The buzzfare maps really are unclear and would be better with a bit more detail on them

(15 Apr 2019, 4:33 pm)Michael wrote Does anyone know where the red zone boundary ends near Penshaw?

Is it after or before?
I can't find anything on exactly where it ends, the map of the zones is useless.

Sure it's Penshaw Bank Top/Boundary Houses.

(15 Apr 2019, 5:16 pm)Andreos1 wrote Sure it's Penshaw Bank Top/Boundary Houses.

correct

6301 was receiving assistance from an Alpha Recovery truck earlier today in Bishop Auckland bus station.

(15 Apr 2019, 5:05 pm)N1cholas wrote The buzzfare maps really are unclear and would be better with a bit more detail on them

Maybe time to get rid and return to the old system? For example, everyone knows where the T&W/Co Durham LA border is.
Whereas an arbitrary colour boundary invented by a suit in GNE towers, is arguably a little more ambiguous.

Certainly the way the boundaries are coloured can cause confusion. Take for example the orange zone encompassing Ashington/Blyth and Alston and Allenheads. On the face of it that may not sound too bad as there are no direct buses without having to change and travel via 2 other zones. However, as I witnessed last week, a couple with Blue and Orange attempted to travel to Corbridge without the intermediate zone (cherry) The driver politely explained they required a 3 zone plus and showed the couple a map when they became argumentative. On the south side of the Tyne Valley the cherry zone will only take you 5 miles from Stanley Burn to Stocksfield Rail station, but an orange zone will cover you from there to Hexham and onwards to Alston/Allenheads/Bellingham/Haltwhisitle and Birdsoswald. Maybe the West Northumberland and Cumbria zone needs a look at with a different colour.

Especially if your not from round here,i can see why this would cause some confusion

(16 Apr 2019, 8:09 am)Tyne_Traveller wrote Certainly the way the boundaries are coloured can cause confusion. Take for example the orange zone encompassing Ashington/Blyth and Alston and Allenheads. On the face of it that may not sound too bad as there are no direct buses without having to change and travel via 2 other zones. However, as I witnessed last week, a couple with Blue and Orange attempted to travel to Corbridge without the intermediate zone (cherry) The driver politely explained they required a 3 zone plus and showed the couple a map when they became argumentative. On the south side of the Tyne Valley the cherry zone will only take you 5 miles from Stanley Burn to Stocksfield Rail station, but an orange zone will cover you from there to Hexham and onwards to Alston/Allenheads/Bellingham/Haltwhisitle and Birdsoswald. Maybe the West Northumberland and Cumbria zone needs a look at with a different colour.

There used to be a problem with people riding the length of the X84/85 and having a blue and orange only pass - because the app allows them to check in either end - it was and still is down to the driver to see what's being presented on the ticket machines when the pass is presented.  More often than not it was a mistake - either by the passenger, or by the corporate scheme not putting the correct zones for the entire journey.  It's frustrating because there is no route between the two zones - so the combination in effect is invalid.

It used to be easier to justify when the timetable had the colour zone required along the line map on the timetable and actually used to state a 3 zone ticket was required to travel through - however this stopped some time ago, a few iterations before the paper timetables were axed in fact.

I'm sure the Ticketer system is intelligent enough to do 'bounds checking' by one means or another, either by prompting the driver to select a destination stop when a ticket which doesn't cover the entire route of the service is presented, or otherwise.  This is not currently implemented so it is down to the driver to manually check this.  This is disappointing as it leaves the system open to abuse, intentional or unintentionally.

709 is back in service on the W2 today still wearing the rugby livery

(16 Apr 2019, 4:17 pm)GNE6312 wrote 709 is back in service on the W2 today still wearing the rugby livery

It'll remain in the rugby livery until after the finals on 10/11 May.

(16 Apr 2019, 4:38 pm)Dan wrote It'll remain in the rugby livery until after the finals on 10/11 May.

Ok, will it be put in the 2019 corporate livery after the finals?

(16 Apr 2019, 4:47 pm)GNE6312 wrote Ok, will it be put in the 2019 corporate livery after the finals?

Should be, yes.

Speaking of which;
- 672 should be back in service tomorrow at Percy Main in the 2019 fleet livery.
- 673 has now been fitted with USB sockets.
- 6143 is now being repainted into the 2019 fleet livery.

(16 Apr 2019, 5:41 pm)Dan wrote Should be, yes.

Speaking of which;
- 672 should be back in service tomorrow at Percy Main in the 2019 fleet livery.
- 673 has now been fitted with USB sockets.
- 6143 is now being repainted into the 2019 fleet livery.

Excellent. Any idea when we'll see 6000 out in its full livery?

(16 Apr 2019, 5:41 pm)Dan wrote Should be, yes.

Speaking of which;
- 672 should be back in service tomorrow at Percy Main in the 2019 fleet livery.
- 673 has now been fitted with USB sockets.
- 6143 is now being repainted into the 2019 fleet livery.

Can you confirm where the Solo Sr's will go after they've been fitted with the USB's?

(16 Apr 2019, 5:55 pm)ne14ne1 wrote Excellent. Any idea when we'll see 6000 out in its full livery?

Possibly in a few weeks.

(16 Apr 2019, 6:06 pm)Michael wrote Can you confirm where the Solo Sr's will go after they've been fitted with the USB's?

There may be a few surprises in store...

(16 Apr 2019, 6:29 pm)Dan wrote There may be a few surprises in store...

That's not good.... have a feeling a downgrade for the X5 to Solo's, so its on the same buses as the X6/X7, but X5 has USB and moving to Peterlee? 

X5 Citaro's to move Consett to replace 5481-5485, moving them back their previous role.... meaning the omnicities are in a open role until the Scania's can be withdrawn in June.

(16 Apr 2019, 6:47 pm)Michael wrote That's not good.... have a feeling a downgrade for the X5 to Solo's, so its on the same buses as the X6/X7, but X5 has USB and moving to Peterlee? 

X5 Citaro's to move Consett to replace 5481-5485, moving them back their previous role.... meaning the omnicities are in a open role until the Scania's can be withdrawn in June.

Musical buses, eh?

(16 Apr 2019, 8:15 pm)Jamie M wrote Musical buses, eh?

Would be nice, as long as they play decent music as they move around!!

(16 Apr 2019, 6:47 pm)Michael wrote That's not good.... have a feeling a downgrade for the X5 to Solo's, so its on the same buses as the X6/X7, but X5 has USB and moving to Peterlee? 

X5 Citaro's to move Consett to replace 5481-5485, moving them back their previous role.... meaning the omnicities are in a open role until the Scania's can be withdrawn in June.

The X5 needs a full sized single decker with the amount of passengers using the service between Sunderland, Doxford International and Peterlee as I know from working up Doxy in the past it is busy in both directions throughout the day, I can't see it using Solo SR's.

I think depending on what's on order double decker wise and which services are inline for an upgrade we will see the Red Kite/Prince Bishops go to full double decker operation with the Streetlites going on the likes of the X30 at Stanley and the 6's at Riverside for example with the Omnicities moving into a spare capacity replacing the Solars.

The Solo SR's have to be moving on to a service where they'd be fit for purpose to have wifi, usb and nsa's to which I think the 19 at Percy Main would be a good shout.

Unless the Indigo North Tyne brand is being scrapped?

(16 Apr 2019, 10:04 pm)V514DFT wrote Unless the Indigo North Tyne brand is being scrapped?

That would mean repainting 14 Solo SR's which currently carry the branding and judging by recent repaints for the Solo SR's at Deptford I don't see GNE dropping Indigo as a brand anytime soon.

Any Indigo Solo SR's which are getting repainted are likely due to impending PVR reductions as a result of service changes on the 40/41 & 42 and reallocation elsewhere in the fleet.

(16 Apr 2019, 10:12 pm)Malarkey wrote That would mean repainting 14 Solo SR's which currently carry the branding and judging by recent repaints for the Solo SR's at Deptford I don't see GNE dropping Indigo as a brand anytime soon.

Any Indigo Solo SR's which are getting repainted are likely due to impending PVR reductions as a result of service changes on the 40/41 & 42 and reallocation elsewhere in the fleet.

I honestly wouldn’t be surprised to see Solos on the 11, not exactly the busiest between Wallsend and Whitley Bay.

(16 Apr 2019, 9:58 pm)Malarkey wrote The X5 needs a full sized single decker with the amount of passengers using the service between Sunderland, Doxford International and Peterlee as I know from working up Doxy in the past it is busy in both directions throughout the day, I can't see it using Solo SR's.

I think depending on what's on order double decker wise and which services are inline for an upgrade we will see the Red Kite/Prince Bishops go to full double decker operation with the Streetlites going on the likes of the X30 at Stanley and the 6's at Riverside for example with the Omnicities moving into a spare capacity replacing the Solars.

The Solo SR's have to be moving on to a service where they'd be fit for purpose to have wifi, usb and nsa's to which I think the 19 at Percy Main would be a good shout.

Large 19 vehicles run off scholars, they are needed less they upgrade some scholars to double deckers. 442,660 and 680 all run onto 19

(17 Apr 2019, 12:00 am)JM03 wrote Large 19 vehicles run off scholars, they are needed less they upgrade some scholars to double deckers. 442,660 and 680 all run onto 19

There was something a while ago that said that the 19 was going to be 3 Eclipses And 2 Solos which means the scholars will be probs opt by the 3 Eclipses or possibly the odd solo
Edit-4981/2 will go Spare after being replaced so they might stay at PM for those possibly

(16 Apr 2019, 8:09 am)Tyne_Traveller wrote Certainly the way the boundaries are coloured can cause confusion. Take for example the orange zone encompassing Ashington/Blyth and Alston and Allenheads. On the face of it that may not sound too bad as there are no direct buses without having to change and travel via 2 other zones. However, as I witnessed last week, a couple with Blue and Orange attempted to travel to Corbridge without the intermediate zone (cherry) The driver politely explained they required a 3 zone plus and showed the couple a map when they became argumentative. On the south side of the Tyne Valley the cherry zone will only take you 5 miles from Stanley Burn to Stocksfield Rail station, but an orange zone will cover you from there to Hexham and onwards to Alston/Allenheads/Bellingham/Haltwhisitle and Birdsoswald. Maybe the West Northumberland and Cumbria zone needs a look at with a different colour.

Compare that to the 4, which travels a short distance within the green zone and drivers don't bat an eyelid if you travel with say a red zone ticket.


I've never boarded within the green zone, so can't comment on the approach from that side of things.

(16 Apr 2019, 10:04 pm)V514DFT wrote Unless the Indigo North Tyne brand is being scrapped?

The brand name isn't as far as I know.... an indiGo downgrade here, but an indiGo upgrade there.

(17 Apr 2019, 8:10 am)RBZ 5459 wrote The brand name isn't as far as I know.... an indiGo downgrade here, but an indiGo upgrade there.

Ah so I’m guessing the 40/41 May be getting the older Solos from Washington?

(16 Apr 2019, 10:51 pm)Tom wrote I honestly wouldn’t be surprised to see Solos on the 11, not exactly the busiest between Wallsend and Whitley Bay.

SOmetimes of the day tou need a full size single decker on this route. Espicially the 7.50 from wallsend to whitley bay as it often gets 3 schools worth of kids

(17 Apr 2019, 8:00 am)Andreos1 wrote Compare that to the 4, which travels a short distance within the green zone and drivers don't bat an eyelid if you travel with say a red zone ticket.


I've never boarded within the green zone, so can't comment on the approach from that side of things.

Actually the red zone covers all of the route after openshaw bank top. The network one ticket technically shouldnt be used as outside the nexus area (county durham) however they are generally accepted as it come back into a nexus area. I believe it's only a few stops in Burnmoor

(17 Apr 2019, 8:10 am)RBZ 5459 wrote The brand name isn't as far as I know.... an indiGo downgrade here, but an indiGo upgrade there.

Interesting - I suppose the burning question therefore is which indiGo services are being upgraded, and which ones are being downgraded?

If the North Tyneside examples are currently being fitted with USB sockets, it's an upgrade above the current high-spec indiGo.