6001-6007 &  6043-6048 are my most hated gemanis , don't like the sound of engines in them.

I've never noticed the sound to be honest. Just the struggles up inclines. The northbound slip on to the Washington Galleries is painful for such a small hill. The other hills on the route aren't too much fun either.

If what STL has said in another thread is true, it could explain why.

Seen 680 driving round north tyneside before with not in service on but wasnt the normal display amd had few people on the bus. Wonder what this was doing

Seen 680 driving round north tyneside before with not in service on but wasnt the normal display amd had few people on the bus. Wonder what this was doing

Probably the bus used at the Victorian Market at North Shields.

Seen 680 driving round north tyneside before with not in service on but wasnt the normal display amd had few people on the bus. Wonder what this was doing

Maybe it was a sick bus. My 45 did that tonight.

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Seen 680 driving round north tyneside before with not in service on but wasnt the normal display amd had few people on the bus. Wonder what this was doing

It was testing the Next Stop Announcements for the 40 and 41, and the person on board the bus was me. The new announcements for the 40/41/42 will be rolled out to all of the indiGo North Tyne minibuses next week.

Deptford's Prince Bishops branded Streetlites were also updated this morning to add the new stop on Hillside Way (outside of Lidl) in Houghton-le-Spring to services 20/20A/X20.

Probably the bus used at the Victorian Market at North Shields.

That was 677.

Seen 680 driving round north tyneside before with not in service on but wasnt the normal display amd had few people on the bus. Wonder what this was doing

By any chance did the display look like this? https://flic.kr/p/EENSAu

This is what was displayed when I caught it doing NSA testing just before they replaced the MPD's.

That was 677.

Ok - todays photos on social media blocked out the fleet number and registration (unless i missed something out)

By any chance did the display look like this? https://flic.kr/p/EENSAu

This is what was displayed when I caught it doing NSA testing just before they replaced the MPD's.

Yes it did.

Owt for a shameless plug, Jimmi! Ha ha!

It was testing the Next Stop Announcements for the 40 and 41, and the person on board the bus was me. The new announcements for the 40/41/42 will be rolled out to all of the indiGo North Tyne minibuses next week.

Deptford's Prince Bishops branded Streetlites were also updated this morning to add the new stop on Hillside Way (outside of Lidl) in Houghton-le-Spring to services 20/20A/X20.

Which services currently don't have their stop announcements activated?

Which services currently don't have their stop announcements activated?

TEN.

Which services currently don't have their stop announcements activated?

On the 20, Chilton Schools both sides of the road. Unless that's changed with the new stop being added at Lidl (buses had their price increase notices removed last week and replaced with details).

Which services currently don't have their stop announcements activated?

Q3 doesn't have them yet I don't think.

Good to see the indiGo ones done
Thought one had took the Mon-Sat route along Simonside Avenue when I saw it earlier at about 12.

13 is no good either. 09 is decent since washy fixed it, 12 is going strong but has a massive painful fault and 16 is good since the faults were repaired in october.  12, like 5337/8 has the steering wheel way out - but not only this - it veers to the right when the wheel brake is applied. 6009, and 16 are the only ones which fall under 'drivable'. Drivers say 6011 is mint, but dies on the hills, same with 32. This makes them completely unsuitable in dewentside. They do the job, but only just, and for seemingly a limited scope of time.

Stanley doesn't need any premium buses, it just needs some with gearboxes which are the right size for the terrain. Streetlites die on any embankment because of the size of the gears, constantly slipping into 3rd then back to 2nd, causing a huge jolt multiple times per hill.
Stanley should have been structured around its purpose - a budget depot. They should be sending more mercs and omnicites up there because they work perfectly - not sending the decade old buses around to routes which would be perfect for cheap gearboxes. Although this is now turning into a service suggestion/upgrades post, they should be upgrading the 1 or 50 and cascading them to Stanley, not sending old Stanley buses elsewhere. The omnicity redkite allocation was flawless - streetlites were a downgrade.

Looping back, if you wish to see decent presidents on B7 chassis; 6009,11 and 16 are the best. The rest are not a pleasure to be in (32 is questionable), nor suitable for dewentside trips. Catch one on a 16/a from Stanley to Consett and you will have a flawless ride. South moor and South stanley will be painful on one of those.


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Arriva's don't. I live at least as high above sea level as Stanley etc, at the top of such a long steep bank. The arriva 22 has no problems with this bank with its allocated streetlites - if they jolt, it's at the start of shallow inclines at low speed to start with ie in Durham city, on Gilesgate bank, and that's only with certain drivers. They take the bus killing bank nearer to our village at a steady pace. Out of Stanley's GNE fleet, only the mercs, the better Omnicities and the solo SRs could manage this bank without going into a crawl or overheating.

Where I think they will fail is with longevity. One of the 7 vehicles was problematic from the start and another has been pretty iffy, lately. At the current age of the TTX deckers, I expect they'll be in similar condition (though, TBF, the route is no less forgiving, with miles and miles of windy NSL roads, and lots of the aforementioned inclines - it's hard on any gearbox)

Arriva's don't. I live at least as high above sea level as Stanley etc, at the top of such a long steep bank. The arriva 22 has no problems with this bank with its allocated streetlites - if they jolt, it's at the start of shallow inclines at low speed to start with ie in Durham city, on Gilesgate bank, and that's only with certain drivers. They take the bus killing bank nearer to our village at a steady pace. Out of Stanley's GNE fleet, only the mercs, the better Omnicities and the solo SRs could manage this bank without going into a crawl or overheating.

Where I think they will fail is with longevity. One of the 7 vehicles was problematic from the start and another has been pretty iffy, lately. At the current age of the TTX deckers, I expect they'll be in similar condition (though, TBF, the route is no less forgiving, with miles and miles of windy NSL roads, and lots of the aforementioned inclines - it's hard on any gearbox)

It's known that the Stanley ones (and former ones - C&C) have awful gearboxes. I think the deptford examples are better, but I sense cost cutting from a mile away with the 15 reg ones.


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Which services currently don't have their stop announcements activated?

Too many!

On the 20, Chilton Schools both sides of the road. Unless that's changed with the new stop being added at Lidl (buses had their price increase notices removed last week and replaced with details).

No, this hasn't been changed.

Which stop are you referring to? I've done a quick Google of 'Chilton Schools' and it's not revealing anything on the 20 route. I think I can recall you mentioning something on the forum about the stop just off Black Boy Road in the past - I'll add that stop if it's not there already... Not sure why it was missed.

6047 has a white RN now.

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6138 looks to have been treated to a partial repaint into the new corporate livery. I may have misread but the fleet number didn't look like it ended in two 2s (ie 6122) and had not had its seats retrimmed so it could not have been 3995 either.

6138 looks to have been treated to a partial repaint into the new corporate livery. I may have misread but the fleet number didn't look like it ended in two 2s (ie 6122) and had not had its seats retrimmed so it could not have been 3995 either.

3995 is still at Saltmeadows Road, so definitely not that one!

You're right in suggesting that it was 6138 - it wasn't re-trimmed as it wasn't scheduled for repaint at that time. It was at Saltmeadows Road for repairs to the windscreen, so treated to a partial repaint after the new windscreen had been fitted.

3995 is still at Saltmeadows Road, so definitely not that one!

You're right in suggesting that it was 6138 - it wasn't re-trimmed as it wasn't scheduled for repaint at that time. It was at Saltmeadows Road for repairs to the windscreen, so treated to a partial repaint after the new windscreen had been fitted.

How many Omnidekka's still need a internal refurbishment?

How many Omnidekka's still need a internal refurbishment?

All of them, apart from 3995 and 6141-46.

All of them, apart from 3995 and 6141-46.

Ah right, thought more were done, thanks.


In the new year, which buses are planned to go for their mid-life refurbishment?

All of them, apart from 3995 and 6141-46.

Haven't 6131-3 been treated too, at the start?

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Haven't 6131-3 been treated too, at the start?

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I'm not sure if he was referring to the batch that arrived in 2015 but yes they have.

3995 is still at Saltmeadows Road, so definitely not that one!

You're right in suggesting that it was 6138 - it wasn't re-trimmed as it wasn't scheduled for repaint at that time. It was at Saltmeadows Road for repairs to the windscreen, so treated to a partial repaint after the new windscreen had been fitted.

6138 has quite a few other misc issues that could have been fixed quickly.
- The emergency door button doesn't work - the doors must be pushed open.
- The front display spends about 20 seconds blank every minute.
- The bell rings whenever the bus goes over a pothole.

There's a catelogue of other, somewhat bigger issues, but one would have thought that these issues could also have been dealt with there and then - they have all been reported at some stage.

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6001-6007 &  6043-6048 are my most hated gemanis , don't like the sound of engines in them.

I live in Billingham and i use the TTX service on most saturdays for my weekly trip to Newcastle.
Having experienced 6043-6048 myself...
6043 - Nice
6044 - Slow
6045 - Cant say i can remember riding on it
6046 - On the slow side
6047 - On the slow side
6048 - Absolute shed!

However... 6083 and 6084 which are allocated to the TEN's and the TTX service are lovely, fast buses, shame the exhaust plays up on 83.
Definitely hope new buses come fairly soon for the TTX, the dilemma Go North East has at the moment is which buses. I liked the recent 9098 trial E400 City, however it constantly ran late and wasn't much, if at all faster than the Gemini's are at current, never mind when they were new. Coaches would be a good choice (regret to say it) as they are fast and reliable, however the capacity of them isn't great... and once they are full - they are full...
Which gets me onto frequency (might aswell have a rant while i am here). An option would be to make the x9 and the x10 services run every 30 minutes EACH on peak times, and run coaches, but that would have to incorporate extra fleet and staff.
Even now at Eldon Square, i go to the bus stand for the x9 15 minutes early to try and beat the queue, but let alone its out the door already.
A better option for Go North East would be to delay the timetables slightly at peak times to incorporate the  delays caused by theamount of traffic and passengers.

The option i can see Go North East going with is buying some horrible, cheap, unreliable plasticy Streetdecks, and the service continuing to run delayed, buses continuing to break down, and customers to continue being annoyed.
Thats my rant done, feel free to argue with it, these are just my opinions, it would be nice to see others

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I live in Billingham and i use the TTX service on most saturdays for my weekly trip to Newcastle.
Having experienced 6043-6048 myself...
6043 - Nice
6044 - Slow
6045 - Cant say i can remember riding on it
6046 - On the slow side
6047 - On the slow side
6048 - Absolute shed!

However... 6083 and 6084 which are allocated to the TEN's and the TTX service are lovely, fast buses, shame the exhaust plays up on 83.
Definitely hope new buses come fairly soon for the TTX, the dilemma Go North East has at the moment is which buses. I liked the recent 9098 trial E400 City, however it constantly ran late and wasn't much, if at all faster than the Gemini's are at current, never mind when they were new. Coaches would be a good choice (regret to say it) as they are fast and reliable, however the capacity of them isn't great... and once they are full - they are full...
Which gets me onto frequency (might aswell have a rant while i am here). An option would be to make the x9 and the x10 services run every 30 minutes EACH on peak times, and run coaches, but that would have to incorporate extra fleet and staff.
Even now at Eldon Square, i go to the bus stand for the x9 15 minutes early to try and beat the queue, but let alone its out the door already.
A better option for Go North East would be to delay the timetables slightly at peak times to incorporate the  delays caused by theamount of traffic and passengers.

The option i can see Go North East going with is buying some horrible, cheap, unreliable plasticy Streetdecks, and the service continuing to run delayed, buses continuing to break down, and customers to continue being annoyed.
Thats my rant done, feel free to argue with it, these are just my opinions, it would be nice to see others

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6084 was on yesterday. Saw it crossing Hylton Bridge southbound at about 1045 yesterday morning, seconds behind a branded example. Both in service.

There had been an accident northbound at Herrington earlier in the morning, but for whatever reason, it didn't seem any regulating was going on with this specific case.

The option i can see Go North East going with is buying some horrible, cheap, unreliable plasticy Streetdecks, and the service continuing to run delayed, buses continuing to break down, and customers to continue being annoyed.

I tend to disgree:

Horrible - They are a lot better lookong than the Metrodekka. Just looks like a melted versa
Cheap - Depends on quantity and specs
Unreliable - As far as I'm aware the Streetdecks are one of the most reliable in the fleet...let's hope it's better in the snow than the Citaro's
Plasticy - all buses tend to have plastic seat backs and other plastic components, however I think Wright might of ran out of the hand-carved oak seats and the scratch resistant glass tables 

I tend to disgree:

Horrible - They are a lot better lookong than the Metrodekka. Just looks like a melted versa
Cheap - Depends on quantity and specs
Unreliable - As far as I'm aware the Streetdecks are one of the most reliable in the fleet...let's hope it's better in the snow than the Citaro's
Plasticy - all buses tend to have plastic seat backs and other plastic components, however I think Wright might of ran out of the hand-carved oak seats and the scratch resistant glass tables 

I can't remember the last time i read on here that a streetdeck was off the road, wouldn't be surprised if more are on order.

I can't remember the last time i read on here that a streetdeck was off the road, wouldn't be surprised if more are on order.

Metrodeckers are apparently on order just thought I'd share this rumour too