(02 May 2016, 10:59 am)citaro5284 wrote Yeah they are.

Cheers

(02 May 2016, 10:46 am)GX03 SVC wrote What do the signs say?

They say that buses will be diverted due to a RTC. Ain't no rtc with about 8 police vehicles and a security van.heart FM are. Referring to it as an incident rather than accident

Take a look at @HeartNENews's Tweet: https://twitter.com/HeartNENews/status/7...64288?s=09

(02 May 2016, 10:34 am)Michael wrote NEXUS putting signs up?, wow this is new!

To be fair nexus are very proactive in Eldon Square. As are GNE when there's an incident. They regularly update the digital boards with scrolling live info

(02 May 2016, 11:34 am)Ambassador wrote To be fair nexus are very proactive in Eldon Square. As are GNE when there's an incident. They regularly update the digital boards with scrolling live info

I agree, Much more proactive than Park Lane in my experiences.

Noticed that Hodgsons Coaches were running their service 79 between Barnard Castle and Richmond today. I heard nothing suggesting that this service would be running today and it certainly showed as I saw it enter and leave Richmond Market Place with no passengers.

Not really certain how many passengers the services Dales & District ran today carried.

With Newcastle playing at home on Good Friday at 19:45, do you think the big three will consider operating a Saturday service with or without the Night Buses (in GNE's case) as a result of this?

Bearing in mind that it is also a Friday night and a lot of later journeys which normally run on a Friday / Saturday night (excluding night buses) or Monday to Saturday evening for that matter including some offering a more frequent service or running later than a Sunday evening.

Anything less than a Saturday service on Good Friday given the circumstances would be a disgrace in my opinion as buses would end up running stupidly late not only having to deal with high numbers coming out of the Town, but also high numbers going into the Town irrespective of the weather or sales etc.

(03 Mar 2017, 10:54 pm)L469 YVK wrote With Newcastle playing at home on Good Friday at 19:45, do you think the big three will consider operating a Saturday service with or without the Night Buses (in GNE's case) as a result of this?

Bearing in mind that it is also a Friday night and a lot of later journeys which normally run on a Friday / Saturday night  (excluding night buses) or Monday to Saturday evening for that matter including some offering a more frequent service or running later than a Sunday evening.

Anything less than a Saturday service on Good Friday given the circumstances would be a disgrace in my opinion as buses would end up running stupidly late not only having to deal with high numbers coming out of the Town, but also high numbers going into the Town irrespective of the weather or sales etc.

It'll be Sunday service because they'll be "no demand"... Haha

(03 Mar 2017, 10:59 pm)Michael wrote
It'll be Sunday service because they'll be "no demand"... Haha

Well the controllers and spare drivers will certainly be in demand due to potential severe late running that's for sure and there'll be a LOT of angry passengers trying to get home on fewer services. For instance, the 21 normally has journeys at 21:42, 22:42 and 23:42 (Chester only) on a Monday to Saturday but it will end up with 5x bus loads of passengers trying to get onto 2x services at 22:12 and 23:12.

(03 Mar 2017, 10:54 pm)L469 YVK wrote With Newcastle playing at home on Good Friday at 19:45, do you think the big three will consider operating a Saturday service with or without the Night Buses (in GNE's case) as a result of this?

Bearing in mind that it is also a Friday night and a lot of later journeys which normally run on a Friday / Saturday night  (excluding night buses) or Monday to Saturday evening for that matter including some offering a more frequent service or running later than a Sunday evening.

Anything less than a Saturday service on Good Friday given the circumstances would be a disgrace in my opinion as buses would end up running stupidly late not only having to deal with high numbers coming out of the Town, but also high numbers going into the Town irrespective of the weather or sales etc.

Can't see anything changing myself, but happy being proven wrong.

How far is Easter off now - 6 weeks?

One hopes that they'll chase the obvious money on offer (they normally do)

Or even Newcastle may fund transport....or north east bus companies enter the 21st century

ABSOLUTELY STUPID OR WHAT!

SUNDAY SERVICE ON THE DAY OF SATURDAY LEVELS OF PASSENGERS PLUS ONE OF THE BIGGEST FOOTBALL MATCHES OF THE SEASON?????????????

Eldon Square will be chaos; control room will be mental and there'll be plenty of buses with "NOT IN SERVICE" kicking about with 30 - 60 min delays.

From GNE Website:
Good Friday - 14 April

The majority of services will run to Sunday timetables.

21 - Sunday timetable, with the 11.12pm Durham Bus Station to Chester-le-Street journey extended to Newcastle Pilgrim Street.
49, 49A & 49C - will run to a special timetable.
AD122 - starts running from 14 April, find out how you can explore Hadrian's Wall Country with us.
N20/N21 - on Good Friday night / Saturday morning, the services will run the normal Night Bus timetable.
N56 - this service is cancelled on Good Friday.
X66 - will run to a special timetable.
X88 - will run to a special timetable.
All other services will run to Sunday timetables.

(28 Mar 2017, 7:46 pm)L469 YVK wrote ABSOLUTELY STUPID OR WHAT!

SUNDAY SERVICE ON THE DAY OF SATURDAY LEVELS OF PASSENGERS PLUS ONE OF THE BIGGEST FOOTBALL MATCHES OF THE SEASON?????????????

Eldon Square will be chaos; control room will be mental and there'll be plenty of buses with "NOT IN SERVICE" kicking about with 30+ delays.

From GNE Website:
Good Friday - 14 April

The majority of services will run to Sunday timetables.

21 - Sunday timetable, with the 11.12pm Durham Bus Station to Chester-le-Street journey extended to Newcastle Pilgrim Street.
49, 49A & 49C - will run to a special timetable.
AD122 - starts running from 14 April, find out how you can explore Hadrian's Wall Country with us.
N20/N21 - on Good Friday night / Saturday morning, the services will run the normal Night Bus timetable.
N56 - this service is cancelled on Good Friday.
X66 - will run to a special timetable.
X88 - will run to a special timetable.
All other services will run to Sunday timetables.

Stagecoach and Arriva will probables be the same soo it'll not just be "Go North East"...

(28 Mar 2017, 7:52 pm)Michael wrote Stagecoach and Arriva will probables be the same soo it'll not just be "Go North East"...

Well the same goes for them too!

Lets not forget that the Newcastle game was only moved to Friday at the start of this month, which doesn't give the operators much scope to change shifts to add extra duties in. 

The police actually asked for this game to be moved back in February, but the league refused, despite it clashing with Sunderland at home to West Ham on the Saturday. Funny how they can move it when megabucks Sky come running along with money. 

At least moving it back in February would have allowed for some scope to plan duties.

It's amazing how bus companies up here do not learn at all on peak routes. With record high temps forecast there'll be more folk about.

The 21 hasn't coped for the past 2 years on every Bank Holiday. So they continue doing as they are. Completely oblivious to the world around them. And showing absolutely no forward thinking and complete and total disregard for their customers, who lets be honest, if there was competition would happily jump on a rival.

I don't even attempt to use a bus on a Bank Hol, I'd rather pay a premium and take a taxi.

[quote pid='195967' dateline='1490731765']

At least moving it back in February would have allowed for some scope to plan duties.
[/quote]

If it takes a month to plan a roster I'd guess GNE need a better scheduling department...

(28 Mar 2017, 10:06 pm)James101 wrote [quote pid='195967' dateline='1490731765']

At least moving it back in February would have allowed for some scope to plan duties.

If it takes a month to plan a roster I'd guess GNE need a better scheduling department...
[/quote]

The process in general - planning the routes, inputting them into various systems, scheduling them, ensuring shifts are legal, etc etc - would probably last this amount of time (if not more) industry-wide. Or at least this would be the case for larger operators. Not just Go North East.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

(28 Mar 2017, 8:48 pm)Ambassador wrote It's amazing how  bus companies up here do not learn at all on peak routes. With record high temps forecast there'll be more folk about.

The 21 hasn't coped for the past 2 years on every Bank Holiday. So they continue doing as they are.  Completely oblivious to the world around them. And showing absolutely no forward thinking and complete and total disregard for their customers, who lets be honest, if there was competition would happily jump on a rival.

I don't even attempt to use a bus on a Bank Hol, I'd rather pay a premium and  take a taxi.

Big'un refuses to contemplate Bank holiday buses, now - mostly because our local service gets hammered by Dalton Park traffic and is often a no show, which is rather crap for an hourly service. It would be less of a concern if Arriva provided any information at all other than the app that the bus you're waiting on simply disappears from, with no reason given or available. Not that their social media staff have any clue when they are at work. Last time I asked where a bus had got to and when could I expect it, I got a reply several hours later saying it had got stuck in heavy traffic. Not helpful.

(28 Mar 2017, 10:11 pm)Dan wrote If it takes a month to plan a roster I'd guess GNE need a better scheduling department...

Massive opportunity for effieciency here then - though they seem to manage when emergency tenders for metro etc come up

(28 Mar 2017, 10:11 pm)Dan wrote If it takes a month to plan a roster I'd guess GNE need a better scheduling department...

The process in general - planning the routes, inputting them into various systems, scheduling them, ensuring shifts are legal, etc etc - would probably last this amount of time (if not more) industry-wide. Or at least this would be the case for larger operators. Not just Go North East.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
[/quote]

But when the fixture got confirmed earlier this month, could arrangements not have been put in place for all Newcastle services?

Not having this out with you Dan btw and have already said the same to Customer Services.

But on what could potentially be the busiest one to date, it's going to end up seeing vuses being packed and running stupidly late with services needing to be regulated and passengers affected. And if anyting kicks off in the afternoon, there'll be no recivery time heading back towards Newcastle as there'll be people needing to get to the match.

They don't care. As if proven by their scheduling and attitude.

We're a service led economy up here, large numbers of people work Bank Holidays and the rest tend to go out and enjoy. They aren't the lazy Sundays they once were and none of the companies have reacted.

Welcome to the North East, the local public transport time is 1950.

But hey....we've got power sockets and NSAs!

For years and years bank holiday services have always operated in this manner regarding schedules. There have been matches on at those times too and other stuff not just matches. The bus companies aren't going to change their scheduling after all these years just because there is a football game on.

(29 Mar 2017, 7:19 am)ifm001 wrote For years and years bank holiday services have always operated in this manner regarding schedules. There have been matches on at those times too and other stuff not just matches. The bus companies aren't going to change their scheduling after all these years just because there is a football game on.

It's not just football, as others have said.


Years and years ago people weren't at work, now large amounts of offices are open, shops are open, pubs, restaurants, cinemas etc. 

We're a service driven economy...aside from when it comes to buses

(29 Mar 2017, 7:19 am)ifm001 wrote For years and years bank holiday services have always operated in this manner regarding schedules. There have been matches on at those times too and other stuff not just matches. The bus companies aren't going to change their scheduling after all these years just because there is a football game on.

Some Bank Holiday services have adapted though.
How many services to the Metrocentre, have we seen expand to special timetables?

I would argue that it isn't enough.

In the time some services have changed, we have seen stadia in Newcastle and Sunderland increase their capacity and business space within the city centres adapt, morph or even change sector.
The daytime cafe's and bar culture wasn't as plentiful 10/15 years ago as it is now, yet we see a similar level of service on the buses.

(28 Mar 2017, 10:06 pm)James101 wrote If it takes a month to plan a roster I'd guess GNE need a better scheduling department...

What if most of the drivers have already chosen to have the day off to spend with family, go away, even go to the match etc? Being Easter I'd suggest that is a fairly high number.
They're not required to work on their day off.

(29 Mar 2017, 12:21 pm)northern156 wrote What if most of the drivers have already chosen to have the day off to spend with family, go away, even go to the match etc? Being Easter I'd suggest that is a fairly high number.
They're not required to work on their day off.

Again, for a company with as many employees as GNE, there should be a set process to ensure only a set number of people can have any particular day off. If GNE, or any other company, approve too many holiday requests, that's poor management. Sundays and bank holidays are not God-given rights as days off, the law seems them as any other day. Any extra benefits surrounding bank holiday working are at the discretion of the employer and can be withdrawn.

(28 Mar 2017, 11:15 pm)Ambassador wrote They don't care. As if proven by their scheduling and attitude.

We're a service led economy up here, large numbers of people work Bank Holidays and the rest tend to go out and enjoy. They aren't the lazy Sundays they once were and none of the companies have reacted.

Welcome to the North East, the local public transport time is 1950.

But hey....we've got power sockets and NSAs!

It looks more to me like a company making a commercial decision to provide a level of service on a bank holiday, rather than workers refusing to do it. The schedulers can only work with what frequencies they're told are running on a bank holiday. I do agree that the bus industry up here is well behind with the times in that respect, but that is the model we're stuck with for now. This is nothing new, it isn't good enough, and it doesn't seem to be improving. Most of Durham was again without buses on Boxing Day.

We may be a service driven economy in your view, but a service provider is still entitled to decide on what level of service it provides to it's customers. Perhaps that is a direct result at the lack of competition in key areas.

(29 Mar 2017, 4:10 pm)James101 wrote Again, for a company with as many employees as GNE, there should be a set process to ensure only a set number of people can have any particular day off. If GNE, or any other company, approve too many holiday requests, that's poor management. Sundays and bank holidays are not God-given rights as days off, the law seems them as any other day. Any extra benefits surrounding bank holiday working are at the discretion of the employer and can be withdrawn.

Do you honestly think there wouldn't be? 2000 staff with the majority being drivers, working obscure shift pattern, and across several locations? I'd suggest the system is almost cast iron.

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(28 Mar 2017, 10:39 pm)James101 wrote Massive opportunity for effieciency here then - though they seem to manage when emergency tenders for metro etc come up

I'd suggest anything less than 4 weeks notice to alter a shift is unreasonable. All employees, no matter who they work for, are entitled to a work-life balance. Giving them one lot of shifts, and then changing them for another with minimal notice, is unreasonable in my opinion. Plenty of opportunity for businesses to resource with volunteers working a rest day or overtime, if needs must.

Planned Metro tenders are normally awarded ages in advance, but even then, it is with volunteers to some degree from what I've seen, based on which drivers are working those services. The emergency requests (rather than tenders) for replacement buses is usually staffed with lead drivers and others that are not scheduled to be on the road.

(29 Mar 2017, 5:46 pm)Adrian wrote Do you honestly think there wouldn't be? 2000 staff with the majority being drivers, working obscure shift pattern, and across several locations? I'd suggest the system is almost cast iron.

---

I'd suggest anything less than 4 weeks notice to alter a shift is unreasonable. All employees, no matter who they work for, are entitled to a work-life balance. Giving them one lot of shifts, and then changing them for another with minimal notice, is unreasonable in my opinion. Plenty of opportunity for businesses to resource with volunteers working a rest day or overtime, if needs must.

Planned Metro tenders are normally awarded ages in advance, but even then, it is with volunteers to some degree from what I've seen, based on which drivers are working those services. The emergency requests (rather than tenders) for replacement buses is usually staffed with lead drivers and others that are not scheduled to be on the road.

BIB: I think the system probably is 'cast-iron'. My comment was in response to northern156's suggestion drivers could have the bank holiday weekend off because they fancied it. 

I see your argument for the 4 week notice for an issued roster, but it's only reasonable to expect GNE to impose the same rules on driver's holiday or day off requests. In effect, if a driver doesn't request to be off on a particular day with 4 weeks notice, they can't expect to get it. 

The loadings on some key routes have been so high on Good Friday in the past have been so high I'd suggest GNE could even staff then with agency drivers and still turn a profit.

(29 Mar 2017, 6:13 pm)James101 wrote BIB: I think the system probably is 'cast-iron'. My comment was in response to northern156's suggestion drivers could have the bank holiday weekend off because they fancied it. 

I see your argument for the 4 week notice for an issued roster, but it's only reasonable to expect GNE to impose the same rules on driver's holiday or day off requests. In effect, if a driver doesn't request to be off on a particular day with 4 weeks notice, they can't expect to get it. 

The loadings on some key routes have been so high on Good Friday in the past have been so high I'd suggest GNE could even staff then with agency drivers and still turn a profit.

My understanding is that a lot of bus companies work their driver leave a lot differently to how you or I may experience it. Their leave is usually allocated in set blocks throughout the year, and it is then up to drivers to arrange swaps with their colleagues. They don't have the luxury that you or I may have, where we may be able to request ad-hoc leave in the same week or whatever.

(29 Mar 2017, 6:13 pm)James101 wrote BIB: I think the system probably is 'cast-iron'. My comment was in response to northern156's suggestion drivers could have the bank holiday weekend off because they fancied it. 

I see your argument for the 4 week notice for an issued roster, but it's only reasonable to expect GNE to impose the same rules on driver's holiday or day off requests. In effect, if a driver doesn't request to be off on a particular day with 4 weeks notice, they can't expect to get it. 

The loadings on some key routes have been so high on Good Friday in the past have been so high I'd suggest GNE could even staff then with agency drivers and still turn a profit.

If it had been a normal Mon-Fri, then yes I'd expect a good amount of drivers to be at work for the amount of buses on the go.
However, with it being a bank holiday (with a near Sunday service resulting in that), drivers would be entitled to have the day off as long as enough of them are in for the services ran. This would be forecasted a good way back and as you can probably imagine, a good number of drivers would have that as a day off.

To then change it again and say instead of the previous number of drivers, we need more, is as Adrian says, detrimental to a good work-life balance which unions would be dead against.