RE: Go North East: Latest News & Discussion - January 2019
(15 Mar 2019, 9:22 am)misfit wrote 635 AD122 unusually on 516 service in South Shields.
Until the operation of the seasonal AD122 service re-commences, 635 is just a float vehicle. It has been in use at Deptford and Peterlee most recently, although transferred to Percy Main today.
(16 Mar 2019, 8:20 pm)ne14ne1 wrote How come they're returning to via points after they'd made all the destinations so clear and easy to read?
(16 Mar 2019, 9:03 pm)Dans_bus_photos wrote Probably because no one knew where the bus went apart from the end destination. I wonder if they'd seen Stagecoach's new destinations and decided to follow suit with the same layout.
(16 Mar 2019, 9:15 pm)OrangeArrow49 wrote I don't know which destination method is best, clear end destination or via points. Stagecoach's new destinations? Stagecoach 63 yesterday had end destination City Centre in clear font like GNE, but otherwise the destinations have always looked the same as far as I have noticed.
(16 Mar 2019, 9:27 pm)Dans_bus_photos wrote Stagecoach have recently been changing their destinations so that the via points are static instead of scrolling, although I dont think Newcastle's have been fully updated yet. I think they all should have at least 1 via point so you get an indication of where the bus is going for example if your at Dalton Park and are not too familiar with the bus network around there and want to travel towards Sunderland without asking the driver how do you know the bus displaying 'Hebburn' is going through Sunderland to get there?
(16 Mar 2019, 9:46 pm)OrangeArrow49 wrote Are GNE going back to via points then? Are they going to be static or scrolling?
(16 Mar 2019, 10:23 pm)ne14ne1 wrote I suppose theres pro's and con's with all styles.
Looking at bigger cities, New York City has via points on their buses but they flick every 1.5 seconds between the via points and a full screen destination which I quite like. As I've said before I would like to have seen this trialled here.
Edinburgh & London however usually just have the final destination like GNE's clear full screen format, however it is more precise than just the name of the City which isn't very informative. Granted GNE buses with the new controller do change from Newcastle to the actual terminating point part way through the route, which is my personal preference over the newest style 2-line format with bold destination on the 1st line & two via points on the 2nd line.
As for the Stagecoach service saying 'City Centre' in full screen, I believe this is just for short services that terminate in Central Newcastle. The big clear screen with no scrolling points is so different to their usual displays, it should mean people spot it and not board expecting a cross-city service.
(16 Mar 2019, 11:50 pm)ne14ne1 wrote I noticed the lack of consistency on the refurbished Cobalt screens too. Whats that all about, plus how come their NSAs aren't enabled?
(17 Mar 2019, 12:06 am)JP6004 wrote The via points are visible at Whitley Bay but not at cobalt........perhaps they switch to display end point after via points have been travelled through?
Lots of discussion for me to catch up on here...
When Go North East were first experimenting with different styles, one style which was trialled was the static via point option with a larger terminal font (just using the basic Hanover fonts). A slightly revised version of this, just using the 'normal' font size for the top line, was used on the X9/X10 services and X84/X85 services until the start of this year.
I think I'd mooted the point of probably returning to via points at some point in time, when they were first all converted to the larger terminal point only style, about a year ago. Different people have different preferences, and I don't think there is a right or wrong answer as to what the best way is for these to be shown. Although there's advantages of showing via points on the destination display, there's also disadvantages in that it reduces the available space for the terminal point. Certainly based on my experiences, going back to the 9, I'm often asked (the equivalent of), "Is this the Hebburn bus?", even from passengers who don't travel all the way through to Hebburn, and that's because the bus stop literature and similar material all say Hebburn too.
For the avoidance of doubt, though, yes, Go North East will be bringing back via points over the next month or two. 5452 was the bus used for the opening event of Hownsgill (so had destinations updated for it), and 6101/02 had the new programme loaded on return from Blackburn. In all three instances, I forgot to put them back to 'normal' after loading the new programme. Not a major issue of course, just the programme is incomplete and has a few copy and paste jobs which need amending before it's publicly rolled out. 6103 was put back to normal and that's why this one doesn't show via points.
I wouldn't be overly keen on the option of showing a large terminal point on one slide and the via points on another, flicking every few seconds, as the best practice is to always have the terminal point shown on the display, and I do think that is important. Judging by many of the comments around the time of the 'January app sale' destination displays, I suspect that option wouldn't be popular with many others on the forum!
The Next Stop Announcements similarly are loaded on 6101/02 and probably not 6103, as if I recall correctly I put that one back to normal too. The announcements aren't yet complete, nor have they been tested, but all this will follow in due course when a sufficient number of the buses are back. This is when the new brand will be launched, and some marketing activity will take place. The bus-stop names will be on the internal LED signs and adverts, videos, etc, will be shown on the TFT monitors.
(17 Mar 2019, 6:59 pm)Stanleyone wrote Indeed the Omnicities will go eventually, however from opening Consett will have a number of Omnicities to operate the X30 (some X31s & X32s). I wouldn't think that the X30 will receive new buses, but personally i wouldn't rule out cascaded buses.
I wouldn't be so sure about that!