I have now booked a few days in the area in August. If I suddenly prefer to come sooner I have free cancellation up to 28 days prior to arrival.

I preferred to come this year rather than next year to allow for new Metro trains likely in 2023. I would probably have had too many bus changes to catch up with by 2023.

This of course assumes hospitality will have reopened by August. I would be sincerely shocked if it hasn't. Nice to have this to look forward to in all likeliness!

I have indeed rearranged my Newcastle stay, which will now be in the final week in July. Not only will this give me more flexibility for other ideas later in the year, but I even got a partial refund from my hotel for amending my booking to some cheaper nights.

I was incidentally determined to ride a Go North East Yutong before a First Leeds (or Newport) example.

Final change of plan. I am coming in the 2nd week of June. I even changed my hotel booking to a non-refundable option! I doubt there are many imminent changes in the area that I would narrowly miss out on seeing.

The long weekend allowed me to partake in a few sociable beverages and some gricing too.

I can't remember the last time was on a bus. August/September 2020 at a guess.
A combination of working from home, it being a pain to go to the shops/carry bags and risk not being allowed on a bus, plus pubs not really being open - meant that car has been king. 

I'd queried the best (most affordable) way to travel on two consecutive days not too long ago. Mainly using GNE, but also needing to make use of ANE on one of the days.
In the end, I settled on buying a £4.10 single on the ANE route (if it wasn't for the journey per mile being a lot less than GNE, I'd have nightmares thinking back to my experiences on those Purple Solars and Streetlites). 
I also made use of the GNE 24 hour ticket and by timing my journey right, I made the most of it. 
It also worked out cheaper than buying an Explorer and one day red zone ticket.
Not by much, but it meant there was a couple more quid in my pocket than in the bum-bag of a shareholder lying on Copacabana beach. 

As well as having an objective to get to the pubs, I also made it my intention to sample the new deckers on the X1 and the Interdecks on the X9/10.
I managed to cross off a couple of other little brucey bonuses on other routes too, which included an odd-working. 

Interdeck: nice pleasant ride. Felt the driver wasn't pushing the vehicle at all and it could have easily overtaken more than it actually did.
It got me thinking about the timetables and whether or not journey times could be reduced now something with a powerful engine is working the route. 

Tried a couple of different seats and although I found some good ones, I might give that front row a miss in the future. Ended up sitting side-ways on at one point.
Although I didn't try any of the seats downstairs, I thought the seating arrangement looked a bit bizarre. 
It wasn't obvious to me that they're actually available for passengers to use.

I just wish something like this had been allocated to the route in the past.
A definite step up in terms of comfort and depending on pricing and timing vs the train, it is an option on occasions the car is left at home. 
Due to the time it takes to connect to the X9/10 at either end, there's no way it would be a regular alternative. 

Streetdeck: it was OK. Nowt flash or exciting about it really.
The journey time was as it was prior to the re-brand and although the interior was a lot fresher and cleaner than the B9's which were allocated previously, I'm not sure it was enough to encourage me to use the service more than I did or make a permanent (or even temporary) modal switch.

The ride was decent enough and I had no complaints about the leg-room in the seat above the driver.
The vehicle seemed to have more pull than the B9, but the gearing seemed awkward. Not sure if it was just the one example I used or if it is common across the fleet, but on hills (short/long or challenging/not challenging), it just didn't seem in sync with the engine or road conditions. 
I appreciate some may laugh at this, but it was almost like an Atlantean when climbing. 
Coming up Newbottle Bank on that X1 wasn't too different to climbing up past Barley Mow school on a 26 back in the day. 
Unfortunately there wasn't as many sound effects as there was with the Atlantean.

For my days in and around Newcastle I divided my days out as follows:

Tuesday 8th - Newcastle plus links to North Tyneside except the coast and Sunderland
Wednesday 9th - Northumberland plus North Tyneside coast
Thursday 10th - Go North East buses in Gateshead & Durham
Friday 11th - Edinburgh day trip
Saturday 12th - East Gateshead / South Shields and Washington

I did a total of 40 buses. In particular, my 21 with Go North East were more than other operators put together! My others were 4 with Arriva, 8 with Stagecoach plus 7 with Lothian Buses in Edinburgh. I shall list the local buses in the operators' sections.

https://bbc.in/3mlvUc9

Beats travelling back and forth between Eldon Square and the Metrocentre, so that a vehicle can be ticked off!

Got me thinking about the furthest journey I have done in a day by bus (ignored coaches) and I'm struggling.
Longhoughton to Houghton must be up there (got the train up to Alnmouth in the morning, did some work in the area, before heading back home later that evening).
Other than that, it's always been punctuated by rail.

Obviously I've not counted gricing days, where I've started and ended in the same place.

When I was about fourteen, my mum and I did Newcastle, Alnwick, Wooler, Berwick and back to Newcastle in one day. We used Explorer tickets.

Don't think you could do that now with the cuts to bus services. It must have been a Saturday when we did it.

Charles

I think the most I've done is around 120 miles in a day, that was Bishop to Ashington, and back with a couple other places in between.

I also did 100 miles regularly with my day trips from Bishop to Hexham and back

Sent from my LM-G710 using Tapatalk

(23 Aug 2021, 8:24 pm)Andreos1 wrote https://bbc.in/3mlvUc9

Beats travelling back and forth between Eldon Square and the Metrocentre, so that a vehicle can be ticked off!

Got me thinking about the furthest journey I have done in a day by bus (ignored coaches) and I'm struggling.
Longhoughton to Houghton must be up there (got the train up to Alnmouth in the morning, did some work in the area, before heading back home later that evening).
Other than that, it's always been punctuated by rail.

Obviously I've not counted gricing days, where I've started and ended in the same place.

I dread to think what my longest trips have been in a day, longest spotter trip day was last year when thanks to COVID cutting the level of service provided by National Express last year, I had a day out from about 09:00 to 23:30 then returning to my start point of Milton Keynes and overnighted on the National Express getting back into Darlington at around 05:20 then the 05:45 7 home... will not be doing that again if I can help it!

(24 Aug 2021, 6:40 pm)Charles41 wrote When I was about fourteen, my mum and I did Newcastle, Alnwick, Wooler, Berwick and back to Newcastle in one day. We used Explorer tickets.

Don't think you could do that now with the cuts to bus services. It must have been a Saturday when we did it.

Charles

I think it would still be possible in some capacity as I have done so in the past although I got the train back from Alnmouth due to starting a bit further south (Newton Aycliffe)

---

If I can be bothered, may share some of my escapades from North Wales last week in the next few days

(24 Aug 2021, 6:40 pm)Charles41 wrote When I was about fourteen, my mum and I did Newcastle, Alnwick, Wooler, Berwick and back to Newcastle in one day. We used Explorer tickets.

Don't think you could do that now with the cuts to bus services. It must have been a Saturday when we did it.

Charles

It's still possible, plenty of leeway to extend your visits in places too.

0838 X15 Newcastle to Alnwick (1000)
1030 473 Alnwick to Wooler (1109)
1207 464 Wooler to Berwick Golden Square (1252)
1311 X15 Berwick Golden Square to Newcastle (1531)

Last week I spent 4 nights in Llandudno with the intention of exploring the North Wales Network of buses, each day had me using the 1bws Day Ticket which covers almost every service in North Wales including some leeway for heading in/out of England to the likes of Chester.

MONDAY:
0621 5A Home - Darlington (ANE 7538)
0717 TP Leeds
NT Manchester Victoria
Walk to Piccadilly
NT Chester
1314 1 Wrexham Bus Station (Arriva Wales ADL E400City 1004)
1450 26 Mold Bus Station (Arriva Wales Solo SR 705)
1600 1 Ruthin (M&M Coaches StreetLite WF SK18TKE)
1633 X51 Denbigh (Lloyds Coaches Solo SR YH14BCO)
1704 51B Glan Clwyd Hospital (Arriva Wales VDL DB300 Gemini 4486)
1757 13 Llandudno (Arriva Wales Pulsar 3172)

TUESDAY:
1208 26 Great Orme Summit (Arriva Wales Solo 668)
1321 26 Llandudno M&S (Arriva Wales Solo 668)
1400 12 Colwyn Bay (Arriva Wales Cadet 2520)
1434 13 Llandudno (Arriva Wales Pulsar 2620)

WEDNESDAY:
1012 TfW Betws-y-Coed
1110 S2 Llanberis (Gwynfor Coaches E200 SN16OSY)
1200 85 Bangor Bus Station (Gwynfor Coaches Solo SR KY63VTE)
1315 T2 Caernarfon (Lloyds Coaches 'TrawsCymru' Optare MetroCity YJ65EUM)
1340 12 Phwelli Bus Station (Clynnog & Trefor BMC Condor YJ06TJZ)
1600 3 Porthmadog (Caelloi Optare MetroCity YJ64DWK)
1720 S97 Beddgelert (Gwynfor Coaches Solo SR YD63UZF)
1835 S4 Caernarfon Bus Station (Gwynfor Coaches E200 SN66WND)
1910 T2 Bangor (Lloyds Coaches 'TrawsCymru' Optare MetroCity YJ67FZP)
2147 5E Llandudno (Arriva Wales Pulsar 3169)

THURSDAY:
0908 T19 Betws-y-Coed (Llew Jones Coaches 'TrawsCymru' Optare Tempo YD63UZM)
1010 S2 Pen-y-Pass (Gwynfor Coaches E200 YY17GPZ)
1105 S1 Llanberis (Gwynfor Coaches DAD DB250 ALX400 LG52DBU)
1132 85 Caernarfon (Gwynfor Coaches E200 YX11AEL)
1215 5C Bangor (Arriva Wales Pulsar 2935)
1310? X4 Holyhead (Arriva Wales Pulsar 2653)
1520 4 Llangefni (Arriva Wales Cadet 2638)
1701 4R/4A Bangor (Arriva Wales Pulsar 2914)
1807 X5 Llandudno (Arriva Wales Pulsar 3177)

FRIDAY:
0919 12 Rhyl (Arriva Wales E400 4553)
1045 11M Holywell (Arriva Wales VDL Gemini 4491)
1222 11 Chester Bus Interchange (Arriva Wales 4486)
1449 40 Chester Rail Station (Aintree Coachlines E400 142)
Merseyrail Liverpool Lime Street
1601 NT Manchester Piccadilly
1727 NT Leeds
1942 TP Darlington
2055 NT Newton Aycliffe


MAIN TAKEAWAYS:

The train portions to Chester was me being tight and using a free Northern return voucher from a 60+ min Delay Repay claim although was more of a hassle than I first thought as Northern have capped the direct Leeds to Chester services at Manchester Victoria due to staff shortages. Lost the voucher on the Thursday so had to fork out for tickets for the trip home, just pleased with some cunning planning and split ticketing it wasn't too costly.

The Arriva buses here seemed to had more go in them than their North East counterparts and was nice to have some VDL DB300s again as I don't get them much now since the X12 examples were displaced by Pulsars and sent to Yorkshire.

The two hours spent in Bangor on Wednesday night was not through choice, Arriva failed to run two trips on an hourly service so I was waiting for most of that time apart from a quick stop at Asda for much needed food & drinks as Bangor didn't have much to offer for me on that night.

The connections between buses even in some of the slightly more rural areas seem far superior than the likes of here and North Yorkshire in places and most were met apart from the one from the BMC in Phwelli although I only caught that as it was running late and did miss the 1430 3 there and had to wait until 1600 instead.

The walk around Great Orme Summit showcased just how unfit I have become recently, walked up a very steep hill and thought I was gonna die


Hope you enjoyed reading my Welsh escapades. Probs won't be too much more of these reviews from me as stuff ain't usually too interesting and the upcoming plans are just short quick photo stops and Northern's £1 ticket offer.

We've done most of the region apart from North of Morpeth. Possibly the longest journey has been from Thornley to Peterlee and boro (on the old x7) , down to Whitby, then back to boro on the x4 and home again on the x12 and 22. A good 10 hours.

Have often done Durham, Darlo, Stockton, Newcastle, Durham loops. Or Durham, Newcastle, Ashington, Morpeth, Newcastle, consett, Durham. Didn't get much walking in, that day.

Given that I had a free week and that I hadn't travelled on the much hyped Transdev Blazefield network, I decided to use today to change that. Below is a journey log couples with associated thoughts on the vehicles, services, and network as a whole. 

1Y11 - Newcastle to York - LNER 801226 (06:30 - 07:32)
For a service planned to arrive into London during the AM peak both myself and Citaro5284, who had joined me for the day and provided lifts to/from Newcastle, noted that it seemed rather quiet especially given that it served most stations between Newcastle and York. Departing the service at York our coach wasn't even half full, and there wasn't exactly a huge crowd waiting to fill it either. The arrival at York was timely as expected given the superior performance of the Azumas versus the scheduled stock. It was time to move for the first Transdev trip of the day.

ZAP - York Rail Station to Leeds Bus Station - Transdev York 2019 (07:50 - 08:36)

A few minutes prior to the scheduled departure, "Pride of the North" liveried E400 MMC 2019 came into view. I must say that, visually, these things are a step above virtually anything else out there (possibly bar the next Transdev trip). The good impressions continued when boarding, the interior spec again including everything that is now expected as well as exceptionally comfortable seats, and a few extras that made it feel that bit better (LED strips, seat labels, live ETA on the NSA system). That said, ironically as the NSA announced the extra cleaning measures that are in place, I noticed a decent helping of dust on the glossy black plastic surrounding the air vents - far too much to have accumulated since it would have been 'cleaned' the previous night - as well as mucky plastic window surrounds and headrests. Operationally you understand why things like this might not be priority number one however, especially when shouted about, will be noticed by passengers more than ever in the current climate so it was disappointing to see on that vehicles first trip of the day. The vehicle performed well and carried about 12 of us through to Leeds, arriving a couple of minutes early and with ample time to make the next leg of the journey.

1K10 - Leeds to Manchester Piccadilly - Transpennine Express 185135 (09:07 - 10:07)

After a swift walk across Leeds to the train station, and an equally swift McDonald's breakfast, we arrived on platform 8 in anticipation of the 09:07 TPE to Manchester. 185135 rocked up, as usual with TPE without any indication of which carriage was which, and set away to Manchester with a decent load. A fairly uneventful journey, though I wouldn't like to have spent much longer on a 185 - in comparison to the earlier Class 800 it felt cramped, uncomfortable, and ageing. 

#X43 - Manchester Chorlton Street to Burnley Bus Station - The Burnley Bus Company 2008 (10:15 - 10:29)

We had initially planned for the 10:35 X43, however some luck in getting out of Piccadilly quite quickly along with there being relatively little in the way of pedestrian traffic through the streets of Manchester allowed us to get the earlier trip. 'Witchway' E400MMC 2008 was our chariot for the next leg of the journey, and crikey was it an impressive vehicle to look at. Much like 2019 the spec of it really does stand out compared to most things on public bus services, and it performed well for the trip to Burnley. I would say that quite a few parts of the NSA voiceover didn't quite match with the premium feel of the service though, and NSAs will continue to feature as negative points from here on out (that said, this one again did have a live ETA on the screen which is a big positive). We arrived into the rather pleasant Burnley Bus Station on time, and sighted our next goal for the day on arrival.

#5 - Burnley Bus Station to Clifford Street - The Burnley Bus Company 1072 (11:32 - 11:37)

I didn't have many goals for the day, not knowing the network too well rather limited me in that respect, but one thing I did want to tick off was what will likely be one last ride on a B10BLE in service. We had scheduled about an hour in at Burnley to catch some of the ones on town work, and 1072 was on stand ready to leave on a 5 as we arrived on 2008. The familiar sounds of a B10 came flooding back as we left towards Rose Grove, however we decided to bail reasonably quickly to jump on the one heading in the other direction for a bit of a longer journey. 

#5 - Clifford Street to St. James' School -  The Burnley Bus Company 1042 (11:42 - 12:02)

This was, as with 1072, a remarkably good performer given its advancing age. This journey was reasonably busy as we got on just outside the town centre, before dropping it off and taking another decent load out towards Harle Syke. I did note that the legroom wasn't fantastic, if I'd tried to fit me knees behind the seat in front I think my legs would be in casts by now, however the seats themselves were quite tidy and more than comfortable enough for town work. After a powerful push up the hill towards Harle Syke we disembarked to catch 1053 on a 2 back towards the town centre.

#2 - St. James' School to Burnley Bus Station - The Burnley Bus Company 1053 (12:09 - 12:26)

This was, again, a reasonably busy service and it's clear why full size single decks are likely needed ahead of midibuses on these town services. That said, the use of age disguised B10BLEs does seem somewhat overkill - I'm sure that there's been opportunity at some point to get some more environmentally friendly, and more economical, vehicles to run what seemed to be a reasonably busy little town network. Despite my thoughts on the allocation, 1053 proved another fantastic performer and dropped us back into Burnley without issue. I was pleased to get a few final trips in on B10s, I don't imagine they'll have too long left and I don't have any current plans for another day down here. 

#M4 - Burnley Bus Station to Crosshills Main Street - The Burnley Bus Company 245 (13:08 - 14:16)

The first mishap of the day. Intending to catch a Pendle Wizz to Skipton, neither of us had realised that the times were changing by half an hour as of, we assume, today (this seems like a Transdev website thing, as we had both checked when we planned the day on the 20th August). The plan was the 13:10 to Skipton, however upon realising that it now left at xx:40, it would no longer give us enough time to execute the rest of the days plan without some ridiculous amounts of luck and tight connections. Citaro5284 suggested jumping on the Versa stood in front of us on the M4 to Keighley and, reluctantly, I agreed. I shouldn't have been reluctant, 245 was a surprisingly good runner and was a pleasant place to be inside too. NSAs were far too quiet, barely audible over the bus engine and some quiet conversations around the bus, but there was a nice touch of noting a county boundary. Having looked at various timetables and maps, we decided to bail at Crosshills to board the 66 coming down from Skipton that we would have caught had our original plan worked out. 

#66 - Crosshills Main Street to Keighley Bus Station - The Keighley Bus Company 2757 (14:37 - 15:00)

Having not checked bustimes to see what was allocated to this journey, it was a pleasant surprise to see a spare B7TL rock up instead of a Dalesway branded B9TL. 2757s interior was also of a better than expected spec, with the seats in particular being exceptionally comfortable, and we made our way into Keighley with a decent load on board. On approach I had checked on our next leg, the Aireline 60, to find out that they were virtually all delayed by a decent chunk of time. 

#60 - Keighley Bus Station to Leeds - The Keighley Bus Company 2794 (15:30 - 16:57)

Missing the delayed 14:45 by a couple of seconds, we waited in Keighley Bus Station for half an hour or so and made various observations about some of the Blazefield services which evidently don't get quite as much love. Y reg B7TLs on frontline work, and 2005 B7RLEs with private plates and battered panels working a 10 minute frequency service that kept leaving with full seated loads were the most prominent examples of not everything being all sunshine and rainbows. 2794 eventually rocked up for the 15:25 departure at 15:29, 26 minutes after its scheduled arrival, with the driver getting off wishing us luck with the traffic. That always bodes well. Having eventually left the bus station nearer to 15:35, the driver made up serious ground throughout the route and, despite some 4 way traffic light roadworks and various other smaller jams, we arrived into Leeds just one minute late. Credit to the driver and 2794 for the performance. Comfort wise, this branded vehicle looked to have worse seating than the 05-plate B7 spare we had just travelled on, and again had pitifully quiet NSAs (I'll only mention this again if they're audible, otherwise assume that a pin dropping might have been louder than the speakers on these Transdev NSA systems). 

#36 - Leeds Bus Station to Harrogate Bus Station - The Harrogate Bus Company 3620 (17:05 - 18:12)

As a result of the trip across on 2794, we were able to make the 36 ahead of the one we had planned. While these also look good you can tell they're beginning to fade externally, though the interior is still up to scratch. After traffic out of Leeds, and a tractor slowing us down for a decent section of the route, we finally thought we'd get a bit of high speed country running... nope. Flat. As. A. Pancake. Honestly the tractor might have been a blessing in disguise, the sight of a hill seemed to make this thing curl up into a ball and cry which really isn't a good sign for 6 year old vehicles on your flagship service - though maybe they had to turn them down a notch to avoid them literally obliterating everything else on the road (https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/cri...re-2503022). 

#1D - Harrogate Bus Station to Knaresborough Bus Station - The Harrogate Bus Company 1837 (18:20 - 18:31)

A further change of plan. Originally we'd intended to wait in Harrogate until just after 19:00 and catch the train back to York from here, however the sight of 4 B7RLEs in the bus station on arrival was too good to turn down. 1837 was our machine for the short hop to Knaresborough, and instantly reminded me why I continue to rate B7RLEs as the best 'modern' low floor single decks. The turn of speed was ridiculous, and the driver knew how to get the best out of it. As a result of this, we had another change of plan...

2C58 - Knaresborough to York - Northern 170454 (18:39 - 19:04)

The early running coupled with a power walk to the train station allowed us to catch the earlier train, this being the 18:39 from Knaresborough. The service wasn't too busy, but it was nice to see smaller stations along the way getting reasonably frequent services such as this. The 170 itself still felt fresh after its refurbishment, which again is good to see after years of Northern running some questionable stuff passenger wise.

1P37 - York to Newcastle - Transpennine Express 802216 (20:07 - 21:18)

The final leg. A reasonably busy TPE 5 car, though given this is quite a bit cheaper than the other services passing through York to Newcastle around this time perhaps it is to be expected? I still find the interiors on these to be very pleasant, with the TPE seats slightly better than the LNER ones (though I don't dislike either, the LNER ones are more than adequate if not quite HST/91 comfort). The journey passed quickly, and as we passed over the High Level Bridge and into platform 1 we were back to (essentially) where we had started 15 hours earlier.

Overall it was an enjoyable day with good company. My initial impressions of Transdev were positive, and had I only sampled the CityZap and Witchway then I think I'd have had my expectations matched. In reality, however, past these core routes, the picture of Transdev Blazefield seems a little less rosy. B10BLEs chugging around on town work seems irresponsible, Y-reg B7TLs being given private plates and put onto services such as Pendle Wizz and Airedale seems off, and the appearance of quite a few of the vehicles certainly wasn't creating any desire (569/X569YUG as a prime example). I find the NE operators come in for, at times well deserved, criticism quite often for issues such as service provision or vehicle standards. We noted at a number of places on our travels today that towns were left with Sunday services of every 2 hours and last buses well before the Mon-Sat counterparts. Then in terms of vehicle standards, to compare to the NE, I often see criticism of ANE using 55-plate B7TLs on peak summer X93 workings - yet Transdev are using Y-reg B7s on things like Pendle Wizz and Airedale without so much as a word said...

I appreciate that all companies have positives and negatives, and don't get me wrong I think Transdev do a lot of things well, but there seems to be a belief in certain enthusiast bubbles that certain companies can do no wrong. Before today, from what I had seen on social media and forums such as this, I had an impression of Transdev Blazefield as being a transport company on the cutting edge. While that is true for a handful of routes, it is also far from the truth for what seems like a substantial part of the network. Having thought about it more, I think I'd honestly take any of the big three in the North East ahead of them. 

(01 Sep 2021, 12:10 am)mb134 wrote Overall it was an enjoyable day with good company. My initial impressions of Transdev were positive, and had I only sampled the CityZap and Witchway then I think I'd have had my expectations matched. In reality, however, past these core routes, the picture of Transdev Blazefield seems a little less rosy. B10BLEs chugging around on town work seems irresponsible, Y-reg B7TLs being given private plates and put onto services such as Pendle Wizz and Airedale seems off, and the appearance of quite a few of the vehicles certainly wasn't creating any desire (569/X569YUG as a prime example). I find the NE operators come in for, at times well deserved, criticism quite often for issues such as service provision or vehicle standards. We noted at a number of places on our travels today that towns were left with Sunday services of every 2 hours and last buses well before the Mon-Sat counterparts. Then in terms of vehicle standards, to compare to the NE, I often see criticism of ANE using 55-plate B7TLs on peak summer X93 workings - yet Transdev are using Y-reg B7s on things like Pendle Wizz and Airedale without so much as a word said...

I appreciate that all companies have positives and negatives, and don't get me wrong I think Transdev do a lot of things well, but there seems to be a belief in certain enthusiast bubbles that certain companies can do no wrong. Before today, from what I had seen on social media and forums such as this, I had an impression of Transdev Blazefield as being a transport company on the cutting edge. While that is true for a handful of routes, it is also far from the truth for what seems like a substantial part of the network. Having thought about it more, I think I'd honestly take any of the big three in the North East ahead of them. 

Couple of points

I have noticed that the cleaning on York's fleet is questionable in places, have seen similar issues with unclean interior, another being the windows externally with clear streaks and dirt down the windows, especially poor when I travelled on one of their E200MMCs with this issue on DalesBus service 825 from Richmond, same can often be said for Harrogate in particular the B7RLEs on the 7.

The two Burnley services you had B10BLEs on (2 & 5) got brand new StreetLites of the same size to the ex Saltwell Parks in 2014 but when they acquired Rosso they were redeployed on their services leaving the B10s displaced off the Mainline by Versas to be cascaded onto the Burnley local services. A 5 Burnley Connect Lite: https://flic.kr/p/2kDvwcU

The old Y reg B7TLs at Keighley are not a good look especially the ones with the old Keighley & District interior with its dark and dingy horrible looking seating that seems to be the same moquette as Arriva Bus & Coach Dealerstock use that let's their them down massively, not too bad in terms of performance however. Burnley's 2706 at least has a half decent interior and can shift, always a joy when it appears on Pendle Wizz in place of the branded examples which now rather tired both internally and with performance. There's a few other bits such as Tridents at Burnley and ELC bodied Tridents at Rosso still in the livery for a Uni service in Nottingham could do with a refresh although both pretty much just do second rate work like scholars and the odd peak run normally.

Whilst I think they do stuff like presentation right (for the most part), they do a fair bit wrong too.

(01 Sep 2021, 12:10 am)mb134 wrote Overall it was an enjoyable day with good company. My initial impressions of Transdev were positive, and had I only sampled the CityZap and Witchway then I think I'd have had my expectations matched. In reality, however, past these core routes, the picture of Transdev Blazefield seems a little less rosy. B10BLEs chugging around on town work seems irresponsible, Y-reg B7TLs being given private plates and put onto services such as Pendle Wizz and Airedale seems off, and the appearance of quite a few of the vehicles certainly wasn't creating any desire (569/X569YUG as a prime example). I find the NE operators come in for, at times well deserved, criticism quite often for issues such as service provision or vehicle standards. We noted at a number of places on our travels today that towns were left with Sunday services of every 2 hours and last buses well before the Mon-Sat counterparts. Then in terms of vehicle standards, to compare to the NE, I often see criticism of ANE using 55-plate B7TLs on peak summer X93 workings - yet Transdev are using Y-reg B7s on things like Pendle Wizz and Airedale without so much as a word said...

I appreciate that all companies have positives and negatives, and don't get me wrong I think Transdev do a lot of things well, but there seems to be a belief in certain enthusiast bubbles that certain companies can do no wrong. Before today, from what I had seen on social media and forums such as this, I had an impression of Transdev Blazefield as being a transport company on the cutting edge. While that is true for a handful of routes, it is also far from the truth for what seems like a substantial part of the network. Having thought about it more, I think I'd honestly take any of the big three in the North East ahead of them.

Sounds like a good day out and a good experience of the Transdev network. I haven't done the network for some time now, but my thoughts were largely the same as yours, when I did do it in the past. 

Transdev are extremely good at shouting about and promoting what they do really well; and to be fair, they should because it is really good. I'm yet to try CityZap or Witchway since the upgrades, but I know from doing Coastliner, the 36 and the Harrogate electrics, the products are well designed, eye-catching and generally provide a good experience. That being said, if your journey into work is one of the 20 year old B10BLEs running around Burnley, then reality just is not going to match your expectations, having seen the promotional work that Transdev put out.

I wrote similar in a recent blog post referring to Xlines. It's no good banding around slogans like GNE's 'Better than Ever' campaign, or overuse of the word 'amazing' like Transdev do, when it only relates to a small sample of your operation and you're unable to provide a consistent customer experience across your network. I get that money and investment comes into it, but first impressions are everything.

https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasg...s-21396623

That's a trip and a half!

If we on about longest distance in a day last year I did Hartlepool- Billingham - Middlesbrough- Parkway Centre - Middlesbrough - Durham - Cathedral - Durham - Newcastle- Metrocentre- Gateshead- Dalton Park - Peterlee - Hartlepool in a single day 13 different buses
Stagecoach Teesside 36 34 10 12
Arriva X12
Go North East 40 21 X47 X66 X10 210( I think can’t remember)
Arriva 24
Stagecoach 7

I want to try do it again soon to beat the 13 buses is anyone able to beat this

(10 Sep 2021, 8:53 pm)col87 wrote If we on about longest distance in a day last year I did Hartlepool- Billingham - Middlesbrough- Parkway Centre - Middlesbrough - Durham -  Cathedral - Durham - Newcastle- Metrocentre- Gateshead- Dalton Park - Peterlee - Hartlepool in a single day 13 different buses
Stagecoach Teesside  36 34 10 12
Arriva X12
Go North East 40 21 X47 X66 X10 210( I think can’t remember)
Arriva 24
Stagecoach 7 

I want to try do it again soon to beat the 13 buses is  anyone able to beat this

More than thirteen buses in a day is easy provided you don't wish to travel too far by any of them!

I've done the circuit Newcastle - Middlesbrough - Darlington - Durham - Newcastle quite often, always with side excursions and extra journeys to sample different vehicles.  Hopefully circumstances will allow me to do something similar again sometime soon! 

(11 Sep 2021, 11:10 am)Ianthegoon wrote More than thirteen buses in a day is easy provided you don't wish to travel too far by any of them!

I've done the circuit Newcastle - Middlesbrough - Darlington - Durham - Newcastle quite often, always with side excursions and extra journeys to sample different vehicles.  Hopefully circumstances will allow me to do something similar again sometime soon! 

Yes it is something I am planning to try beat at some point and as much of the region as possible however bit difficult in the current circumstances.

Yesterday I decided to have a ride out to Hexham. I unfortunately did not have a chance to get fleet numbers or registrations and because people rang with important phone calls not much opportunity for photos either.

I started off on the 36 from Owton Manor Baptist Church on one of the 69 Plate Enviro 200 MMC with the ride as comfortable as ever before departing as I usually do on Stockton Street.

After a quick Stop in Wilko for a drink I then got the 9:58 24 as far as Peterlee operated by what would be my first Pulsar of the day. I still believe them to be the better buses that Arriva have got which got me into Peterlee at around 10:35.

After then considering my options as the electronic board was not showing all services for some reason I then got the X6 to Dalton Park a service I think was a mistake axing from Hartlepool. As usual it was operated by a Solo SR and got to Dalton Park in good time just beating the 22 by about 3 minutes.

I was then hoping to catch the X1 but luck was not on my side so I ended up instead getting on the X10 at just after 11. I am still not a fan of the Plaxton Elite coaches due to the steep steps as I don’t think they are disability friendly. However they are comfortable enough and I arrived in Gateshead in just under 30 minutes. It was the first double decker of the day as well ( if you can call them coaches deckers that is ).

I then did manage to get on the X1 on one of the B5 Streetdecks. Nice comfortable buses on a journey over the Tyne Bridge into Newcastle. Most amusing sight of the day been the anti covid protesters sprouting their nonsense. The Tyne Bridge itself could seriously do with a bit of paint.

After getting off at Eldon Square I then went to find the service 10 for a ride to Hexham however that was running a few minutes late so I instead walked up and got the second new bus of the day an Enviro 400 MMC on the X85 and a completely new route for me to tick off. Ride was only slightly spoilt by the top window needing a good clean and it was rattling a bit especially on the dual carriageway. It got to Hexham just before 1 giving me a good 2 hours for a look round the Abbey and for some dinner.

They do seriously need to do something with the old bus station because I am wondering what the point was of closing it and building the new one especially when Priest topple is the better location for it. I also think that Hospital stop is a bit pointless as well especially when it right where the New bus station is but I am getting sidetracked.

After about an hour and a half I was ready to come back so I got the 2:20 service 10 back to Newcastle as usual operated by Wright Gemini branded Tyne Valley 10 which at this point was starting to show its age with a few seats having Rips in. Although it still got to Newcastle without any problems arriving around 3:40.

After a look round Eldon Square and standing on the bridge looking out at the Stagecoach buses below I thought it was time to head back home. I did try getting the X1 again but it was a bit two full and only going as far as Easington Lane so it ended been what come first between the Arriva X12 on a time and a late running X21. The Pulsar narrowly beat the Omnidecker so I enjoyed a second trip on a pulsar that day down to Durham with the bus not even half full although the second part of it Journey down to Middlesbrough would see it just about reaching it capacity luckily I was not on it for that.

This is where my luck for nice buses for the day ran out. Checking the timetable and seeing the 24 was terminating at Peterlee I waited for the 57 and the uncomfortable ride on an Arriva Envro 200 for the tour of as much as East Durham as it was possible to do. This is was actually my first time on the 57 so another route to cross off the list. I did at times wonder if the driver had got lost due to the very narrow estate roads it went round with no bus stops anywhere in sight. By Wingate I was the only passenger on the bus which the driver took the opportunity to start whistling. Due to this he managed to get a small layover in Hart Village. I eventually got back to Hartlepool for about 7:15 about. Just in time to get the 36 back home operated by an 64 Plate Enviro 300.

So in total 10 buses 3 short of my record.

Stagecoach 36 (2) 2 buses
Arriva 24 X12 57 3 Buses
Go North East X6 X10 X1 X85 10 5 Buses

However I had a decent day out and did two new routes so plenty to take from it.

(22 Sep 2021, 8:30 am)col87 wrote Yesterday I decided to have a ride out to Hexham. I unfortunately did not have a chance to get fleet numbers or registrations and because people rang with important phone calls not much opportunity for photos either.

.....

So in total 10 buses 3 short of my record.

Stagecoach 36 (2)  2 buses
Arriva 24 X12 57  3 Buses
Go North East  X6 X10 X1 X85 10 5 Buses 

However I had a decent day out and did two new routes so plenty to take from it.

As you've noted some of the times of the services, you should be able to interrogate BusTimes.org if you wish to identify the vehicles concerned.

(22 Sep 2021, 8:23 pm)Ianthegoon wrote As you've noted some of the times of the services, you should be able to interrogate BusTimes.org if you wish to identify the vehicles concerned.

Never thought of that thanks

As I rode quite a mixture on my day out from South Shields on Tuesday September 26th, I thought I'd share my itin here

27 Jarrow - Go 6005
10 North Shields - Stagecoach 37305
19 Northumberland Park - GCT YX21RUJ

Metro North Shields - 4031

353 Killingworth - Go 5465
X63 Newcastle - Stagecoach 10635
308 "Wallsend north" - Arriva 7634 then walk to Wallsend

Q3 Newcastle - Go 5807
X45 MetroCentre - Go 6351
X66 Gateshead - Go 5381
X1 Washington - Go 6367
4 Heworth - Go 5362
58 Gateshead - Go 6154

Metro South Shields - 4046

Watch this video on Facebook
https://fb.watch/oDis0wdvvz/

Trip to Yoker

From over the weekend:

2nd dec:
X18 Newacstle AN 7570
X45 Metrocentre GNE 5404
47 Consett GNE 6339
16 Durham GNE No FN
20 Houghton GNE 5435
X1 Peterlee GNE 6372
X10 Middlesbourgh GNE 6354
X10 Newcastle GNE 6354
X18 Morpeth AN 7577

3rd dec:
35 Ashington AN 7541
X21 Newcastle AN 7566
47 Metrocentre GNE 6195
96 Gateshead GNE No FN
Metro Brockley Whins 4056
Metro Regent Centre 4016
X14 Morpeth AN 7577

Been a while since I've done a local bus ride, and with my car off the road atm awaiting a MOT, I thought I do one on Tuesday since the Yutong Demo was still knocking around. Day was as follows (times approx - *Late Departure)....

GNE - 1 - 0804 - Rosehill to Whitley Bay - Wright Streetlite - 5472.
ANE - 308 - 0908 - Whitley Bay to Blyth - ADL Enviro 400 - 7522.
ANE - 1 - 0937 - Blyth to Bedlington Station - Wright Streetlite - 1575.
ANE - 434 - 1007* - Bedlington Station to Widdrington Station - ADL Enviro 400MMC - 7548.
ANE - X18 - 1103 - Widdrington Station to Morpeth Bus Station - ADL Enviro 400MMC - 7575.
ANE - 777 - 1130 - Morpeth Bus Station to Kingston Park Metro - Wright Streetlite - 1578.
SNE - X47 - 1228 - Kingston Park Metro to Eldon Square Bus Station - ADL Enviro 300 - 27254.
GNE - 21 - 1310 - Eldon Square BS to Brandon Turning Circle - Yutong U11DD - 9038.
ANE - 49A - 1439 - Brandon Turning Circle to Durham Bus Station - ADL Enviro 200 Dart - 1326.
GNE - 50 - 1610 - Durham Bus Station to Washington Galleries - Wright Streetdeck - 6333.
GNE - X1 - 1740 - Washington Galleries to Wrekenton Bus Link - Wright Streetdeck - 6365.
GNE - 52 - 1754 - Wrekenton Bus Link to Fewster Square - Volvo B9TL / Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 - 6231.
GNE - 58 - 1817 - Fewster Square to Lingley Lane - ADL Trident / Optare Olympus - 6972.
GNE - 57 - 1836 - Lingley Lane to Jackson Street, Gateshead - Yutong CB12 - 5500.
GNE - 53 - 1916 - Jackson Street, Gateshead to Bensham Court - Yutong E10 - 8805.
GNE - 1 - 1943 - Bensham Court to North Shields Transport Hub - Wright Streetlite - 5478.
SNE - 317 - 2051 - North Shields Transport Hub to Rosehill - ADL Enviro 200 Dart - 37318.