(25 Feb 2018, 5:22 pm)Michael wrote Be interesting to see who replaces him, and what direction they'll go in, such as branding, new buses etc.


Will 6116/17 be repainted in to the new livery anytime soon?

It will depend on if the 309/310 get new buses

(25 Feb 2018, 5:22 pm)Michael wrote Be interesting to see who replaces him, and what direction they'll go in, such as branding, new buses etc.


Will 6116/17 be repainted in to the new livery anytime soon?

No idea about any changes to the purchasing strategy - except they're gonna need to sort something for the remaining Solar's and maybe 2/3 years beyond that, I think we will start to see the Omni's start to slowly disappear.

By that point, the Streetlites will have been tested and analysed fully. Who knows what Wrights or Optare are offering, never mind ADL.

I do think we will see further changes and transition to routes once the new MD has settled in
The new machines will play their part in those changes, regardless of any ideas or strategies he/she may have.

(25 Feb 2018, 6:20 pm)Andreos1 wrote No idea about any changes to the purchasing strategy - except they're gonna need to sort something for8 the remaining Solar's and maybe 2/3 years beyond that, I think we will start to see the Omni's start to slowly disappear.

By that point, the Streetlites will have been tested and analysed fully. Who knows what Wrights or Optare are offering, never mind ADL.

I do think we will see further changes and transition to routes once the new MD has settled in
The new machines will play their part in those changes, regardless of any ideas or strategies he/she may have.

They cant do anything about black cats loop or green arrow until 2019 because of restrictions placed by the council after tgose buses received modifications to upgrade them to euro 5. I would imagine that all the above services will receive new buses after the specified date to allow the solars to be withdrawn

(25 Feb 2018, 8:10 pm)JP6004 wrote They cant do anything about black cats loop or green arrow until 2019 because of restrictions placed by the council after tgose buses received modifications to upgrade them to euro 5. I would imagine that all the above services will receive new buses after the specified date to allow the solars to be withdrawn

They can certainly get the ball rolling with the business case, financing or planning of replacements though (if it isn't rolling already).
Depending when in 2019 the restrictions are lifted, the 54 plate Solar's will be hitting 15 years old.
Appreciate some older examples are still kicking around, such as Chester's 52 plates, so I expect the better 54 plates to hang around at least towards the end of 2019 or in to 2020.
By that point, the Omni's will be getting closer to 15 years old and I can't see them lasting too much longer after that. Certainly a max of 3 years.
Compared to the Solar's, there are fewer Omni's in the fleet. The cost implications of sourcing parts for the Omni's, versus cannibalising older Solar's may impact on their lifespan. I can't see them kicking around as long as the Renowns or Solar's. Partly because of the smaller pool to salvage from.

A lot of vehicles to replace under the current PVR.

If we see further changes or route consolidation, then maybe we won't see a like for like pvr replacement.

(25 Feb 2018, 9:42 pm)Andreos1 wrote They can certainly get the ball rolling with the business case, financing or planning of replacements though (if it isn't rolling already).
Depending when in 2019 the restrictions are lifted, the 54 plate Solar's will be hitting 15 years old.
Appreciate some older examples are still kicking around, such as Chester's 52 plates, so I expect the better 54 plates to hang around at least towards the end of 2019 or in to 2020.
By that point, the Omni's will be getting closer to 15 years old and I can't see them lasting too much longer after that. Certainly a max of 3 years.
Compared to the Solar's, there are fewer Omni's in the fleet. The cost implications of sourcing parts for the Omni's, versus cannibalising older Solar's may impact on their lifespan. I can't see them kicking around as long as the Renowns or Solar's. Partly because of the smaller pool to salvage from.

A lot of vehicles to replace under the current PVR.

If we see further changes or route consolidation, then maybe we won't see a like for like pvr replacement.

52 plate solars due to be withdrawn once ex south tyne versas undergo repaint. But there are quite a few 51 plates being pushed beyond their limit. To be fair if it wasnt for the council i think replacements would of been sourced; for some of them anyway

(25 Feb 2018, 10:00 pm)JP6004 wrote 52 plate solars due to be withdrawn once ex south tyne versas undergo repaint. But there are quite a few 51 plates being pushed beyond their limit. To be fair if it wasnt for the council i think replacements would of been sourced; for some of them anyway

I just tried to tally up how many Solar's are left, but I got bored checking on each status.
If you or anyone else fancies it...

I suppose it was easier and cheaper to take the upgrades at the time, than have to worry about replacing a chunk of them.
Win/win for GNE in a number of aspects. Certainly in the short-term.
However, I do think it has hindered them long-term.

Whether they can finance new vehicles or not, passengers on the 35 have certainly lost out and I wonder what perception those passengers hold now.
What may have been good PR initially, has resulted in vehicles well past their best (not sure anyone could argue with that), plying their trade on a major corridor and prone to competition from it's own services, never mind SNE.

Going back to what I said earlier about the pool of withdrawn vehicles and spares, it could mean that these Solar's are quite cheap to repair.

(25 Feb 2018, 10:28 pm)Andreos1 wrote I just tried to tally up how many Solar's are left, but I got bored checking on each status.
If you or anyone else fancies it...

I suppose it was easier and cheaper to take the upgrades at the time, than have to worry about replacing a chunk of them.
Win/win for GNE in a number of aspects. Certainly in the short-term.
However, I do think it has hindered them long-term.

Whether they can finance new vehicles or not, passengers on the 35 have certainly lost out and I wonder what perception those passengers hold now.
What may have been good PR initially, has resulted in vehicles well past their best (not sure anyone could argue with that), plying their trade on a major corridor and prone to competition from it's own services, never mind SNE.

Going back to what I said earlier about the pool of withdrawn vehicles and spares, it could mean that these Solar's are quite cheap to repair.

The GNE fleetlist easier to work out.

I think GNE have done the best they can with the limitations in place. I think allocating citaros to the 9 rather than the 35 is the better of 2 evils; upgrading 3 routes (9, 61 and 88) instead upgrading a less used service 35. Also if the limitations werent in place i think the 35 would of received new vehicles along along with the new black cat streetlites

(23 Feb 2018, 7:02 am)cbma06 wrote I think timetables were published for the southtyneside changes as it was mentioned somewhere , I think new timetables are produced on major changes but not for minor changes like retiming by a few minutes etc...

Recently when Arriva changed the timings of the 22,23,24. I did messaged them for new timetables to be sent through post, and got an email back stating that there don’t post them out no more and then 5 days later I got the timetables through the post with a note attached saying sorry for the delay sending out the timetables.


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There are new  timetables on some crusader buses for 26/27

Has there been any indication on wether the Boxing Day bus services for GNE,were up in passenger numbers than in previous years?.

Strange, 3968 and 5294 on Percy Main scholars.
Is 3968 a transfer?

(26 Feb 2018, 8:01 am)Tom wrote Strange, 3968 and 5294 on Percy Main scholars.
Is 3968 a transfer?

Would guess a loan as it's SE fleet, looked to be working out of PM at the weekend heading along Coast Rd. SE fleet seem to be a floating reserve pot in reality, 3968 being recently at Chester and Deptford.

(26 Feb 2018, 8:01 am)Tom wrote Strange, 3968 and 5294 on Percy Main scholars.
Is 3968 a transfer?

(26 Feb 2018, 10:44 am)RBZ 5459 wrote Would guess a loan as it's SE fleet, looked to be working out of PM at the weekend heading along Coast Rd. SE fleet seem to be a floating reserve pot in reality, 3968 being recently at Chester and Deptford.

3968, 3975 and 3977 all currently based at Percy Main - not really a loan to Percy Main as such, as seven extra buses are required to operate the DFDS Seaways 327 service at the moment (which would have been how you saw it heading along the Coast Road at the weekend). This was always the intention for the Special Events buses - not to be reinstated as and when required on commercial services, like the recent examples at Deptford and Chester-le-Street.

Suspect 5294 is a wrong fleet number in ticket machine, if you spotted this on the app rather than in the flesh. Likely to be one of the SPEV Volvo B7s, possibly 3975, and the machine came off 5294 at some point in time without having fleet number changed when it was put back on another bus.

All should be back at Riverside this weekend I think, for the Metro Replacement contract between St James and Monkseaton via The Coast.

(26 Feb 2018, 11:07 am)Dan wrote 3968, 3975 and 3977 all currently based at Percy Main - not really a loan to Percy Main as such, as seven extra buses are required to operate the DFDS Seaways 327 service at the moment (which would have been how you saw it heading along the Coast Road at the weekend). This was always the intention for the Special Events buses - not to be reinstated as and when required on commercial services, like the recent examples at Deptford and Chester-le-Street.

Suspect 5294 is a wrong fleet number in ticket machine, if you spotted this on the app rather than in the flesh. Likely to be one of the SPEV Volvo B7s, possibly 3975, and the machine came off 5294 at some point in time without having fleet number changed when it was put back on another bus.

All should be back at Riverside this weekend I think, for the Metro Replacement contract between St James and Monkseaton via The Coast.

3974 was on a Percy Main service as well.

SERVICE UPDATE AT 18:30

Services 16 / 16A are currently NOT operating due to impassable roads at South Stanley, Edmondsley and Sacriston.

Sherriff Hill impassable due to ice. No diversion available at present. Several vehicles stuck. Services 28, 56, X1, X25 diverted via Easedale Gardens, Harlow Green Lane, Durham Road to Gateshead. No service on Old Durham Road.

Tynemouth Road blocked and impassable due to ice. Services 1 diverted via Linskill Terrace. Service 1 is also unable to serve Wrekenton, it is terminating at Harlow Green Bridge.

Service 333 is currently not operating.

Service 34 / 34A unable to serve Urpeth Grange. Terminating at Ouston.

Service 30 unable to serve Lanchester, Burnhope or Quaking Houses.

Service 78 unable to serve Southfields & Hustledown / Hollyhill Gardens. Service diverted via South Moor & Hustledown Road between South Moor & Craghead

Service 680 is currently not operating due to road conditions. Road impassable at Acomb.

Other services are running to substantial delays.

We are experiencing incredibly high enquiry volumes. Unfortunately we may not be able to respond to all enquiries so please keep an eye on our page for updates.


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When will 4937 be withdrawn from Deptford?

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Edmondsley Bank in County Durham is completely blocked due to a bus going sideways.

Picture: Andrew Whitton, then post by Incidents on Teesside & County Durham

Roads are at a standstill round Consett. Someone on a local fb group has said a double decker has collided with a car on Blackhill bank. Hope everyone’s ok.
More than likely a red kite b9 unless an omnidekka is in use on 45/46’s

---

Further to last message, it was omnidekka 3996 that was the bus involved .
From Consett snow report fb group

(27 Feb 2018, 6:37 pm)Michael wrote SERVICE UPDATE AT 18:30

Services 16 / 16A are currently NOT operating due to impassable roads at South Stanley, Edmondsley and Sacriston.

Sherriff Hill impassable due to ice. No diversion available at present. Several vehicles stuck. Services 28, 56, X1, X25 diverted via Easedale Gardens, Harlow Green Lane, Durham Road to Gateshead. No service on Old Durham Road.

Tynemouth Road blocked and impassable due to ice. Services 1 diverted via Linskill Terrace. Service 1 is also unable to serve Wrekenton, it is terminating at Harlow Green Bridge.

Service 333 is currently not operating.

Service 34 / 34A unable to serve Urpeth Grange. Terminating at Ouston.

Service 30 unable to serve Lanchester, Burnhope or Quaking Houses.

Service 78 unable to serve Southfields & Hustledown / Hollyhill Gardens. Service diverted via South Moor & Hustledown Road between South Moor & Craghead

Service 680 is currently not operating due to road conditions. Road impassable at Acomb.

Other services are running to substantial delays.

We are experiencing incredibly high enquiry volumes. Unfortunately we may not be able to respond to all enquiries so please keep an eye on our page for updates.


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

When will 4937 be withdrawn from Deptford?

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Edmondsley Bank in County Durham is completely blocked due to a bus going sideways.

Picture: Andrew Whitton, then post by Incidents on Teesside & County Durham

Ouch.

The x25 is also missing out waldridge etc and going straight from CLS to fram.

Haven't seen (or heard) a TEN through Corbridge since 7pm.

The roads through the centre of the village are trampled down hard and frozen already.

I've been told (by a private contractor with a Transit pickup) that the County Council gritter drivers have 'run out of hours' and he has been called in to deal with a wagon stuck on Leazes Lane in Hexham.

Reports coming n of a collision between a bus and lorry on The 45 at benfieldside Road. Also 4 buses stuck on Blackhill bank

Service uodate : Services in Stanley & Consett area are unable to operate due to declining weather conditions. We are still monitoring conditions, however they cannot operate at the moment

Still surprised to see the 40/41 running

Go north east have now pulled service

I'm in fram, these days, and have barely heard a vehicle, never mind a bus, for a few hours.

All fairly sensible, my car has fallen victim to someone overestimating their snow rally skills and is now sporting an Insignia shaped dent all down the offside 

A 56 left Newcastle at, 20:42pm coming back to the depot, and is just at Wessington Way now.

I live right next to GNE’s Hexham depot and haven’t heard any buses come past all evening and there’s no tracks on the road so not sure if they are leaving them at the bus station or somewhere else.


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All services heading out this morning but will be sticking to main roads as much as possible, if you normally catch your bus from an estate please walk to a main road stop.

All buses from Houghton trying to get up Newbottle Bank.

(28 Feb 2018, 9:08 am)TyneWearTeesGNE wrote All buses from Houghton trying to get up Newbottle Bank.

How many are trying to get up? I would have thought control would have put the word about the bank... Maybe to send them a different way perhaps or consolidate loads to ensure vehicles were still operating on other sections of the route.

Just passed Park Lane, there's just buses all over, parked up

There's about 5 Fab 56's and about 4 "The 9" Citaro's

Bad Weather Service Update at 12:50

We are running as many services as we possibly can but due to the severe weather conditions, some routes are affected and not running to timetable. To maintain services, we are sticking to main roads and customers should walk to these to catch the bus.

Latest information below. Unfortunately, we’re unable to reply to individual queries due to the amount we’re receiving. Please keep checking back for updates.

1 – Normal route, omitting Ridley Avenue and Coniston Road with delays with severe delays

2/2A – Not operating Rhyope – Silksworth – Terminating at Rhyope and operating with severe delays

4 – Omitting Penshaw Bank Top – Full route barring estates – Operating with severe delays

5 – Operating normal route with severe delays

6 – Normal route barring estates (Kingsway Sunniside) – Operating with severe delays

8 – Normal route, omitting Beamish Museum and No Place and housing estates with severe delays

9 – Lukes Lane OK, Omitting Crawley Avenue & Burn Heads road, Normal Route to Dalton Park and will terminate there

10 – Operating normal route with severe delays

10A – Terminating at Crawcrook – unable to serve Rockwood Hill, High Spen, Chopwell & Blackhall Mill

10B – Normal route – Unable to serve to Prudhoe Bank – Operating with Severe delays

11 – Normal route with severe delays

12/12A – Normal route with severe delays

13 – Normal route with severe delays

14 – Normal route with severe delays

15 – Normal route with severe delays

15A – Normal route with severe delays, but omitting Delves Lane estates

16/16A – Terminating at Consett, not operating to Castleside, normal route Consett to Durham with severe delays

19 – Normal route with severe delays

20/20A – Normal route with severe delays

21 – Normal route with severe delays

26/27 – Normal route omitting estates with severe delays

28/28A – Normal route omitting estates with severe delays

29 – Normal route omitting estates with severe delays

30 – Currently terminating at Stanley Bus Station, omitting South Moor, Quaking Houses & Burnhope, Maiden Law, operating via the bypass the Lanchester

33/33A Sunderland – Normal route omitting estates and Dene Steet – severe delays

33 Nexus – Terminating at Gosforth Regent Centre, omitting Hollywood Avenue, with severe delays

34/34A – Normal route omitting Waldridge Park and Pelaw Bank Estate, and omitting estates with severe delays

35/35A – Normal route, Low Moorsley turning circle closed, omitting estates with severe delays

36 – Normal route with severe delays

38 – Normal route, sticking to main roads in Murton but with severe delays

39 – Normal route, omitting Pennywell, with severe delays

40/41 – Normal route, omitting Holy Cross omitting Ridley Avenue, Coniston Road and housing estates with severe delays

42/42A – Normal route, omitting Ridley Avenue, Coniston Road and housing estates with severe delays

45 – Normal route, omitting Benfieldside Road, with severe delays

46 – Normal route, omitting Bridgehill, with severe delays

47 – Terminating at High Spen with severe delays

49/49A/49B/49C – Normal route, omitting estates with severe delays

50 – A19 bridge closed towards Sulgrave, diverting via Ferryboat Lane and A1231, omitting estates with severe delays

53/54 – Normal route with severe delays

56 – A19 bridge closed towards Sulgrave, diverting via Ferryboat Lane and A1231, then normal route with severe delays

57 – Normal route with severe delays

58 – Normal route with severe delays

60 – Terminating at Seaham with severe delays

67 – Normal route with severe delays

69 – Normal route with severe delays

78 – Normal route route with severe delays

81/82/83/84/85/86 – Normal route with severe delays

93/94 – Normal route with severe delays

97/97A – Omitting Parkway, Oakfield Road and Park View – then normal route

309 – Normal route with severe delays

310 – Normal route with severe delays

X1 – Normal route, omitting estates with severe delays

X5/X6/X7 – Normal route with severe delays

X9/X10 – Normal route with severe delays

X21 – Normal route with severe delays

X22 – Normal route with severe delays

X25 – Omitting Eighton Banks using Long Bank, then Normal route with severe delays

X30/X31 – Normal route severe delays

X66 – Normal route with severe delays

X70 – Normal route with severe delays

X71 – Operating Medomsley Church to Hat and Feather to Leadgate to Pickering Nook to Burnopfield and normal route from Burnopfield

X84/X85 – Normal route with severe delays

M6/M7/M8 – Omitting Lintz Estate, Fines Park, Tanfield Village, Sleepy Valley, Acton Dene, Sheridan Drive with severe delays

V1/V2/V3/V4/V5/V9 – Operating where possible on main roads, omitting housing estates


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