(27 Oct 2015, 10:41 am)B10man wrote 9119 needs to go to Percy Main to be "tuned up" whatever that means so it can handle the x9,x10. It far too slow to go on there at the moment and it delays the service. Several drivers complained about driving it. Therefore it being used effectively as a spare bus mainly on 10s as a lot of ten deckers are getting work done on them. It saves putting a red bus on you see. 9119 was also on 327 for Percy Main, its also done a 31, 11/11A and i think a school run aswell. It supposed to go to Percy later this week to go back to X9/X10 but that plan might have changed. They carn't do it at Riverside as too busy.

Think you mean Riverside .

Dan on your photo of the X66 -

Extra evening journeys are operational from now until Christmas on Mondays to Fridays, and an additional vehicle is being added to the cycle on Saturdays from October half-term until Christmas, aiming to provide a greater capacity following the withdrawal of the articulated Mercedes Citaros. This is on top of the ordinary extra vehicle added to the PVR on Saturdays.

Any idea what vehicle this will be?

(27 Oct 2015, 11:02 am)Michael wrote Dan on your photo of the X66 -

Extra evening journeys are operational from now until Christmas on Mondays to Fridays, and an additional vehicle is being added to the cycle on Saturdays from October half-term until Christmas, aiming to provide a greater capacity following the withdrawal of the articulated Mercedes Citaros. This is on top of the ordinary extra vehicle added to the PVR on Saturdays.

Any idea what vehicle this will be?

Does that mean the PVR on Saturdays is now 6?

(27 Oct 2015, 11:02 am)Michael wrote Dan on your photo of the X66 -

Extra evening journeys are operational from now until Christmas on Mondays to Fridays, and an additional vehicle is being added to the cycle on Saturdays from October half-term until Christmas, aiming to provide a greater capacity following the withdrawal of the articulated Mercedes Citaros. This is on top of the ordinary extra vehicle added to the PVR on Saturdays.

Any idea what vehicle this will be?

Pleased to see they have identified the problem before it was too late.

I said weeks ago, that I had concerns about capacity in the lead up to Christmas and the potential impact it could have on passengers, never mind the drivers using it as a transfer bus.
Obviously, there are the additional stops to take into account too.

(27 Oct 2015, 11:03 am)DanPicken wrote Does that mean the PVR on Saturdays is now 6?

Do you mean 5
5391,5392,5393,5394

(27 Oct 2015, 11:32 am)NK53 TKT wrote Do you mean 5
5391,5392,5393,5394

No 5332 is already allocated on Saturdays.

(27 Oct 2015, 11:34 am)DanPicken wrote No 5332 is already allocated on Saturdays.

Oh did not know that
Sorry

It goes to Percy to get fixed up then back to Riverside to go out on x9/x10.

(27 Oct 2015, 11:41 am)B10man wrote It goes to Percy to get fixed up then back to Riverside to go out on x9/x10.

Ah right just it sounded like you said the X9/X10 was a Percy Main service 


It supposed to go to Percy later this week to go back to X9/X10

(27 Oct 2015, 11:02 am)Michael wrote Dan on your photo of the X66 -

Extra evening journeys are operational from now until Christmas on Mondays to Fridays, and an additional vehicle is being added to the cycle on Saturdays from October half-term until Christmas, aiming to provide a greater capacity following the withdrawal of the articulated Mercedes Citaros. This is on top of the ordinary extra vehicle added to the PVR on Saturdays.

Any idea what vehicle this will be?

(27 Oct 2015, 11:03 am)DanPicken wrote Does that mean the PVR on Saturdays is now 6?

Yes, the Saturday PVR until Christmas is 6.

Should be the four branded Streetlites allocated, then 5332 or 5389/90. The Versas may be allocated to the Quaylink to cover for a branded vehicle in the first instance; in which case, it'll likely be any red single decker at Riverside on the X66.

No additional vehicles are required for the Monday - Friday evening service: the Streetlites will just stay out to play for a little bit longer than usual for the extra journeys.

Query for Dan to answer. Any idea why 641/4 were both around the Metrocentre area this morning? 641 did have 'Driver Training' on display so I'm guessing they were route learning?

(27 Oct 2015, 3:20 pm)Kuyoyo wrote Query for Dan to answer. Any idea why 641/4 were both around the Metrocentre area this morning? 641 did have 'Driver Training' on display so I'm guessing they were route learning?

Obviously

(27 Oct 2015, 12:15 pm)Dan wrote Yes, the Saturday PVR until Christmas is 6.

Should be the four branded Streetlites allocated, then 5332 or 5389/90. The Versas may be allocated to the Quaylink to cover for a branded vehicle in the first instance; in which case, it'll likely be any red single decker at Riverside on the X66.

No additional vehicles are required for the Monday - Friday evening service: the Streetlites will just stay out to play for a little bit longer than usual for the extra journeys.

Cheers Dan.

650 is Stanley's 64/95 tonight off V7/V8. It has just left 10 minutes late however

(27 Oct 2015, 3:20 pm)Kuyoyo wrote Query for Dan to answer. Any idea why 641/4 were both around the Metrocentre area this morning? 641 did have 'Driver Training' on display so I'm guessing they were route learning?

Yes, looks like they were route learning just about every route at Stanley that goes into Newcastle / Gateshead today.

(27 Oct 2015, 5:12 pm)Dan wrote Yes, looks like they were route learning just about every route at Stanley that goes into Newcastle / Gateshead today.

And some - 641 even made it to Blaydon while I was there at lunchtime.

(27 Oct 2015, 5:18 pm)Kuyoyo wrote And some - 641 even made it to Blaydon while I was there at lunchtime.

Stanley obviously operates a peak-time 11 service now, so that one makes sense too.

(27 Oct 2015, 5:21 pm)Dan wrote Stanley obviously operates a peak-time 11 service now, so that one makes sense too.

Too many peaks workings to keep up with. And I thought Arriva Teesside was bad - as least they don't end up with Redcar buses doing Stockton services or vice versa.

(27 Oct 2015, 5:26 pm)Kuyoyo wrote Too many peaks workings to keep up with. And I thought Arriva Teesside was bad - as least they don't end up with Redcar buses doing Stockton services or vice versa.

No, they'd rather miss the run out.

(27 Oct 2015, 5:26 pm)Kuyoyo wrote Too many peaks workings to keep up with. And I thought Arriva Teesside was bad - as least they don't end up with Redcar buses doing Stockton services or vice versa.

The scheduling software will design it so it's as cost-effective as possible, I guess. Ultimately all goes in the same pot!

The same bus ends up in a scholars service in Tyne & Wear, before doing that 11, so it's not like the bus comes from Stanley light to just do that run (apart from on school holidays).

Any idea why there was a Indigo solo parked up in Park Lane today?

(27 Oct 2015, 6:37 pm)Michael wrote Any idea why there was a Indigo solo parked up in Park Lane today?

Presumably engineers on road test.

Crook depot could do with some more work.... maybe doing a couple of short X21s to Durham then a 13. Or an X46 then 13.

Or even do an X22, once a day from Bishop to Metrocentre

(27 Oct 2015, 4:30 pm)Kuyoyo wrote 650 is Stanley's 64/95 tonight off V7/V8. It has just left 10 minutes late however

Are these afternoon peak Venture run services in Gateshead instead of or as well as the Team Valley runs that they did, meaning there are 2 Venture Solo SRs in the Gateshead area during afternoons?

(27 Oct 2015, 7:08 pm)pdiddy wrote Crook depot could do with some more work.... maybe doing a couple of short X21s to Durham then a 13. Or an X46 then 13.

Or even do an X22, once a day from Bishop to Metrocentre

Or some might say late evening & sunday X21s.

(27 Oct 2015, 8:15 pm)nk55 wrote Or some might say late evening & sunday X21s.

esp the drivers at Chester eh... 

(27 Oct 2015, 7:08 pm)pdiddy wrote Crook depot could do with some more work.... maybe doing a couple of short X21s to Durham then a 13. Or an X46 then 13.

Or even do an X22, once a day from Bishop to Metrocentre

The X22 idea probably wouldn't be unpopular, since the X21 misses theX22 by minutes.

So I had my first experience of the new services today in the Stanley Area, I was for the changes to my service and very positive about the whole changes. Ive seen a few negative posts on Facebook etc, which is fully expected when any business changes something it provides.

For the past 2 years Ive used the 8:28 X31 from Lanchester to Newcastle. A service which on occasions would be late, usually coming in to Lanchester after dropping off students at St Bedes and the result would be the service being terminated at Gateshead every so often. 

I chose to use service 30 which left Lanchester at 8:35 (as its the closest to the time the old service left) with around 3 passengers on board, apparently A few of the passengers who used to use the X31 to Greencroft now get a earlier service to the top of Maidan law bank and now choose to walk along that way. (its a shame there isn't a peak time service 30A which could operate the old X31 route to Stanley for the few passengers that need it, maybe in the future?)

By the time it got to Stanley at 9:04 (running only 2minutes late despite the tedious journey into Quaking Houses and dodging car mirrors) the Venture Solo was full with 2-3 Standees.

My next task was to use the interworking service. None of the boards in Stanley are working and say 'Please Use Timetable' ... thankfully the X30/X31 stand is still the same and a guy from Go North East was directing a few older passengers (a lot of which, including the 1 or 2 on my bus from Lanchester, didn't fully understand the changes)

The X31 leaves Stanley for Newcastle along its old route at 8:57 which unfortunately leaves too early for me to catch. So my next option was the revised service X30 at 9:11. Again it left Stanley with around 4 passengers on (not very many at all) .... once the service got past Sunniside and turned towards its new route it began to stop at every stop and picked up more than 1 passenger at each stop. (which is obviously a good sign) 

Im not too familiar with the Dunston area but the service looks like it going to be a success. By the time the X30 got to Newcastle it was full with at least 4 Standees (arrived at Eldon Square at 9:57, baring in mind I start work at 10). It made me questions why the Omnidekkas weret kept on the service, I'm not too sure how the 6 is faring using Omnidekkas, but I also noticed that the Venture service that left Stanley around the same time as the X30 this morning looked packed.

Overall I'm judging this on 'ONE' Journey, so its a first impression on the overall experience. Nobody really likes change, I know I don't! I just made it too work on time this morning, which over the corse of the next couple of weeks I may have to use a earlier journey, although I have a feeling once the drivers get used to the services the pace may pick up a little. The X30 arrived late into Newcastle but the Omnicity on the service didn't seem to go very fast for whatever reason.

This is just a observation on my first journey, I will be using this exact interworking for the next 2 weeks to see if i can get to work for 10 on time as per with the old route. I think the fact the routes have been split is going to make them a lot more reliable, I only wish that more of the peak time workings went all the way through, if it wasn't for the branding on some of the services it may of been an idea. Obviously you can't make every bus service work for every person to get where they want to be at the exact time, I understand that, as Ive said its just a observation on one journey, nothing is intended as a Criticism.

(27 Oct 2015, 10:15 pm)BusLoverMum wrote The X22 idea probably wouldn't be unpopular, since the X21 misses theX22 by minutes.

Think if you were going to have a service from Bishop Auckland - Metrocentre again it would probably only be worth having one journey a day in each direction as when the Arriva X24 used to run Bishop Auckland - Metrocentre (via Durham) it often seemed like the first one to the Metro would be busy (got a first journey on the X24 to the Metrocentre during the school holidays one day when it started at Bishop Auckland and it was a double decker and it was pretty much completely full once it left Chester-le-Street) but the rest of the journeys weren't so busy and only one or two afternoon returns carried a decent amount, obviously the GNE X22 has had an impact on the Arriva X24.

The X30/X31 can be allocated omnidekkas, but the low bridge at Dunston gives very little clearance, tridents, presisents & olympians are too big for that route.