leave this here...

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

This is not great in today's short notice cancellations

X-lines X30 | X31:

From Newcastle: 07:45, 10:15, 10:35, 10:55, 14:35, 16:00, 16:40.
From Stanley: 07:10, 08:34, 10:39, 10:59, 11:20, 15:22, 16:47, 17:30, 19:15, 19:55.

Three consecutive departures meaning no service from 9:55 to 11:15

(04 Oct 2021, 9:00 am)Wybus wrote This is not great in today's short notice cancellations

X-lines X30 | X31:

From Newcastle: 07:45, 10:15, 10:35, 10:55, 14:35, 16:00, 16:40.
From Stanley: 07:10, 08:34, 10:39, 10:59, 11:20, 15:22, 16:47, 17:30, 19:15, 19:55.

Three consecutive departures meaning no service from 9:55 to 11:15

X-lines: don't drive, get stranded.

(04 Oct 2021, 11:35 am)stagecoachbusdepot wrote X-lines: don't drive, get stranded.

Hilarious.

Ironic that operators are working closely with one another through NEbus currently and Go North East has the lowest amount of lost mileage between the three major operators, and are leading the way in terms of passenger communications - yet Go North East gets the most backlash because they are the most honest.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

(04 Oct 2021, 11:38 am)Dan wrote Hilarious.

Ironic that operators are working closely with one another through NEbus currently and Go North East has the lowest amount of lost mileage between the three major operators, and are leading the way in terms of passenger communications - yet Go North East gets the most backlash because they are the most honest.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's 2021 that's what happens now and it's annoying to see tbh

(04 Oct 2021, 9:00 am)Wybus wrote This is not great in today's short notice cancellations

X-lines X30 | X31:

From Newcastle: 07:45, 10:15, 10:35, 10:55, 14:35, 16:00, 16:40.
From Stanley: 07:10, 08:34, 10:39, 10:59, 11:20, 15:22, 16:47, 17:30, 19:15, 19:55.

Three consecutive departures meaning no service from 9:55 to 11:15

Yes especially when they say in the information that they will try not to cancel consecutive journeys. Two on the bounce obviously isn't great but three...

Sent from my moto g(8) power lite using Tapatalk

(04 Oct 2021, 2:02 pm)big mac wrote Yes especially when they say in the information that they will try not to cancel consecutive journeys. Two on the bounce obviously isn't great but three...

Sent from my moto g(8) power lite using Tapatalk

Three demonstrates the world we’re living in currently, and is only known about because of the open and honest communications from the company published the night prior to allow customers to make alternative arrangements for their planned journeys?

I’m sure every effort was made not to cancel consecutive journeys - but staff may not be willing (or be able to, in terms of driving hours and legal rest) to swap shifts from the one they’ve been rostered, or it may have resulted in something even more significant being cancelled (ie a first or last bus).

There was a report elsewhere on the forum that one of Gateshead Central Taxis’ Nexus-secured contracts did not operate AT ALL one day last week, presumably due to similar issues being faced.

During a national labour shortage (affecting not just the bus industry!), every effort is being made to avoid disruption. A labour shortage in the public transport industry is of course much more inconvenient than a labour shortage in retail, or in fast food for example (where all products mightn’t be available or customers may have to wait longer than normal).

Arriva and Stagecoach are suffering similar issues, albeit on a much wider scale, but I’m yet to see any discussion about their cancelled journeys?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

(04 Oct 2021, 2:45 pm)Dan wrote Three demonstrates the world we’re living in currently, and is only known about because of the open and honest communications from the company published the night prior to allow customers to make alternative arrangements for their planned journeys?

I’m sure every effort was made not to cancel consecutive journeys - but staff may not be willing (or be able to, in terms of driving hours and legal rest) to swap shifts from the one they’ve been rostered, or it may have resulted in something even more significant being cancelled (ie a first or last bus).

There was a report elsewhere on the forum that one of Gateshead Central Taxis’ Nexus-secured contracts did not operate AT ALL one day last week, presumably due to similar issues being faced.

During a national labour shortage (affecting not just the bus industry!), every effort is being made to avoid disruption. A labour shortage in the public transport industry is of course much more inconvenient than a labour shortage in retail, or in fast food for example (where all products mightn’t be available or customers may have to wait longer than normal).

Arriva and Stagecoach are suffering similar issues, albeit on a much wider scale, but I’m yet to see any discussion about their cancelled journeys?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I happen to agree it’s somewhat unfair that GNE get a small amount of backlash when other operators could be accused of hiding how many journeys aren’t running right now. However, does that mitigate the fact three consecutive X30’s have been cancelled? No not all. Everyday Jane isn’t going to know or care about the complexity of this, all they’ll see is no X30 buses for more than hour meanwhile a couple of X1 leave, a handful of 21s leave etc. It looks a little short sighted. But as you point out I hope and expect every effort was done too avoid that but perhaps wasn’t possible. As for this forum the initial poster seem to be just making an observation and then a tongue in cheek comment. I certainly didn’t think it was overly critical. Overall social media seems to be largely positive towards GNE and people seem to be taking the cancellations in their stride. I’m not sure if drivers on the roads are facing a tougher job?

(04 Oct 2021, 2:45 pm)Dan wrote Three demonstrates the world we’re living in currently, and is only known about because of the open and honest communications from the company published the night prior to allow customers to make alternative arrangements for their planned journeys?

I’m sure every effort was made not to cancel consecutive journeys - but staff may not be willing (or be able to, in terms of driving hours and legal rest) to swap shifts from the one they’ve been rostered, or it may have resulted in something even more significant being cancelled (ie a first or last bus).

There was a report elsewhere on the forum that one of Gateshead Central Taxis’ Nexus-secured contracts did not operate AT ALL one day last week, presumably due to similar issues being faced.

During a national labour shortage (affecting not just the bus industry!), every effort is being made to avoid disruption. A labour shortage in the public transport industry is of course much more inconvenient than a labour shortage in retail, or in fast food for example (where all products mightn’t be available or customers may have to wait longer than normal).

Arriva and Stagecoach are suffering similar issues, albeit on a much wider scale, but I’m yet to see any discussion about their cancelled journeys?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Because GNE publicly declare which journeys are being cancelled you get plenty of criticism on here and likely elsewhere from people who won't actually be using the affected services. With ANE and SNE who give no prior information, the only people who can complain are the people who turn up for the journeys and find no bus turns up. I know I personally would rather know what's happening in advance so I could either alter my plan or make alternative travel arrangements than be left stranded with no prior notice.

again tin hat on as this is a close subject to some members and their employers but devils advocate here. 

I’m Go North East. I’m well run. My PR team are a bit lacking but in all, I’m well run by MG.

I run a campaign saying better than ever…then I follow that up with a glossy X Lines campaign. 

I then through not fault of my own cancel a load of services including a lot on my shiny new well advertised X Lines route  however, I knew this was coming. Now either my ops team ain’t talking to my commercial team or someone is making bad calls or being ignored.

Do I put my hands up and say, yeah, bad PR move should have thought this through, you know, like my operations director tweeting about all our great North run resource during resource related service cuts or do I point at other operators who haven’t run high profile campaigns and kept their head down? 

for every marketing win for go north east…genuinely not sure how the marketing team or agency are still in a job, it’s horrible advice.

(04 Oct 2021, 10:39 pm)Ambassador wrote again tin hat on as this is a close subject to some members and their employers but devils advocate here. 

I’m Go North East. I’m well run. My PR team are a bit lacking but in all, I’m well run by MG.

I run a campaign saying better than ever…then I follow that up with a glossy X Lines campaign. 

I then through not fault of my own cancel a load of services including a lot on my shiny new well advertised X Lines route  however, I knew this was coming. Now either my ops team ain’t talking to my commercial team or someone is making bad calls or being ignored.

Do I put my hands up and say, yeah, bad PR move should have thought this through, you know, like my operations director tweeting about all our great North run resource during resource related service cuts or do I point at other operators who haven’t run high profile campaigns and kept their head down? 

for every marketing win for go north east…genuinely not sure how the marketing team or agency are still in a job, it’s horrible advice.

I don’t think the situation is/was quite as you’ve depicted it there, otherwise I’d have agreed with you. I’m not sure that the national labour shortage was quite as easy to predict as is being alluded here, either? Go North East were in a much better position than most operators (even running services on their behalf) for a long time, as the staff shortage at Go North East in its infancy was driven by sickness. Clearly as sickness runs on, reliance on overtime is tricky as staff get overtime fatigue.

Licences being held up by the DVLA is also a big contributor - the bus industry naturally has a high turnover (potential reasons for this have been discussed in another thread), and when there’s a blockage at the DVLA meaning licences aren’t being renewed, this extra time before new starters can begin is also quite damaging. However, and indeed as you say, another factor outside of GNE’s control.

It wasn’t the Operations Director that Tweeted, it was an Operations Manager (big difference, but I took the point at the time). What he’s chosen to do on his own Twitter feed isn’t aligned to that of the wider PR strategy by Go North East.

When X-lines was being promoted, there was far fewer (barely any) journey cancellations. The world has moved on and all marketing was put on hold - that is clear to see from the social media feed alone, where journey cancellations and ‘#BeKind’ is all that is being promoted currently. I don’t think it’s that much of an own goal, and the only ones using the #BetterThanEver campaign against the company are enthusiasts (who probably aren’t even affected by the journey cancellations anyway).

All that said, in the grand scheme of things (over 8000 journeys being operated daily), the situation seems to be improving daily. Hopefully we’re over the worst of it now, but I still think other operators have a long way to go.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

(04 Oct 2021, 10:39 pm)Ambassador wrote again tin hat on as this is a close subject to some members and their employers but devils advocate here. 

I’m Go North East. I’m well run. My PR team are a bit lacking but in all, I’m well run by MG.

I run a campaign saying better than ever…then I follow that up with a glossy X Lines campaign. 

I then through not fault of my own cancel a load of services including a lot on my shiny new well advertised X Lines route  however, I knew this was coming. Now either my ops team ain’t talking to my commercial team or someone is making bad calls or being ignored.

Do I put my hands up and say, yeah, bad PR move should have thought this through, you know, like my operations director tweeting about all our great North run resource during resource related service cuts or do I point at other operators who haven’t run high profile campaigns and kept their head down? 

for every marketing win for go north east…genuinely not sure how the marketing team or agency are still in a job, it’s horrible advice.

I think what got me, was the alleged 'I'm alright Jack' mentality within GNE. Or at least from certain individuals within the organisation and their army of sycophants. I mean fans. Fans! That's the word. Fans.
Almost an arrogance that they were OK, other companies were struggling and it was far from acceptable for them to struggle - but Super GNE would step in and save the day if needed. 
Then karma (?) came and bit them on the bum.

(05 Oct 2021, 8:30 am)Andreos1 wrote I think what got me, was the alleged 'I'm alright Jack' mentality within GNE. Or at least from certain individuals within the organisation and their army of sycophants. I mean fans. Fans! That's the word. Fans.
Almost an arrogance that they were OK, other companies were struggling and it was far from acceptable for them to struggle - but Super GNE would step in and save the day if needed. 
Then karma (?) came and bit them on the bum.

I’m not sure I’ve seen any of the alleged ‘arrogance’ that is being mooted here? Could you provide some examples, please?

You could argue that there’s been some mutual back-patting among operators within the NEbus group, showing how brilliantly things can work with better collaboration, but I’m not sure this has ever stemmed into ‘arrogance’ as you claim.

As enthusiasts on this forum, we have seen a lot of criticism of Gateshead Central Taxis, who have had a staff shortage that long pre-dated the current national labour shortage. We, as enthusiasts and indeed as customers too (in some cases), were critical of this, and recognised that customers deserved better.

We’re seeing similar levels of criticism for Go North East now - some of it justified, perhaps not all. Peter quite succinctly made that point above.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk