It seems odd that 5329 was out and about testing stop announcements for the 8/78, when its a Deptford bus.

Chester-le-Street still have quite a high Streetlite PVR on a Sunday, so it may have been a case that there were none available and being the only single decks with that NSA system based there would give them no choice but to source a bus from another depot. 

Perhaps the available Streetlites (if there were any spare) were overlooked for employee convenience? It would seem a logical thing to do given both vehicle types would show the announcements in exactly the same way.

Either way, it won't have mattered too much, even if it has broken the trend a bit.

Could be that Dan had other things to do at Deptford this morning and has used 5329 to save on mileage instead of travelling to Chester depot to then double back on himself.

Chester-le-Street only have two Coast & Country branded Streetlites spare on a Sunday (due to them being used on other services like the 28, 34 and X22) and had three VOR on Friday (meaning the two branded spares, and the Beamish Streetlite, were all probably going to be in use on Sunday, if they didn't get them back on the road).

During refurbishment, as well as having Next Stop Announcements fitted, the Mercedes Citaros have had new "Wi-Fi enabled" destination controllers fitted, meaning that both the destinations and Next Stop Announcements can be updated remotely. It meant that the test programme and 'proper' programme could be sent to the bus remotely. The Streetlites don't have this special kind of destination controller.

As well as this; when running all variations of the 8/8A, 78/78A, it's probably more efficient to start at the Sunderland end rather than slap bang in the middle of the route (round trip on the 78, 8A Sunderland - The Galleries return, 8 Sunderland to Stanley, 78A Stanley to Chester-le-Street return, then 8 Stanley to Sunderland).

Aside from that, yes, much more convenient for me to work from Deptford, when it's only 5 minutes down the road... 

As S813 FVK suggests, it doesn't matter too much what bus is used. As long as it's a bus with a TFT monitor when the 'proper' bus is a TFT monitor, and conversely LED when it's usually an LED.

Chester-le-Street only have two Coast & Country branded Streetlites spare on a Sunday (due to them being used on other services like the 28, 34 and X22) and had three VOR on Friday (meaning the two branded spares, and the Beamish Streetlite, were all probably going to be in use on Sunday, if they didn't get them back on the road).

During refurbishment, as well as having Next Stop Announcements fitted, the Mercedes Citaros have had new "Wi-Fi enabled" destination controllers fitted, meaning that both the destinations and Next Stop Announcements can be updated remotely. It meant that the test programme and 'proper' programme could be sent to the bus remotely. The Streetlites don't have this special kind of destination controller.

As well as this; when running all variations of the 8/8A, 78/78A, it's probably more efficient to start at the Sunderland end rather than slap bang in the middle of the route (round trip on the 78, 8A Sunderland - The Galleries return, 8 Sunderland to Stanley, 78A Stanley to Chester-le-Street return, then 8 Stanley to Sunderland).

Aside from that, yes, much more convenient for me to work from Deptford, when it's only 5 minutes down the road... 

As S813 FVK suggests, it doesn't matter too much what bus is used. As long as it's a bus with a TFT monitor when the 'proper' bus is a TFT monitor, and conversely LED when it's usually an LED.

Any chance, diversions could be put in place on the stop announcements in the future, with WIFI enabled destination controllers fitted, like for example, with Timber Beach Road closed in Sunderland, the 8 could say:

"This is the 8 to Stanley, there's a diversion in place between via Colima Avenue and the A1231 as Timber Beach Road is closed", "the closest stop would be Queen Alexandrea Bridge North End"

Or when approaches B&Q "This bus isn't stopping on Timber Beach Road due to roadworks, please use the enterprise park shuttle bus" 

These would stop once its back on to normal route and continue with normal announcements.  


Obviously it could be shorter, but that was just an example.

Any chance, diversions could be put in place on the stop announcements in the future, with WIFI enabled destination controllers fitted, like for example, with Timber Beach Road closed in Sunderland, the 8 could say:

"This is the 8 to Stanley, there's a diversion in place between via Colima Avenue and the A1231 as Timber Beach Road is closed", "the closest stop would be Queen Alexandrea Bridge North End"

Or when approaches B&Q "This bus isn't stopping on Timber Beach Road due to roadworks, please use the enterprise park shuttle bus" 

These would stop once its back on to normal route and continue with normal announcements.  


Obviously it could be shorter, but that was just an example.

Yes - long-term once everything is up and running as it should be, that's the aim.

The announcements on the X9/X10 are a good example of this - they announce the Felling Bypass roadworks and how Testo's Roundabout was being omitted for the duration of the works. Slightly out of date now with the roadworks being paused, but that may well be the diversionary route again come 28th January (up to now, it's not known whether this will be the case or not).

Yes - long-term once everything is up and running as it should be, that's the aim.

The announcements on the X9/X10 are a good example of this - they announce the Felling Bypass roadworks and how Testo's Roundabout was being omitted for the duration of the works. Slightly out of date now with the roadworks being paused, but that may well be the diversionary route again come 28th January (up to now, it's not known whether this will be the case or not).

That's good,least they could be done on the Streetlites at a future date, if they get the technology fitted, it would be helpful like, alot of people are still confused about the 8,36,73,99 and 135/136 diversion, and that shuttle bus is a waste of time.

Would there be much point in creating a TFT program for services that would normally use LED monitors vice versa? Mightn't get use often, but it would increase system usage as well maintaining that part of the specification.

Would there be much point in creating a TFT program for services that would normally use LED monitors vice versa? Mightn't get use often, but it would increase system usage as well maintaining that part of the specification.

It wouldn't be done for every service (for every journey/variation) simply because of the length of time it takes to create everything for the old system which most of the vehicles with TFT monitors use, but where a certain allocation happens regularly, it is one of the things on the cards to do as more of a long-term idea. Primarily for the likes of the two fleet livery Volvo B9 being regularly used on the Prince Bishops, so really the announcements should be programmed if possible. Similarly Deptford running one or two weekday morning journeys on the Coast & Country, using buses with announcements.

Go North East invested in new systems and destination controllers for all of the Quaylink buses, plus two of the red Versas, late last year. The audio will therefore work on these buses for all services which have the LEDs programmed, but the visual TFT display will only work for the Citylink58/Quaylink services, until more graphics are created.

Go North East invested in new systems and destination controllers for all of the Quaylink buses, plus two of the red Versas, late last year. 

Will it be much longer until Emma's voice is heard across Citylink58s and Quaylinks?

Will it be much longer until Emma's voice is heard across Citylink58s and Quaylinks?

She's been back on the Quaylinks for a month or two, now. As and when the new systems were fitted, the announcements were enabled again.

A few weeks ago I rode on a TEN with NSAs, yet as a general rule they seem to be inactive.
Has there been a problem?

A few weeks ago I rode on a TEN with NSAs, yet as a general rule they seem to be inactive.
Has there been a problem?

You'll just get the same answer as before, other routes are a priority before the TEN.... like its been said many times before.

6077 is the only vehicle on Ten currently working with NSA's I've noticed however it doesn't work on either 10B or 10X but as I don't travel on the 10A I don't know about that one.

You'll just get the same answer as before, other routes are a priority before the TEN.... like its been said many times before.

That line could come back to haunt you Michael...

That line could come back to haunt you Michael...

Aye it does , was waiting for someone to say that

A few weeks ago I rode on a TEN with NSAs, yet as a general rule they seem to be inactive.
Has there been a problem?

You'll just get the same answer as before, other routes are a priority before the TEN.... like its been said many times before.

6077 is the only vehicle on Ten currently working with NSA's I've noticed however it doesn't work on either 10B or 10X but as I don't travel on the 10A I don't know about that one.

I'm disappointed it's taken this long for it to surface that we've heard the delights of Emma along the Tyne Valley again!

Not a problem, as such, and a different answer to the one that's been given previously. Some testing 'out in the field' is being undertaken on a couple of buses on the Tyne Valley Ten (6077 is one of them, yes). It's been ongoing since late November and the media is only programmed for the 10 service while feedback is received. It looks like the previous issues, which prevented the media going live all those months ago, have been sorted now, as there's been nothing in to suggest that this isn't the case.

Hopefully in the not-too-distant future, the announcements on the Tynedale Express and Tynedale Links 680 will be tested, and then once any amendments have been made, those two batches of buses along with the Tyne Valley Ten branded Volvo B9s and the Citylink58 Versas, can all be uploaded at the same time (in the same night). This will probably form part of a wider marketing campaign to promote Hexham's services, ahead of the return of the Hadrian's Wall AD122 service.

Much better progress has been made with the announcements recently as I'm sure you will agree; with the Quaylink Q1/Q2/Q3 being enabled again not so long ago, the new Angel buses having the announcements programmed from Day 1 of launch (for both 21 and N21), the cascaded Angel buses now on the Coaster having the announcements programmed from Day 1 of the launch (for both 1/1A), and more recently the Coast & Country having the announcements tested prior to being launched again too. There's been an issue on the indiGo Washington services since the media was programmed for the 81/82/83/84 and Hanover think they have managed to fix this problem now, and is in a position to be tested in the field today after a few months worth of development work, all being well, which will be another one to cross off the list.

Obviously these things take time but there's clear progression being made now, and, all being well, the new 9 and 26 will have the announcements tested and working for Day 1 of the launch later this month, too. The thing which takes the most amount of time is having to set aside a full day for testing before the media is publicly launched (which those of you who follow my Flickr will notice a lot of this has been done on Sundays recently, on my day off!) This is one of the things Go North East are good at doing, and there's a clear difference in quality in the end product compared to Arriva, who quite clearly don't test it before launching it (on some routes at least). I'd say it's better for it to be done correctly and accurately, given that the whole purpose of the system is to benefit those who are visually-impaired and rely on the system to boost their confidence when travelling on the bus, and there's no point racing it out if it's not going to be correct.

Talking of things tech I've just downloaded the new app and like the tracking facility which even tells you what the bus fleetnumber is.

Even the demo is been tracked. Currently south of CLS heading North as I type this.

Talking of things tech I've just downloaded the new app and like the tracking facility which even tells you what the bus fleetnumber is.

Where abouts on the app does it show you the fleetnumber?


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Talking of things tech I've just downloaded the new app and like the tracking facility which even tells you what the bus fleetnumber is.

No Washington routes on there

No Washington routes on there

I can see them!

App.jpg (Size 48.4 KB Downloads 36)

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I can see them!



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On the list where you can choose your service, there's a few  routes missing.

Thanks for the info with regard to the App, although it took me a while to realise it was a different App to that on the GNE website !
Having the fleetnumbers will be very useful !!
I still wish there was the equivalent of London Vehicle Finder for the whole country though, but this will do for GNE.

Thanks for the info with regard to the App, although it took me a while to realise it was a different App to that on the GNE website !
Having the fleetnumbers will be very useful !!
I still wish there was the equivalent of London Vehicle Finder for the whole country though, but this will do for GNE.

Same here, only just realised it was another app


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How do you get the app please?

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How do you get the app please?

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On your mobile go to the App Store and search for go north east, should be a blue square with the word ‘Go’ in white and click on it to download it to your mobile


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Thanks very much

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On the list where you can choose your service, there's a few  routes missing.

Thats where I meant that the Washington routes are missing

Much improved app, the fleet numbers are certainly an added bonus - especially with the white fleet numbers on backgrounds which make visibility difficult (e.g. Venture, Metrocentre Mini & Crusader).

I'm expecting to see a lot of 'bus spotting from home' in the rare & working threads now

On the list where you can choose your service, there's a few  routes missing.

You can also get the fleet number by tapping on the individual  buses as they move around

Pity you cannot enter the fleet number to see where it is !!!!

Almost predictably, there's no Windows Phone app.
Disappointing they can't even offer a watered down version to suit passengers using that type of phone. Obviously ANE and Nexus can offer an alternative of sorts.

I will continue using the multi-modal, multi-operator, multi-country 'Moovit' app. Realtime tracking and not just limited to GNE. 
Especially handy when in other parts of the country and/or world.