The absolute chaos in Seaburn earlier, things went no where near as smoothly as last year. The rear destinations on the A1 and A2 displaying 'AIR' caused some massive problems, despite the different stopping locations.

There was a large group of roughly 20 people came running off the Vyking on the A1 and onto the A2 at one point.

(23 Jul 2016, 8:35 pm)Jimmi wrote There is a good few pokestops in Darlington Town Centre. I'm gonna have to go back now I have a better idea what I'm doing, might have a wander round Durham on Monday morning before heading up to Newcastle. At least I have the alternative of the train to Darlington and thanks to the event at Shildon Locomotion I have a service every hour instead of every 2 hours for the next week.

Have booked train tickets for wed. Might tempt big'un back into his abandoned email with the news.

(23 Jul 2016, 11:43 pm)LeeCalder wrote The absolute chaos in Seaburn earlier, things went no where near as smoothly as last year. The rear destinations on the A1 and A2 displaying 'AIR' caused some massive problems, despite the different stopping locations.

There was a large group of roughly 20 people came running off the Vyking on the A1 and onto the A2 at one point.

The rear destinations on the Volvo B7s show 'AIR' as the switch setting on these displays are set to 'F' which automatically picks up which destination code has been entered by the driver (as opposed to looking at what has been manually programmed). This has always been the case.

To allow destinations to be changed more quickly, making the process more efficient, it was requested that the A1 and A2 fell under the same code (AIR) as the normal Park and Ride services.

I fail to see how this would have caused massive issues, when the buses are all packed together and the main focus is the front destination. Not forgetting how many supervisors Go North East had on hand to help passengers (some of whom were present for over 12 hours)... It's a difficult weekend and it's never going to be one which runs without a few hiccups.

(24 Jul 2016, 12:27 am)Dan wrote The rear destinations on the Volvo B7s show 'AIR' as the switch setting on these displays are set to 'F' which automatically picks up which destination code has been entered by the driver (as opposed to looking at what has been manually programmed). This has always been the case.

To allow destinations to be changed more quickly, making the process more efficient, it was requested that the A1 and A2 fell under the same code (AIR) as the normal Park and Ride services.

I fail to see how this would have caused massive issues, when the buses are all packed together and the main focus is the front destination. Not forgetting how many supervisors Go North East had on hand to help passengers (some of whom were present for over 12 hours)... It's a difficult weekend and it's never going to be one which runs without a few hiccups.

Because the queues were all the way around the corner, due to the lack of buses at the end of the Airshow, which meant that people were staring at the rear of the bus....

There were four GNE members of staff on hand, two were directing buses whilst the other two were talking to drivers.

Which left security to deal with issues, which I'm guessing is what caused the problems.

Even then, they would still get to a point where they could see the side destination of the bus which would have said what service the bus was operating.

Side destinations wouldn't have been clearly visible. At its peak, there were hundreds of people crowded around the buses, the setup saw passengers queueing from the rear of the bus.

There were temporary stand signs on display, about the height of the temporary Nexus signs, with route number and destination, but these also became useless when most buses were forced to use different stands to keep people moving.

Airshow staff had large handheld signs with "End of Q" written on them. End of "Q" for what? If these signs could be adapted to show the route number of the bus in the stand that would be an improvement.

Go North East did a fantastic job at the Park and Rides. However, the A* services could see some improvement, the A2 saw large queues and the poor frequency saw people waiting for upto half an hour.

Stagecoach ran the 510 rather well until the end, the use of single deck gas buses wasn't suitable. The Tridents were leaving full and standing and there were regularly large gaps in service, presumably due to Airshow traffic. I think Stagecoach would have been getting their usual customers, along with the users of multi-operator tickets who would have been unable to use the GNE shuttles.

I didn't use the shuttles to get back into Sunderland, as I really didn't want to queue. I also gather that queues for Metro were over 30 minutes long and the queue for that extended down to the bottom of a residential street. When I used Metro the trains were running very frequently, the 'Sunderland' trains were running dead quiet.

That's my views on the Airshow transport anyway. I think that the best possible service was offered, but the traffic and the bus stopping arrangements, and the large amount of people leaving after the Red Arrows affected the service. Had the Red Arrows been one of the first few displays then I'd think that the services would have handled the loadings better, as more people would be staying behind longer for the rest of the Airshow.

Sorry for the long post, but I had to get my views across

The programmes lady that was next to the pr2 bus stop at seaburn only sold 2 boxes and she says she 6 boxes last year and they were £5 and this year they were £3.
She left me in charge of selling these for a near 5 minutes whilst she went to inquire about how "apparently " a stuart was very racist to a car driver
The programme lady didn't make much which is a shame becausev the programme is the same price as the big issue to which i know 2 of,the lady outside Wilkinsons and the family one in haymarket he always says"big issue please" very funny

(24 Jul 2016, 9:59 pm)biglugs@yahoo.com wrote The programmes lady that was next to the pr2 bus stop at seaburn only sold 2 boxes and she says she 6 boxes last year and they were £5 and this year they were £3.
She left me in charge of selling these for a near 5 minutes whilst she went to inquire about how "apparently " a stuart was very racist to a car driver
The programme lady didn't make much which is a shame becausev the programme is the same price as the big issue to which i know 2 of,the lady outside Wilkinsons and the family one in haymarket he always says"big issue please" very funny

I know the Big Issue man very well at Haymarket, Almost scares the hell out of people he wants to sell his magazines too.
Seems a canny bloke though, Always gives me a smile as I pass through

(24 Jul 2016, 10:04 pm)South Tyne Lad wrote I know the Big Issue man very well at Haymarket, Almost scares the hell out of people he wants to sell his magazines too.
Seems a canny bloke though, Always gives me a smile as I pass through  

He must be property of arriva.
Atleast hes not a rare and odd worker

Mass Shooting In Florida Nightclub

There are conflicting reports of casualties at the club, with one witness being reported as saying that 30 shots were fired.

http://news.sky.com/story/mass-shooting-...t-10511953

---------------------

'Suicide Bomber' Injures 12 Outside German Bar

Three people have been seriously injured after a man carrying a backpack "deliberately" detonated a device in a city centre.

http://news.sky.com/story/suicide-bomber...r-10511772

(25 Jul 2016, 9:13 am)Michael wrote Mass Shooting In Florida Nightclub

There are conflicting reports of casualties at the club, with one witness being reported as saying that 30 shots were fired.

http://news.sky.com/story/mass-shooting-...t-10511953

---------------------

'Suicide Bomber' Injures 12 Outside German Bar

Three people have been seriously injured after a man carrying a backpack "deliberately" detonated a device in a city centre.

http://news.sky.com/story/suicide-bomber...r-10511772

The worlds gone mad

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

Stagecoach service 6 has disappeared off the face of the earth. That's putting me well behind time. Now probably won't get home until 9pm. Peed right off now

(25 Jul 2016, 12:03 pm)Jimmi wrote Stagecoach service 6 has disappeared off the face of the earth. That's putting me well behind time. Now probably won't get home until 9pm. Peed right off now

The Newcastle one?

(25 Jul 2016, 2:19 pm)NK53 TKT wrote The Newcastle one?

The one from the MetroCentre.

My latest irritant was figuring out which platform to get the Metro from Whitley Bay to North Shields, if like me you are nervous and have limited experience of the Metro, it's awful, mind it doesn't help that the screens on platform 2 are too busy informing us of the line closure. As such I've been freaking out. I hope to dear God I'm getting on the right one.

EDIT: phew! I'm heading in the right direction.

(24 Jul 2016, 9:59 pm)biglugs@yahoo.com wrote She left me in charge of selling these for a near 5 minutes whilst she went to inquire about how "apparently " a stuart was very racist to a car driver

A Stuart?? - Eighteenth century royalty seems a bit out of place in the twenty-first century. No excuse for racism though.

The bloke driving 3965. Never known such a jerky nervous driver. Seems to have zero awareness of what's going on around him.

Actually feeling a lil uncomfortable on the bus

(25 Jul 2016, 3:39 pm)MurdnunoC wrote A Stuart?? - Eighteenth century royalty seems a bit out of place in the twenty-first century. No excuse for racism though.

I no just because hes employed doesn't allow him to take advantage of the job

Can the annoying family on this 7 go away!!! They are doing nothing at all to keep their dog off me and most of them are sat upstairs but some are sat downstairs and they are shouting between each other. Seriously man!

(24 Jul 2016, 10:04 pm)South Tyne Lad wrote I know the Big Issue man very well at Haymarket, Almost scares the hell out of people he wants to sell his magazines too.
Seems a canny bloke though, Always gives me a smile as I pass through  

Poor guy seems to get a lot of abuse. I was ready to thump a couple of young guys for pestering him and shouting in his face, last year.

(25 Jul 2016, 8:55 pm)BusLoverMum wrote Poor guy seems to get a lot of abuse. I was ready to thump a couple of young guys for pestering him and shouting in his face, last year.

The one in Sunderland is very nice shes actually asked dave the rave to buy one
Guess sunderland gets there clowns and not me this time on a clowns bike

Well as it turns out, the train tickets I've booked for Edinburgh for September 10th has a far bigger problem than me forgetting to do Plusbus, I failed to realise that I have had already booked gig tickets for a festival thing in Hartlepool for that day which I was understanding it was being held on the following Saturday, WRONG! So I am now stuck with a dilemma, is there anything I can do to change the date or anything else for the train and how much money would it incur to make such changes?

(27 Jul 2016, 11:16 am)Jimmi wrote Well as it turns out, the train tickets I've booked for Edinburgh for September 10th has a far bigger problem than me forgetting to do Plusbus, I failed to realise that I have had already booked gig tickets for a festival thing in Hartlepool for that day which I was understanding it was being held on the following Saturday, WRONG! So I am now stuck with a dilemma, is there anything I can do to change the date or anything else for the train and how much money would it incur to make such changes?

Best speak to the agency/operator who sold the tickets. There may be an admin fee to pay to change them, depending on the ticket type.

(27 Jul 2016, 12:12 pm)Andreos1 wrote Best speak to the agency/operator who sold the tickets. There may be an admin fee to pay to change them, depending on the ticket type.

Thanks. I'm going to look into changing the date if possible, problem being is I don't really want to go on a Saturday during the diversions via Carlisle. May have to wait until sometime in October now.

(27 Jul 2016, 12:20 pm)Jimmi wrote Thanks. I'm going to look into changing the date if possible, problem being is I don't really want to go on a Saturday during the diversions via Carlisle. May have to wait until sometime in October now.

I have not said this for a while...

Lil Victor...Ya still like a moan

Course am joking mate...

Hope ya well Jim

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

(27 Jul 2016, 12:44 pm)MrFozz wrote I have not said this for a while...

Lil Victor...Ya still like a moan

Course am joking mate...

Hope ya well Jim

Not been the best recently, nothing seems to be going right recently, making lots of stupid mistakes like the one above and seem to be constantly screwing up simple things like McDonald's orders or even figuring out which platform I needed to be on for the Metro heading to North Shields the other night, stuff like this really gets to me as it makes me feel totally useless.

To make the current issue with my misjudged train booking worse, I can't change the date to the new date I want yet as I can only book up the 14th of October when I want the 15th of October!

Getting annoyed with various facebook groups. Just left one because of the dead joke of "Is that Today" resurfacing again. It was funny at the time but it's dead and buried now in my opinion, it's run it course and should be left dead and buried.

Other gripes for wanting to leave are groups where people are posting crap photos. If you want to constantly post poor photos, then plonk them onto your own flickr. Save your best work for the facebook groups where you can show off the photos. Honestly if I wanted to see crap photos, I will join a crap photo facebook group.

Maybe I'm getting too old and grumpy. Just getting sick of everything at the minute which is causing worrying echos of 2014.

(28 Jul 2016, 1:12 am)GMitchelhill wrote Getting annoyed with various facebook groups. Just left one because of the dead joke of "Is that Today" resurfacing again. It was funny at the time but it's dead and buried now in my opinion, it's run it course and should be left dead and buried.

Other gripes for wanting to leave are groups where people are posting crap photos. If you want to constantly post poor photos, then plonk them onto your own flickr. Save your best work for the facebook groups where you can show off the photos. Honestly if I wanted to see crap photos, I will join a crap photo facebook group.

Maybe I'm getting too old and grumpy. Just getting sick of everything at the minute which is causing worrying echos of 2014.

What's annoying me with one group in particular at the moment is where people post multiple photos every day, often of the same stuff each day.

Travelsure 472 left Alnwick bus station going to Amble with "Alnwick" on the front, asnd was also sat in the Barresdale stand instead of the Amble stand. Great....

The apparent lack of Blue Arrows on the 11 today.

Went to try and get some photos of the Blue Arrow brand, only photo I had gotten before today was 4971 operating on the 19 on Wednesday.

With a full day off I attempted to get some.
First 11 that I went to Photograph at the skew bridge on Shields Road between Wallsend and Walkergate, B7TL number 6023 turned up.
Second one was a Blue Arrow but annoyingly my camera didn't get the shot.
Third 11 I went to get was in Lobley Hill. Suprisingly Trident 3888 turned up.
Fourth 11 was in the same location, and blue B7TL 6034 turned up (least it was the right colour I suppose).
Fifth and Sixth 11 attempt was in East Howdon where they are due to pass. Both were red B7TLs, these being 6025 and 6023 (again).
Seventh 11 attempt in North Shields I couldn't park my car in time to get the photo.
Eighth and final 11 attempt of the day I finally managed to get Blue Arrow Solar 4968 in Preston Grange Estate.

On the plus side, managed to photograph everything Phoenix had out on Nexus Bus services.

Scrub that last thought, looks like I'm going to have to reattempt a W2 shot, as the photo of the vehicle on the W2 at Whitley Lodge had W3 on the blind.

(28 Jul 2016, 5:57 pm)GMitchelhill wrote The apparent lack of Blue Arrows on the 11 today.

Went to try and get some photos of the Blue Arrow brand, only photo I had gotten before today was 4971 operating on the 19 on Wednesday.

With a full day off I attempted to get some.
First 11 that I went to Photograph at the skew bridge on Shields Road between Wallsend and Walkergate, B7TL number 6023 turned up.
Second one was a Blue Arrow but annoyingly my camera didn't get the shot.
Third 11 I went to get was in Lobley Hill. Suprisingly Trident 3888 turned up.
Fourth 11 was in the same location, and blue B7TL 6034 turned up (least it was the right colour I suppose).
Fifth and Sixth 11 attempt was in East Howdon where they are due to pass. Both were red B7TLs, these being 6025 and 6023 (again).
Seventh 11 attempt in North Shields I couldn't park my car in time to get the photo.
Eighth and final 11 attempt of the day I finally managed to get Blue Arrow Solar 4968 in Preston Grange Estate.

On the plus side, managed to photograph everything Phoenix had out on Nexus Bus services.

Scrub that last thought, looks like I'm going to have to reattempt a W2 shot, as the photo of the vehicle on the W2 at Whitley Lodge had W3 on the blind.

Wonder what's up with all the Solars?