With talk about the 78 going back to Consett depot in exchange for the Chester locals and Cathedral buses... with the 8 apparently remaining at Chester Le Street, splitting it from the 78, wonder how the timetable will work out?, hopefully not many time changes on the 8.

(07 Mar 2020, 7:31 pm)Michael wrote With talk about the 78 going back to Consett depot in exchange for the Chester locals and Cathedral buses... with the 8 apparently remaining at Chester Le Street, splitting it from the 78, wonder how the timetable will work out?, hopefully not many time changes on the 8.

Saw something about the PVR being reduced as a result and the peak 8 runs being dropped towards the A1231/Enterprise Park and instead operating via Chester Road and the hospital up to the A19 and then picking up the normal route from there Michael.

(07 Mar 2020, 10:28 pm)Andreos1 wrote Saw something about the PVR being reduced as a result and the peak 8 runs being dropped towards the A1231/Enterprise Park and instead operating via Chester Road and the hospital up to the A19 and then picking up the normal route from there Michael.

Hope they don't drop the 8 from Hylton Retail park, i use it 5 days a week to get to work (i work near the Royal Mail depot), hoping they replace it then... only other service is the 73, which is hourly and can't use my smartzone pass on it.

The Peak runs though, is the 8A?, so that would be the route dropped.

(07 Mar 2020, 10:39 pm)Michael wrote Hope they don't drop the 8 from Hylton Retail park, i use it 5 days a week to get to work (i work near the Royal Mail depot), hoping they replace it then... only other service is the 73, which is hourly and can't use my smartzone pass on it.

The Peak runs though, is the 8A?, so that would be the route dropped.

Aren’t the peak runs done by deptford or Washington?, so this wouldn’t affect the pvr if that’s the case. Think the 8 can be done with 4 buses at the current timetable.

(08 Mar 2020, 5:24 am)Stanleyone wrote Aren’t the peak runs done by deptford or Washington?, so this wouldn’t affect the pvr if that’s the case. Think the 8 can be done with 4 buses at the current timetable.

That's good, apart from the 18:12pm Hylton retail Park to Park Lane better not get withdrawn, means i would be walking to Southwick everytime i finish at 6.


8 PVR is 6
78 PVR is 7

Not sure how the 8 can be done with 4 buses? - either way i can't see the PVR dropping on each service, even if split.

---


How many of the Red Arrows have had the Euro 6 upgrade so far?, is this the last batch?

(08 Mar 2020, 9:20 am)Michael wrote That's good, apart from the 18:12pm Hylton retail Park to Park Lane better not get withdrawn, means i would be walking to Southwick everytime i finish at 6.


8 PVR is 6
78 PVR is 7

Not sure how the 8 can be done with 4 buses? - either way i can't see the PVR dropping on each service, even if split.

---


How many of the Red Arrows have had the Euro 6 upgrade so far?, is this the last batch?

Withdrawn the 1812 from Hylton Retail Park for starters

(08 Mar 2020, 9:20 am)See Michael wrote That's good, apart from the 18:12pm Hylton retail Park to Park Lane better not get withdrawn, means i would be walking to Southwick everytime i finish at 6.


8 PVR is 6
78 PVR is 7

Not sure how the 8 can be done with 4 buses? - either way i can't see the PVR dropping on each service, even if split.

---

Yep, my mistake I had it down in my head as an hour end to end. Pvr would be 6 if split.

(07 Mar 2020, 10:39 pm)Michael wrote Hope they don't drop the 8 from Hylton Retail park, i use it 5 days a week to get to work (i work near the Royal Mail depot), hoping they replace it then... only other service is the 73, which is hourly and can't use my smartzone pass on it.

The Peak runs though, is the 8A?, so that would be the route dropped.

Something to do with drivers hours, cost savings, traffic, reliability and the works around the new bridge. Not sure the link is gonna be replaced at all, so you might be stuck with the 73 or a walk to Southwick...

(08 Mar 2020, 11:48 am)Andreos1 wrote Something to do with drivers hours, cost savings, traffic, reliability and the works around the new bridge. Not sure the link is gonna be replaced at all, so you might be stuck with the 73 or a walk to Southwick...

Not surprised, there's so much work going on around Trimdon Street etc.

If true... Shame, as its well used......

(08 Mar 2020, 11:58 am)Michael wrote Not surprised, there's so much work going on around Trimdon Street etc.

If true... Shame, as its well used......

Personally I don’t think the link to the retail park will be lost. Might just be a better business case to separate the routes.

(08 Mar 2020, 12:24 pm)Stanleyone wrote Personally I don’t think the link to the retail park will be lost. Might just be a better business case to separate the routes.

Hopefully!, if changes are happening in May, then the changes should be on VOSA soon.

Martjin Gilbert confirmed last night on his live stream:


1: GNE 2-3 weeks away from bringing in extra buses for their services

2: Some slight twicks to routes will go ahead in the next few weeks - the ones which were due in May - the changes rumoured where the 8 moving to Chester and Chester locals and Cathedral buses moving to Consett in exchange.


Video here: https://www.facebook.com/100009920923911...9920923911

(14 May 2020, 8:47 am)Michael wrote Martjin Gilbert confirmed last night on his live stream:


1: GNE 2-3 weeks away from bringing in extra buses for their services

2: Some slight twicks to routes will go ahead in the next few weeks - the ones which were due in May - the changes rumoured where the 8 moving to Chester and Chester locals and Cathedral buses moving to Consett in exchange.


Video here: https://www.facebook.com/100009920923911...9920923911

Great to hear, and quite a big surprise that there wasn't a surge in passenger numbers yesterday.
When they say they'll be getting back to running almost all of their services, I wonder if that will involve running the X21 to West Auckland again. Hopefully they do because the few times that I've travelled down I had to use the Arriva 6 and passengers certainly weren't taking notice of social distancing (probably because the route has gone from 7 buses per hour to just one so there isn't really room to spread out)

(14 May 2020, 8:47 am)Michael wrote Martjin Gilbert confirmed last night on his live stream:


1: GNE 2-3 weeks away from bringing in extra buses for their services

2: Some slight twicks to routes will go ahead in the next few weeks - the ones which were due in May - the changes rumoured where the 8 moving to Chester and Chester locals and Cathedral buses moving to Consett in exchange.


Video here: https://www.facebook.com/100009920923911...9920923911

I listened to this for the first time earlier today and it is great insight to what plans the company has in place, Martjin notably mentioned about the 8 getting extra resources and the hot spares in case passengers were to be left behind on specific journey's, I do think at certain points in the day having extra 21's run would be good as I noticed the xx:35 from Low Fell into Newcastle on a morning tend to be busy with the lower deck saloon full and a half full upper deck, but as again Martjin mentioned these numbers fluctuate day by day.

I think also having used the Q1/Q2 the other day that maybe utilising DD's in short term would be good as there were a lot of people making short hop journey's between Heworth, Springwell Estate, Wrekenton and Low Fell with limited space for social distancing, also the Q1/Q2 are running on an hourly loop so passenger numbers would expected to be higher than usual than if the company was operating a normal level service.

The 69 could get away with Solo SR's as each time i've seen this service in the past few weeks when it has either had a Durham Diamond Streetlite or a Green Arrow E200MMC allocated much like the 28B it carries fresh air, the only purpose this is serving at the moment is helping those who work at the Q.E. get to and from work, same with the 67, other issue is between the two is at are operating 8 minutes apart so basically majority of the route is duplicated with exception of certain sections. The 67 is timed to get to Q.E. at xx:43 and 69 is xx:51, why not retime the 69 so it reaches Q.E. at xx:13 so then you have a half hourly service as you again would have if the company was operating services normally.

For me there seems to be resources being wasted in the examples noted above which with a few tweaks would be better utilised and would probably make GNE some more money in these difficult and uncertain times.

It's going to be interesting to see how this pans out in the future with social distancing. The amount of services which may end up needing double deck capacity could be significant and may exceed the number of deckers in the fleet. Services already running deckers or unable to because of low bridges etc may have to run far more frequently.

Government support is likely to be crucial because companies will not be able to sustainably run buses at less than half capacity. TfL has already received additional support so I'd imagine the rest of the country won't be far behind.

https://news.sky.com/story/transport-for...s-11988516

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

(14 May 2020, 8:08 pm)Malarkey wrote I listened to this for the first time earlier today and it is great insight to what plans the company has in place, Martjin notably mentioned about the 8 getting extra resources and the hot spares in case passengers were to be left behind on specific journey's, I do think at certain points in the day having extra 21's run would be good as I noticed the xx:35 from Low Fell into Newcastle on a morning tend to be busy with the lower deck saloon full and a half full upper deck, but as again Martjin mentioned these numbers fluctuate day by day.

I think also having used the Q1/Q2 the other day that maybe utilising DD's in short term would be good as there were a lot of people making short hop journey's between Heworth, Springwell Estate, Wrekenton and Low Fell with limited space for social distancing, also the Q1/Q2 are running on an hourly loop so passenger numbers would expected to be higher than usual than if the company was operating a normal level service.

The 69 could get away with Solo SR's as each time i've seen this service in the past few weeks when it has either had a Durham Diamond Streetlite or a Green Arrow E200MMC allocated much like the 28B it carries fresh air, the only purpose this is serving at the moment is helping those who work at the Q.E. get to and from work, same with the 67, other issue is between the two is at are operating 8 minutes apart so basically majority of the route is duplicated with exception of certain sections. The 67 is timed to get to Q.E. at xx:43 and 69 is xx:51, why not retime the 69 so it reaches Q.E. at xx:13 so then you have a half hourly service as you again would have if the company was operating services normally.

For me there seems to be resources being wasted in the examples noted above which with a few tweaks would be better utilised and would probably make GNE some more money in these difficult and uncertain times.

He normally does the live updates on a week night (not tonight)... he's really good at giving out information.

Looking forward to see what he has planned.

(25 May 2020, 10:45 am)Storx wrote This is a bad idea imo. The reason the 39 struggles is it barely has a purpose. Pennywell -> Sunderland is Stagecoach territory with the 20, Doxford Park to Sunderland is also Stagecoach territory with the 4 and 12. Then the rest of the route is mostly duplicated by the 2 which runs all night so the majority of the route has a service anyway.

Unless you suddenly have some reason for a massive demand between Grangetown / Ryhope to Doxford Park and Washington to Chester Road there's no need for it being every 10 minutes whereas the sections which are popular Silksworth -> Sunderland and Chester Road your decreasing to every 10 minutes from every 7.5 minutes. Not to mention your also making the route slower between Sunderland and Penshaw and onwards.

Personally I'd just renumber the 39 to the number 1 and market is as one bus route every 7.5 minutes with different endings. The core of the 39 is the same as the 2 anyway.

Exactly so what is the point in it continuing to operate in it's guise when it is a dupe of another service for the majority of it's route, why not streamline that section into one service and by having it on a reduced frequency would also aid reliability across the route also.

Do you think a passenger is going to be that bothered about waiting 2 and half minutes extra for a bus?

Before you answer the question the likes of the 2/2A/4/26/27/56/97 & X1 have all had decreases in frequency in the last 3 years in order to improve reliability and to save money in the long term, this has also aided in the withdrawl from service of older buses in fleet, again another benefit for passengers.

(24 May 2020, 8:27 pm)Malarkey wrote I have a suggestion for the 2/2A/38 & 39

2/2A - Sunderland City Centre - Ashbrooke - Leechmere - Hollycarrside - Esdale Estate - Tunstall Bank Estate - Silksworth - Doxford International - Doxford Park Morrisons - Ryhope - Grangetown - Sunderland City Centre - Sunderland University - Royal Hospital - Chester Road - Pennywell - Prestbury Road - Hastings Hill - Penshaw - Shiney Row - Barnwell (2A) - Fatfield - Biddick (2A) - Harraton (2) - Lambton (2) - Washington Galleries

Merging of services 2/2A/38 & 39 - Operating Monday to Saturday up to Every 10 Minutes and Every 20 Minutes on Sunday

Service would operate a clockwise/anti clockwise loop between Sunderland City Centre and Doxford International and again as they do currently between Fatfield and Washington Galleries whilst also opening new links around Pennywell to Washington and areas currently served by the 38 to Doxford International.

(24 May 2020, 8:35 pm)Michael wrote That's 1 long route - although a good idea for the route - i think it would work... any idea of the PVR? - there's currently 16 "Black Cat" branded Streetlites.

To be fair, it's mild for a Malarkey Marathon

I was waiting for the extension once every two hours to Ayr via Whitby!

(25 May 2020, 8:03 pm)Malarkey wrote Exactly so what is the point in it continuing to operate in it's guise when it is a dupe of another service for the majority of it's route, why not streamline that section into one service and by having it on a reduced frequency would also aid reliability across the route also.

Do you think a passenger is going to be that bothered about waiting 2 and half minutes extra for a bus?

Before you answer the question the likes of the 2/2A/4/26/27/56/97 & X1 have all had decreases in frequency in the last 3 years in order to improve reliability and to save money in the long term, this has also aided in the withdrawl from service of older buses in fleet, again another benefit for passengers.

The point is your increasing the service levels from Doxford Park to Tunstall and from Chester Road to Washington where the extra capacity isn't needed and taking it from the core of the route where the capacity is more needed and where there is competition with Stagecoach. At the same time your making an extra long bus route which will increase delays anyway so if something happens at Washington it's going to affect the whole route or similar with Doxford Park. I don't know the numbers but 8 buses an hour to 6 buses an hour is quite a big decrease in capacity whereas 2/4 buses to 6 buses an hour is a big increase when it's not needed. Your just moving capacity to the wrong place.

From Monday 1 June, in line with guidance from the government, our buses will start returning to what can be considered our ‘normal’ level of service, with changes to some services that are listed below our COVID-19 travel advice.

We have also worked hard to protect journeys introduced following customer feedback on key worker shift times at the start of the crisis.

Services that aren’t listed below will return to timetables that are similar to their pre-coronavirus times on weekdays, although on many services evening frequencies will be reduced due to the continued closure of leisure and entertainment venues. Services on weekends will also run to special timetables.

https://www.gonortheast.co.uk/service-ch...day-1-june


SOME interesting changes, wasn't expecting some of them.

(26 May 2020, 12:41 pm)Michael wrote From Monday 1 June, in line with guidance from the government, our buses will start returning to what can be considered our ‘normal’ level of service, with changes to some services that are listed below our COVID-19 travel advice.

We have also worked hard to protect journeys introduced following customer feedback on key worker shift times at the start of the crisis.

Services that aren’t listed below will return to timetables that are similar to their pre-coronavirus times on weekdays, although on many services evening frequencies will be reduced due to the continued closure of leisure and entertainment venues. Services on weekends will also run to special timetables.

https://www.gonortheast.co.uk/service-ch...day-1-june

I read changes justified with ‘low passenger numbered pre-coronavirus’ to be permanent? If so this ends Go Ahead and it’s predecessors operation along the Durham coast into Hartlepool for the first time since its incarnation?

(26 May 2020, 12:41 pm)Michael wrote From Monday 1 June, in line with guidance from the government, our buses will start returning to what can be considered our ‘normal’ level of service, with changes to some services that are listed below our COVID-19 travel advice.

We have also worked hard to protect journeys introduced following customer feedback on key worker shift times at the start of the crisis.

Services that aren’t listed below will return to timetables that are similar to their pre-coronavirus times on weekdays, although on many services evening frequencies will be reduced due to the continued closure of leisure and entertainment venues. Services on weekends will also run to special timetables.

https://www.gonortheast.co.uk/service-ch...day-1-june


SOME interesting changes, wasn't expecting some of them.

I can't work out if all of the changes are permanent or not. Some clearly are, but others I'm not sure.

21 going via Arnison.

Don't get that one. Adding more journey time onto an already lengthy journey time.

A cheaper and quicker service in the X12, and running at the same frequency as well...

(26 May 2020, 1:12 pm)LeeCalder wrote 21 going via Arnison.

Don't get that one. Adding more journey time onto an already lengthy journey time.

A cheaper and quicker service in the X12, and running at the same frequency as well...

Sorry Lee
X12 isn't reverting to normal north of Durham from next week - staying hourly. Back to normal south of Durham however

(26 May 2020, 1:12 pm)LeeCalder wrote 21 going via Arnison.

Really don't get it. Adding more journey time onto an already lengthy journey time.

A cheaper and quicker service in the X12, and running at the same frequency as well...

That's the best change IMO, It was always a right faff trying to get to Arnison centre, now there's the 21 and X20

I wonder if the X66/1A change will be permanent, my guess is they've just added it on because the 1A sits around for a while at Metrocentre anyway so it might as well carry on a little bit extra.
The downside is it cuts off a connection to IKEA and other parts of the Metrocentre, but I guess that's probably not important at the minute.
I'd really like them to bring back the S1, I've lost count of the times the X66 to ASDA/IKEA has been severely late or not turned up at all.

(26 May 2020, 1:18 pm)streetdeckfan wrote That's the best change IMO, It was always a right faff trying to get to Arnison centre, now there's the 21 and X20 

I wonder if the X66/1A change will be permanent, my guess is they've just added it on because the 1A sits around for a while at Metrocentre anyway so it might as well carry on a little bit extra.
The downside is it cuts off a connection to IKEA and other parts of the Metrocentre, but I guess that's probably not important at the minute.
I'd really like them to bring back the S1, I've lost count of the times the X66 to ASDA/IKEA has been severely late or not turned up at all.

A faff from anywhere but Durham, Sacriston or Chester.
14 and 50 already served it on a decent enough frequency. The walk from Pity Me isn't too arduous for many getting on/off the 21/X21 as it stands and there's the ANE services too. 

The changes haven't really opened up too many new travelling opportunities to the Arnison that weren't there already.

(26 May 2020, 1:25 pm)Andreos1 wrote A faff from anywhere but Durham, Sacriston or Chester.
14 and 50 already served it on a decent enough frequency. The walk from Pity Me isn't too arduous for many getting on/off the 21/X21 as it stands and there's the ANE services too. 

The changes haven't really opened up too many new travelling opportunities to the Arnison that weren't there already.

I used to travel there pretty regularly from Newcastle and Bishop and the times never seemed to match up, so I always ended up having to do the walk from Pity me off the X21.

I’m surprised that the hourly 55 that terminates at Peterlee didn’t get extended to station Town replacing service 202, while the other 55 is replacing the 206, I was surprised that GNE pulling out of Hartlepool altogether.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It would seem as though Barley Mow, Vigo, Portobello, Portmeads and Eighton Banks have now lost their direct link to QE Hospital.

These are large communities, sub-standard response by GNE of "you can easily change at Wrekenton".

A change which will hit the pockets of passengers, who will now have to purchase a Day Ticket or multiple single tickets.

(26 May 2020, 1:38 pm)LeeCalder wrote It would seem as though Barley Mow, Vigo, Portobello, Portmeads and Eighton Banks have now lost their direct link to QE Hospital.

These are large communities, sub-standard response by GNE of "you can easily change at Wrekenton".

A change which will hit the pockets of passengers, who will now have to purchase a Day Ticket or multiple single tickets.

I was literally just about to post similar regarding the 25. Mentions by James101 of Hartlepool not being served by the operator for the first time in a very long time. If ever. 
I think it's the first time in a very long time (certainly as far as I can remember) that vast swathes of Birtley hasn't had a direct service to the QE.