Fleet news:

A total of 17 out of 34 new Volvo B9TL/Wright Gemini for Fab 56 and Cobalt Clipper have been delivered so far, as follows:

6084 NL63 XBS
6085 NL63 YHN
6089 NL63 YHS
6093 NL63 YHW
6094 NL63 YHX
6095 NL63 YHY
6096 NL63 YHZ
6097 NL63 YJA
6098 NL63 YJB
6101 NL63 YJE
6102 NL63 YJF
6103 NL63 XBT
6104 NL63 YJG
6105 NL63 YJH
6106 NL63 YCJ
6108 NL63 YCM
6109 NL63 YCN
Also new are Volvo B9R/Caetano Levante coaches 7111: BF63 ZRY and 7112: BF63 ZRZ.

To be continued..

From Fleet allocation -
546 Consett to Peterlee
512 515 518 521 532 533 534 withdrawn from Consett
525 526 530 531 4983 5350 8215 sold

(16 Dec 2013, 12:13 pm)Michael wrote Fleet news:

A total of 17 out of 34 new Volvo B9TL/Wright Gemini for Fab 56 and Cobalt Clipper have been delivered so far, as follows:

6084 NL63 XBS
6085 NL63 YHN
6089 NL63 YHS
6093 NL63 YHW
6094 NL63 YHX
6095 NL63 YHY
6096 NL63 YHZ
6097 NL63 YJA
6098 NL63 YJB
6101 NL63 YJE
6102 NL63 YJF
6103 NL63 XBT
6104 NL63 YJG
6105 NL63 YJH
6106 NL63 YCJ
6108 NL63 YCM
6109 NL63 YCN
Also new are Volvo B9R/Caetano Levante coaches 7111: BF63 ZRY and 7112: BF63 ZRZ.

To be continued..

There were a couple of gleaming white coaches parked at the rear of Chester yesterday when I passed.
Could be those two!

(16 Dec 2013, 12:13 pm)Michael wrote Fleet news:

A total of 17 out of 34 new Volvo B9TL/Wright Gemini for Fab 56 and Cobalt Clipper have been delivered so far, as follows:

6084 NL63 XBS
6085 NL63 YHN
6089 NL63 YHS
6093 NL63 YHW
6094 NL63 YHX
6095 NL63 YHY
6096 NL63 YHZ
6097 NL63 YJA
6098 NL63 YJB
6101 NL63 YJE
6102 NL63 YJF
6103 NL63 XBT
6104 NL63 YJG
6105 NL63 YJH
6106 NL63 YCJ
6108 NL63 YCM
6109 NL63 YCN
Also new are Volvo B9R/Caetano Levante coaches 7111: BF63 ZRY and 7112: BF63 ZRZ.

To be continued..

From Fleet allocation -
546 Consett to Peterlee
512 515 518 521 532 533 534 withdrawn from Consett
525 526 530 531 4983 5350 8215 sold

NL63YHO, NL63YHT and NL63YHU arrived today - all of which are orange.

MPD 546 is currently at Deptford being stripped of branding.

(16 Dec 2013, 2:11 pm)Dan wrote NL63YHO, NL63YHT and NL63YHU arrived today - all of which are orange.

MPD 546 is currently at Deptford being stripped of branding.

is 546 still in it's Venture branding?

Is NL63YHO, NL63YHT and NL63YHU - 6085/86/87? - not sure how the reg's are set out lol

20/34 have arrived.

Also a little update on the fleet news:

The entry into service of the new Solos at Consett has resulted in the transfer of MPDs 545, 546, 560, 565, 618 and 619 to Peterlee and the withdrawal of 512, 515, 518, 521, 532, 533 and 534. In turn, Peterlee has withdrawn 501, 510, 519 and 520, while Washington has withdrawn 523, 524, 526, 530 and 531.

Dennis SPD 8225: X822 FBB has been transferred from Gateshead to Deptford and Volvo B12M 7087: NA52 RMZ has been returned to Driver Training.

Vehicles sold are MPDs 525, 526, 530, 531 and SPD 8215 to Ensign Bus Co., DAF SB220GS 4983: R971 FNW to Alpha Recovery, Weetslade and Mercedes Citaro artic 5350: BX54 UCR to Optare Group Ltd.

(16 Dec 2013, 2:16 pm)Michael wrote is 546 still in it's Venture branding?

Possibly not anymore, but was about an hour and a half ago!

(16 Dec 2013, 2:14 am)Greg in Weardale wrote I associate Go North East with the tatty old red & blue vehicles on the second rate routes, when the more important services were getting newer, smart, branded buses. The Northern name was reinstated only two or three years ago for the newly painted red non branded vehicles, so I link Go North East with tatty buses and Northern with a bit better ones. But Northern is the traditional name and the company would be advised to keep that on the unbranded vehicles rather than Go North East which means nowt to most people

Outside of enthusiasts people really don't give a toss to be frank. You seem intent on harking back to heritage and OK Travel branding. Yes Bishop and some areas of Durham got older allocations but thats the nature of business. We've all moved on.

The fact is it could be yellow, pink, green, whatever. If its got seats, wheels and moves. The passengers don't care.

They don't even use the name Go North East on their website but simply go.com. I reckon ordinary people identify firstly with the name Northern, secondly with their local route brand, and only last with Go North East.

And B&Q use diy.com. What is your point?

If you bothered to look the website is titled simplygo.com - the home of Go North East. The massive logo at the top is GO NORTH EAST. It tweets as GNE. It advertises as GNE, it facebooks as GNE. It's GNE!

The south coast companies of Go Ahead keep their traditional names.

City of Oxford Motor Services = Oxford Bus Company. So that's changed

Wilts and Dorset = Go South Coast - so that's changed too

Metrobus only formed from the collapse of Tillingbourne.

Plymouth City Transport = Plymouth CityBus

Brighton, Hove and Preston United Omnibus Company to Brighton Hove and District Omnibus Company = Brighton And Hove

Blue Triangle - Go Ahead London

So none of those keep their 'historic' name

(16 Dec 2013, 2:28 pm)gtomlinson wrote Wilts and Dorset = Go South Coast - so that's changed too

And now Wilts and Dorset is called more from Wilts and Dorset

http://morebus.co.uk/

Whoops!
Passengers in the Tyne Valley aren't too happy by the looks of it.

www.hexhamcourant.co.uk/news/prudhoe-bus-fails-to-score-a-perfect-10-1.1099471

(16 Dec 2013, 4:05 pm)andreos1 wrote Whoops!
Passengers in the Tyne Valley aren't too happy by the looks of it.

www.hexhamcourant.co.uk/news/prudhoe-bus-fails-to-score-a-perfect-10-1.1099471

Oh no, that's not good, their changing them in January i think?

(16 Dec 2013, 4:05 pm)andreos1 wrote Whoops!
Passengers in the Tyne Valley aren't too happy by the looks of it.

www.hexhamcourant.co.uk/news/prudhoe-bus-fails-to-score-a-perfect-10-1.1099471

http://northeastbuses.co.uk/forum/showth...hp?tid=765&pid=22791#pid22791

(16 Dec 2013, 2:28 pm)gtomlinson wrote Outside of enthusiasts people really don't give a toss to be frank. You seem intent on harking back to heritage and OK Travel branding. Yes Bishop and some areas of Durham got older allocations but thats the nature of business. We've all moved on.

The fact is it could be yellow, pink, green, whatever. If its got seats, wheels and moves. The passengers don't care.


And B&Q use diy.com. What is your point?

If you bothered to look the website is titled simplygo.com - the home of Go North East. The massive logo at the top is GO NORTH EAST. It tweets as GNE. It advertises as GNE, it facebooks as GNE. It's GNE!



City of Oxford Motor Services = Oxford Bus Company. So that's changed

Wilts and Dorset = Go South Coast - so that's changed too

Metrobus only formed from the collapse of Tillingbourne.

Plymouth City Transport = Plymouth CityBus

Brighton, Hove and Preston United Omnibus Company to Brighton Hove and District Omnibus Company = Brighton And Hove

Blue Triangle - Go Ahead London

So none of those keep their 'historic' name

I personally couldn't give a monkey's chuff what it's caused. I just wish they'd pick a brand name and stick to it.

Agree with your point about domain names though.

(16 Dec 2013, 4:08 pm)Michael wrote Oh no, that's not good, their changing them in January i think?

Yeah, apparently so.

That story was from mid-November, so the problems must have been going on for a while prior to that, for the paper to have been interested in writing an article on it.

Saw it a few weeks ago and just remembered about it.

Edit.
Just seen Dan's link from a week or two back.

(16 Dec 2013, 4:15 pm)andreos1 wrote Yeah, apparently so.

That story was from mid-November, so the problems must have been going on for a while prior to that, for the paper to have been interested in writing an article on it.

Saw it a few weeks ago and just remembered about it.

I think the link to the Facebook post in the above quoted link is quite an interesting read...
It shows that there are some instantaneous measures of communication between service delivery managers and customer services when passengers make complaints on Social Media pages.

I suspect that the 'meeting' which the news article referred to did indeed take place, for the service delivery manager to admit there are problems in regards to reliability and for a VOSA registration to be submitted as soon as possible.
There are two duplicate runs per hour which operate alongside the current "TEN" network, in the lead up to Christmas. This assists with the reliability of the service and ensures passengers are more likely to get a seat on a service which is particularly busy at Christmas time...
Let's not forget about the dedicated spare based at both Winlaton and Hexham, which should always be ready to assist the "TEN" network from both ends of the route, providing there are no VORs and the vehicle was actually required to meet the PVR.

We can't say GNE haven't done something about the problems, can we?

(16 Dec 2013, 4:19 pm)Liam wrote Here is a mock-up of the new "Fab Fifty Six" branding as applied to the Volvo B9/Wright Gemini. Just a little late for the news

Looks a good mock up =D

(16 Dec 2013, 4:22 pm)Dan wrote I think the link to the Facebook post in the above quoted link is quite an interesting read...
It shows that there are some instantaneous measures of communication between service delivery managers and customer services when passengers make complaints on Social Media pages.

I suspect that the 'meeting' which the news article referred to did indeed take place, for the service delivery manager to admit there are problems in regards to reliability and for a VOSA registration to be submitted as soon as possible.
There are two duplicate runs per hour which operate alongside the current "TEN" network, in the lead up to Christmas. This assists with the reliability of the service and ensures passengers are more likely to get a seat on a service which is particularly busy at Christmas time...
Let's not forget about the dedicated spare based at both Winlaton and Hexham, which should always be ready to assist the "TEN" network from both ends of the route, providing there are no VORs and the vehicle was actually required to meet the PVR.

We can't say GNE haven't done something about the problems, can we?

Yeah, noticed those dupes when I have been over that way.
Hopefully it will help out with the loadings and timings.

You are right, it looks like the problems have been addressed and rightly so.
However, I will take a punt that the company were aware of the issues long before the newspaper article in November and long before the posts on fb last week.
The timings of the changes happening in Feb, indicate that they have not long been finalised and submitted to VOSA...

Kudos to them for actually doing something about it though.

(16 Dec 2013, 4:24 pm)Michael wrote Looks a good mock up =D

looks a bit bare at the bottom though, i suppose that was an angle that you could see a lot of so im not going to say your wrong, nice livery though

(16 Dec 2013, 4:36 pm)northtynelinks2 wrote looks a bit bare at the bottom though, i suppose that was an angle that you could see a lot of so im not going to say your wrong, nice livery though

it does, wonder if it would be better if the FAB FIFTY SIX name was on the bottom with more destinations on the side,

For me the destinations should be:
Sunderland - Nissan - Concord - Wrekenton - Gateshead - Newcastle - Every 10 mins - Just turn up and GO!

Fab Fifty Six on the bottom

(16 Dec 2013, 4:53 pm)Michael wrote it does, wonder if it would be better if the FAB FIFTY SIX name was on the bottom with more destinations on the side,

For me the destinations should be:
Sunderland - Nissan - Concord - Wrekenton - Gateshead - Newcastle - Every 10 mins - Just turn up and GO!

Fab Fifty Six on the bottom

Michael, the design and marketing expert now

(16 Dec 2013, 4:59 pm)citaro5284 wrote Michael, the design and marketing expert now

Thanks, your more than welcome to ask me for future brand idea's

(16 Dec 2013, 12:16 pm)andreos1 wrote There were a couple of gleaming white coaches parked at the rear of Chester yesterday when I passed.
Could be those two!

7111 at least has entered service, as it was through Middlesbrough on the 380 today!

(16 Dec 2013, 6:09 pm)tyresmoke wrote 7111 at least has entered service, as it was through Middlesbrough on the 380 today!

7112 has also entered service - it appeared in the news yesterday, and the photo was taken a few days beforehand.

(16 Dec 2013, 4:53 pm)Michael wrote it does, wonder if it would be better if the FAB FIFTY SIX name was on the bottom with more destinations on the side,

For me the destinations should be:
Sunderland - Nissan - Concord - Wrekenton - Gateshead - Newcastle - Every 10 mins - Just turn up and GO!

Fab Fifty Six on the bottom

If it was like that, it would of been perfect!

Apologies if it's been asked before, but will these new B9s have next stop info screens?

Also, whilst on the subject of next stop screens, are there any plans to configure them to work on regular interworkings? e.g. 2A/2C using a SimpliCity vehicle on a Sunday?

Anyone able to explain why a de-branded green Versa was spotted in Thornaby today? Fitter driving it with "Engineers on Road test" on the screen.
Been to Auto electrics or something maybe?

(16 Dec 2013, 7:29 pm)tyresmoke wrote Anyone able to explain why a de-branded green Versa was spotted in Thornaby today? Fitter driving it with "Engineers on Road test" on the screen.
Been to Auto electrics or something maybe?

Been off the road for a month now with engine issues, so giving it a run out, went to Middlesbrough and back.

(16 Dec 2013, 7:18 pm)aureolin wrote Apologies if it's been asked before, but will these new B9s have next stop info screens?

Yes

(16 Dec 2013, 7:18 pm)aureolin wrote Apologies if it's been asked before, but will these new B9s have next stop info screens?

Also, whilst on the subject of next stop screens, are there any plans to configure them to work on regular interworkings? e.g. 2A/2C using a SimpliCity vehicle on a Sunday?

I would imagine the new B9 will have next stop, wifi and power sockets I do believe. I think there maybe should be an option to change the screen. For example, 8319 shows 'SimpliCity' branded holding screen when on 61's but does it always show this or just when on 61's/42's?

For things the 2A/2C on Sundays, maybe there should be like a northern/GNE/Centenary holding screen, as opposed to the incorrect brand. Ideally a Silver Arrows screen showing '2A Sunderland' would be good though I imagine it would be quite hard, to have a display screen for each service. The 42 is another obvious example when it uses drifter vehicles on evening and Sundays, a simplicity holding page would be an idea or at least a generic GNE one.

I also mentioned at some point. The pointless display boards on the 61, which don't announce next stops. It just shows the simplicity holding screen all the time. I wondered if there were any plans for next stop on the 61.

(16 Dec 2013, 8:14 pm)CatsFast101 wrote I also mentioned at some point. The pointless display boards on the 61, which don't announce next stops. It just shows the simplicity holding screen all the time. I wondered if there were any plans for next stop on the 61.

Services 36 and 42 had the Next Stop Announcements.
Service 42 still does - albeit only occasionally.

The Next Stop Announcements need to be recorded by (presumably) Sun FM and the GPS locations need to be set for the Next Stop Announcements to work.

I'm not sure if there are any plans for services 39 and 61 (I suspect, when branded "SimpliCity", 8306-09 will appear on services 42 and 61 as well as the 61 - a "SimpliCity" branded vehicle is a "SimpliCity" branded vehicle at the end of the day) to receive the Next Stop Announcements just yet, but no doubt will be done when things aren't as busy next year.

Some of the next stop announcements are annoying as hell at time...As one old lady once commented on the 60 'there about as useful as a fart in a force 10' which made me laugh saying 'We already know where the next stop is, we dont need some z-list wannabe celebrity DJ to tell us where The Mill Inn or Mallard'...Some elderly folk are like kids at times, some of the crap they say is hilarious

(16 Dec 2013, 4:59 pm)citaro5284 wrote Michael, the design and marketing expert now

Although I have the 56 B9's in Person Yet, if that is what the Branding looks like on Liams Paperbus then I would have to Agree with Michael that the "Fab Fifty Six" should have been placed on the Lower Section of the Bus as it is with the Red Arrows and Ten B9's, with a few more Destination along the top and of course less flowers.