(20 Apr 2021, 5:09 pm)Micheal Aaron Parker wrote This service isn't for us enthusiasts to get so high up about it. This is a holiday service bus. I don't see such a big fuss. If the X11 serves said stop. Nobody gets on. Why would it serve that stop on the way back. You have to think. Its a nearly 3 hour bus journey. Plus that driver is doing Newcastle to Scarborough then Scarborough to Whitby and back to Scarborough then back to Newcastle. Like someone said before. Why would a driver serve a stop and picks Nobody up. Why do u think the coach wasn't needed after Middlesbrough. Why compare Go North East to GCT. Its a first weekend service. Of course not everything is gonna be great first time. It could have been worse. 6377 could have broken down halfway down to Scarborough say it broke down in Whitby. That means you would have to wait for a new bus or be advised to take another bus. Missing one stop possible because Nobody had gotten on the way down. If it was a public service that was used everyday. Yes I could understand. But its a holiday service. Nobody bar us enthusiasts and the person motoring the bus would care. To a normal person. Its not gonna bother them. After a day out and your tired. Do you really think a regular person is gonna care that they missed out a stop thay Nobody got on the way down. Its just something us enthusiasts have pointed out.

It's a brand new service and yet nearly everyone is picking it to bits already. Yes if it did it over the next coming weekends yes I'd understand but it's a brand new service. Obviously there is gonna be a slight bit of problem

They legally have to serve every stop that's why people are moaning regardless to whether someone wants to get on/off. People are picking it up as certain members attack GCT for doing the exactly the same thing in particular with the Doxford Park services where they have no-one on the bus so why bother running the rest of the route approach.

(20 Apr 2021, 5:32 pm)L469 YVK wrote But what about if you have 2x 308's chasing each other at Billy Mill towards Newcastle? If Arriva had radios, communication could be established to do the following:
* Any punters wanting stops en route go on bus behind
* Any punters wanting St Mary's / Haymarket stay on but bus is non stoo.

That way it's a win win. Punters heading to town will be less late and outbound journey will leave on time.

Yeah that's a fair point but does that ever happen? Unless the first bus is having serious issues then it should be a very very rare occurance for one to get delayed for 15 minutes somehow yet the one behind can run perfectly fine since they would've already been regulated at Blyth 20 minutes beforehand. Can't remember the 308 ever stacking with itself but I can't say it never happens. Stagecoach is the one who usually has the serious stacking problems especially with the 1 and 62/63 where sometimes you can get 3 following each other - not sure Stagecoach do any regulating at all tbh.

(20 Apr 2021, 5:40 pm)Storx wrote They legally have to serve every stop that's why people are moaning regardless to whether someone wants to get on/off. People are picking it up as certain members attack GCT for doing the exactly the same thing in particular with the Doxford Park services where they have no-one on the bus so why bother running the rest of the route approach.

I'll take the bit in bold as being directed at me (don't be shy in future, Storx!) but I'd hope the discussion and debate was intended to be more constructive than that, as that would be a little petty!

There are clear differences between the two, in my eyes, as I indicated this morning. In this example, the driver has intended to do something which is right by the passengers on his bus (given the very unique nature of the route), not realising the wider implications given it's a registered bus service. In the example of Gateshead Central Taxis, you could possibly argue the same that the driver is getting workers back home early, but it's more likely that this is being done for personal gain (to 'knock off' early!)

(20 Apr 2021, 3:24 pm)cbma06 wrote Don’t know how the ticketing works on the X11, just trying to get my head round it, if no passengers board the X11 at billingham to East Yorkshire for example , why would the bus serve billingham on the way back up north if there’s no passenger to alight from said bus stop, I understand it’s a commercial service , but if a passenger boards the X11 at billingham northbound etc... if it’s an adult passenger for example there would have to pay £15 to get on the bus, I think the X11 purpose going back up north is mostly a drop off service


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The crux of it is that it's a branded bus - which operates under a different brand name on website/timetables only.

It's not classed as a coach service - coach trips aren't allowed under current regs.
But it is classed as a special service.

Some GNE tickets are available. Some aren't.
It's not supposed to pick up passengers for local trips.
BSOG will be being claimed.

If it has a route, it has to follow it.

If stops in Billingham or Middlesbrough aren't attracting passengers on the outbound trip, it still needs to serve those places on the inbound.
If those locations aren't proving popular, then they need to do something about attracting passengers from them (such as allowing local journeys or looking at the ticketing arrangements), or omit them completely. In both directions. 

I was shot down for saying there were 'flaws' with the X11, but here we are, one week after launch - discussing some of its 'flaws'.

(20 Apr 2021, 6:45 pm)Andreos1 wrote If those locations aren't proving popular, then they need to do something about attracting passengers from them (such as allowing local journeys or looking at the ticketing arrangements), or omit them completely. In both directions. 

Would such drastic measures take place on a normal bus service, after such a short period of time?

I'd like to think that a normal bus service would be given more than two days to offer passengers the opportunity to catch a bus from a stop, before it was omitted from the route!

(20 Apr 2021, 6:25 pm)Dan wrote I'll take the bit in bold as being directed at me (don't be shy in future, Storx!) but I'd hope the discussion and debate was intended to be more constructive than that, as that would be a little petty!

There are clear differences between the two, in my eyes, as I indicated this morning. In this example, the driver has intended to do something which is right by the passengers on his bus (given the very unique nature of the route), not realising the wider implications given it's a registered bus service. In the example of Gateshead Central Taxis, you could possibly argue the same that the driver is getting workers back home early, but it's more likely that this is being done for personal gain (to 'knock off' early!)

That actually wasn't a dig, couldn't remember who posted it just remembered it being discussed the other week. Ngl I'm not that actually bothered by it tbh, mistakes happen especially at the start of a service. If it happened again next weekend then it's a problem was more just the reply saying that it's not a problem and promoting it as normal.

Can remember the Arriva 57 when it first went to Jesmond back in 2010 or whenever it was with drivers getting lost and said bus drivers arguing that he didn't go the wrong way - probably not the best approach when someone wanted to get off on the part he skipped. Gladly those problems don't seem to happen nowadays especially on a route all the way down to Scarborough (no doubt the stand issues were that I guess).

Bit off topic but just curious if it's doable, when registering buses can you register them as Drop Off / Pick Up stops like trains do with the West Coast trains at Milton Keynes. Never seen anyone ever do it and just curious if you could.

(20 Apr 2021, 6:47 pm)Dan wrote Would such drastic measures take place on a normal bus service, after such a short period of time? 

I'd like to think that a normal bus service would be given more than two days to offer passengers the opportunity to catch a bus from a stop, before it was omitted from the route!

Of course not. Not sure anyone has suggested anything drastic in this case either.

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(20 Apr 2021, 6:51 pm)Storx wrote That actually wasn't a dig, couldn't remember who posted it just remembered it being discussed the other week. Ngl I'm not that actually bothered by it tbh, mistakes happen especially at the start of a service. If it happened again next weekend then it's a problem was more just the reply saying that it's not a problem and promoting it as normal.

Can remember the Arriva 57 when it first went to Jesmond back in 2010 or whenever it was with drivers getting lost and said bus drivers arguing that he didn't go the wrong way - probably not the best approach when someone wanted to get off on the part he skipped. Gladly those problems don't seem to happen nowadays especially on a route all the way down to Scarborough (no doubt the stand issues were that I guess).

Bit off topic but just curious if it's doable, when registering buses can you register them as Drop Off / Pick Up stops like trains do with the West Coast trains at Milton Keynes. Never seen anyone ever do it and just curious if you could. 

It used to happen quite a bit with the old limited stop expresses like the X5.
If I remember right, it served Wrekenton in one direction only and places like High West Street were drop down only.

(20 Apr 2021, 6:53 pm)Andreos1 wrote Of course not. Not sure anyone has suggested anything drastic in this case either.

I'd suggest deciding to omit two stops because nobody used them on one day is pretty drastic.

Passengers were picked up from Middlesbrough both northbound (as a local journey, because it was early as someone has mentioned already) and southbound, on Saturday, but hey... Let's omit those stops because they weren't used on Sunday! Not drastic at all? 

(20 Apr 2021, 5:09 pm)Micheal Aaron Parker wrote This service isn't for us enthusiasts to get so high up about it. This is a holiday service bus. I don't see such a big fuss. If the X11 serves said stop. Nobody gets on. Why would it serve that stop on the way back. You have to think. Its a nearly 3 hour bus journey. Plus that driver is doing Newcastle to Scarborough then Scarborough to Whitby and back to Scarborough then back to Newcastle. Like someone said before. Why would a driver serve a stop and picks Nobody up. Why do u think the coach wasn't needed after Middlesbrough. Why compare Go North East to GCT. Its a first weekend service. Of course not everything is gonna be great first time. It could have been worse. 6377 could have broken down halfway down to Scarborough say it broke down in Whitby. That means you would have to wait for a new bus or be advised to take another bus. Missing one stop possible because Nobody had gotten on the way down. If it was a public service that was used everyday. Yes I could understand. But its a holiday service. Nobody bar us enthusiasts and the person motoring the bus would care. To a normal person. Its not gonna bother them. After a day out and your tired. Do you really think a regular person is gonna care that they missed out a stop thay Nobody got on the way down. Its just something us enthusiasts have pointed out.

It's a brand new service and yet nearly everyone is picking it to bits already. Yes if it did it over the next coming weekends yes I'd understand but it's a brand new service. Obviously there is gonna be a slight bit of problem

That isn't how a registered bus service works. I don't think people are "picking it to bits", they're simply baffled that a route, operated by a company who are usually pretty spot on with operational difficulties (i.e Twitter alerts for breakdowns), was allowed to miss out sections of the route for two days on the bounce as well as run ridiculously early.

(20 Apr 2021, 7:08 pm)mb134 wrote That isn't how a registered bus service works. I don't think people are "picking it to bits", they're simply baffled that a route, operated by a company who are usually pretty spot on with operational difficulties (i.e Twitter alerts for breakdowns), was allowed to miss out sections of the route for two days on the bounce as well as run ridiculously early.

Hasn't this already been explained (and seemingly ignored) though? 

Whilst it isn't being justified nor excused, I don't think it's baffling at all. It's been some confusion on the first weekend of operation and a driver trying to do right by his passengers, under the assumption (wrongly) that it could be treated like a coach service with drop-off points only on the return trip, when this isn't the case. It was seemingly picked up on by Go North East's Service Delivery Centre (as we can see the driver waited time at Peterlee on Sunday) and we can assume it won't happen again this weekend. If it does, then it's a different discussion we'll be having.

I think it's very unlikely any passengers were actually inconvenienced, but, as Storx has pointed out already, this discussion is only taking place because there has been discussion elsewhere on the forum about similar things happening on routes (serving a completely different purpose) operated by other bus companies, and the tracking information is open for all us enthusiasts to see online because Go North East meet the BODS requirements for tracking data.

(20 Apr 2021, 6:25 pm)Dan wrote There are clear differences between the two, in my eyes, as I indicated this morning. In this example, the driver has intended to do something which is right by the passengers on his bus (given the very unique nature of the route), not realising the wider implications given it's a registered bus service. In the example of Gateshead Central Taxis, you could possibly argue the same that the driver is getting workers back home early, but it's more likely that this is being done for personal gain (to 'knock off' early!)

While the intentions of the driver were probably for the best of the passengers, I simply don't quite see how he's decided that he isn't meant to follow the timetable/route given that I'd assume he has a running board and has followed the route/timings to the letter southbound. 

Just to be clear, while my GCT remark in an earlier post was somewhat tongue in cheek, I'd still expect better route/timetable adherence from GNE given it wasn't a one off. Additionally, I've made it clear in the past that it baffles me how their cowboy operation continues to be awarded contracts ahead of other independents and/or GNE/ANE/SNE - in my eyes their complete lack of transparency in terms of service data is beyond a joke.

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(20 Apr 2021, 7:18 pm)Dan wrote Hasn't this already been explained (and seemingly ignored) though? 

I've seen the explanation for the bus waiting time on Sunday at Peterlee, as well as the reassurance that this coming weekend should be without problem - I've not seen any explanation as to how it was completely missed on Saturday and allowed to happen again on Sunday.

At risk of this becoming a "why no Billingham" "this weekend Billingham" cycle for the next few days, it's probably best to acknowledge at this point that someone made a boo-boo and it'll all be fine from Saturday.

(20 Apr 2021, 7:18 pm)mb134 wrote While the intentions of the driver were probably for the best of the passengers, I simply don't quite see how he's decided that he isn't meant to follow the timetable/route given that I'd assume he has a running board and has followed the route/timings to the letter southbound. 

Just to be clear, while my GCT remark in an earlier post was somewhat tongue in cheek, I'd still expect better route/timetable adherence from GNE given it wasn't a one off. Additionally, I've made it clear in the past that it baffles me how their cowboy operation continues to be awarded contracts ahead of other independents and/or GNE/ANE/SNE - in my eyes their complete lack of transparency in terms of service data is beyond a joke.

I'm struggling to understand how you don't see it?

The service has a very clear intention: southbound to take passengers to Whitby and Scarborough, northbound to take passengers back home (which, contrary to what streetdeckfan says, is almost guaranteed to be the place which they boarded). We have previously discussed that this service isn't intended for passengers to make local journeys, as that's the intention of the long established X9/X10 services, and, if the service runs to its timetable, it is scheduled 10 minutes behind an X9/X10 service, so would be unlikely to pick up any passengers wishing to make local journeys anyway.

The driver has seemingly wrongly assumed, similar to other members of this forum such as cbma06 in his previous post, that because the northbound service is effectively 'drop off only', that it'd be acceptable to miss out sections of the route, in the interests of getting his passengers home earlier. This is akin to what a coach would do, and it's clear why there'd be some confusion (as this is effectively a bus service which is a day trip). On Sunday this was remedied by Go North East's Service Delivery Centre with the driver waiting time at Peterlee and you can bet top dollar that the driver's confusion has now been cleared up.

(20 Apr 2021, 7:18 pm)mb134 wrote I've seen the explanation for the bus waiting time on Sunday at Peterlee, as well as the reassurance that this coming weekend should be without problem - I've not seen any explanation as to how it was completely missed on Saturday and allowed to happen again on Sunday.

Who am I to explain it? Nobody on this forum is here to explain it, I am merely providing hypothetical situations.

Perhaps the Service Delivery Centre didn't notice the early operation on Saturday because they were dealing with incidents on the network, breakdowns, or a spate of heavy vandalism? The supervisors in Go North East's Service Delivery Centre are only human and may have needed to prioritise other work - who knows?!

(20 Apr 2021, 7:25 pm)Dan wrote I'm struggling to understand how you don't see it?


Who am I to explain it? Nobody on this forum is here to explain it, I am merely providing hypothetical situations.

Perhaps the Service Delivery Centre didn't notice the early operation on Saturday because they were dealing with incidents on the network, breakdowns, or a spate of heavy vandalism? The supervisors in Go North East's Service Delivery Centre are only human and may have needed to prioritise other work - who knows?!

If I've been given a document to follow at work, I'd follow it. How an experienced bus driver could just ignore a running board with timing points is strange, especially given that dedicated coach style tourism services currently aren't allowed and that you'd hope it was made clear beforehand this is a bus service. 

As I said in my last post, I'll simply acknowledge that it was missed and this weekend will be fine. Doesn't say a lot about the robustness of the service delivery centre though.

Mistakes happen, if the same mistakes happen repeatidly then it becomes a problem because they aren't learning from them. Of course there will be a few teething issies with the first weekend. Now the driver know it's now a no no to do what he did, he shouldn't end up repeating the same mistake.

(20 Apr 2021, 7:01 pm)Dan wrote  
I'd suggest deciding to omit two stops because nobody used them on one day is pretty drastic. 

Passengers were picked up from Middlesbrough both northbound (as a local journey, because it was early as someone has mentioned already) and southbound, on Saturday, but hey... Let's omit those stops because they weren't used on Sunday! Not drastic at all? 

At what point did anyone say that it should stop serving those places after two days?
I'm struggling to see any mention of that, from anyone other than yourself.

(20 Apr 2021, 9:02 pm)Andreos1 wrote At what point did anyone say that it should stop serving those places after two days?
I'm struggling to see any mention of that, from anyone other than yourself.

The section I quoted originally in your post here - you give two options:

If those locations aren't proving popular, then they need to do something about attracting passengers from them (such as allowing local journeys or looking at the ticketing arrangements), or omit them completely. In both directions. 

It has already been discussed at length that the purpose of this service is to take to people to Whitby and Scarborough southbound, and for those same people to travel back home northbound. It has already been discussed at length that this is why standard X9/X10 day tickets, multi-use operator tickets and concessionary tickets are not valid for travel, so anything else is a "Brucie Bonus" given it's not being actively promoted for all the aforementioned reasons regarding social distancing.

That means that the only option you've left with them with is to 'omit them completely. In both directions' - after two days. Seems very drastic to me.

(21 Apr 2021, 8:04 am)Dan wrote The section I quoted originally in your post here - you give two options:


It has already been discussed at length that the purpose of this service is to take to people to Whitby and Scarborough southbound, and for those same people to travel back home northbound. It has already been discussed at length that this is why standard X9/X10 day tickets, multi-use operator tickets and concessionary tickets are not valid for travel.

 That means that the only option you've left with them with is to 'omit them completely. In both directions' - after two days. Seems very drastic to me. 

If you say so! 

Nevermind special tickets for the X11... can I have a ticket to this ideal world that people seem to live in, where operational issues *never* happen? It sounds far better than the real world...

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(21 Apr 2021, 8:14 am)Adrian wrote Nevermind special tickets for the X11... can I have a ticket to this ideal world that people seem to live in, where operational issues *never* happen? It sounds far better than the real world...

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That 'ideal world' sounds awful, what would we complain about!

(21 Apr 2021, 8:14 am)Adrian wrote Nevermind special tickets for the X11... can I have a ticket to this ideal world that people seem to live in, where operational issues *never* happen? It sounds far better than the real world...

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In an ideal world, I wouldn't have been ripped off by the man who introduced himself as 'Derek Woddle' on the day of the launch. The T-shirt I purchased has fallen apart after a few days.

I guess the moral of the story is don't buy stuff sold from a suitcase.

(21 Apr 2021, 8:14 am)Adrian wrote Nevermind special tickets for the X11... can I have a ticket to this ideal world that people seem to live in, where operational issues *never* happen? It sounds far better than the real world...

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Surely that would mean the forum would end up full of sycophants with very little discussion, opinion or debate?

Unless we are getting to the stage, where we are being told we can't discuss certain things for fear of 'insiders from certain operators' running off or  withholding information - again.

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(21 Apr 2021, 8:39 am)Clifton Hignett III wrote In an ideal world, I wouldn't have been ripped off by the man who introduced himself as 'Derek Woddle' on the day of the launch. The T-shirt I purchased has fallen apart after a few days.

I guess the moral of the story is don't buy stuff sold from a suitcase.

Was it a special X11 launch t-shirt?

(21 Apr 2021, 8:59 am)Andreos1 wrote Was it a special X11 launch t-shirt?

Yes it was.

Usually I'm not the sort of person who goes for this type of tat. But perhaps it was the sunny morning; the carnival atmosphere; or even those two buses who were smoking dope (allegedly), which made me dip my hand into my pocket and buy something commemorative to remember the day.

I'm just glad I didn't buy one of those discount Buzzfares he was flogging.

(21 Apr 2021, 8:59 am)Andreos1 wrote Unless we are getting to the stage, where we are being told we can't discuss certain things for fear of 'insiders from certain operators' running off or  withholding information - again.

Nope. I didn't say that - nor would I!

I just think this ideal world sounds a lot more chilled than the real one

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People need to calm down about this X11. Ever since it got announced there has been so many people complain about it. How it went from it looks similar to the X9/X10 and people will get confused. The name change from X Lines to Seasider. Then to it missing out one stop along the route. Nobody will get confused about this service bar us enthusiasts. Like it's been stated. It starts somewhere completely different in town. It's using 6377. A charcoal X Lines. With no branding of any route whatsoever. The name change to Seasider is better so it wouldn't get confused with X Lines. This entire agument/ debate is going nowhere

(21 Apr 2021, 9:16 am)Clifton Hignett III wrote Yes it was.

Usually I'm not the sort of person who goes for this type of tat. But perhaps it was the sunny morning; the carnival atmosphere; or even those two buses who were smoking dope (allegedly), which made me dip my hand into my pocket and buy something commemorative to remember the day.

I'm just glad I didn't buy one of those discount Buzzfares he was flogging.

Plonked my 'arras down in the Grey Nags Head in Gateshead and some geezer tells me someone is taking my name in vain on the NEB Forum.

Those t-shirts I was selling the other day were pukka and I won't hear another word said about them. If they fell apart then you must have misread the instructions which state "Do not wear or wash". Needless to say you won't be getting a refund and any further attempt to slander my good name will be dealt with by my lawyers.

Now, I have some Covid vaccines to sell.

1 for £3 or 3 for a Pfizer.

PM me if anyone is interested.

This is getting very repetitive now and boring..... they try something new and all people are doing are slagging it off... at least they've actually tried unlike Arriva and Stagecoach - which have done sod all throughout of the pandemic.

(21 Apr 2021, 10:14 am)Michael wrote This is getting very repetitive now and boring..... they try something new and all people are doing are slagging it off... at least they've actually tried unlike Arriva and Stagecoach - which have done sod all throughout of the pandemic.

Maybe because during a pandemic they want to make as little loss as possible?

(21 Apr 2021, 9:53 am)Micheal Aaron Parker wrote People need to calm down about this X11. Ever since it got announced there has been so many people complain about it. How it went from it looks similar to the X9/X10 and people will get confused. The name change from X Lines to Seasider. Then to it missing out one stop along the route. Nobody will get confused about this service bar us enthusiasts. Like it's been stated. It starts somewhere completely different in town. It's using 6377. A charcoal X Lines. With no branding of any route whatsoever. The name change to Seasider is better so it wouldn't get confused with X Lines. This entire agument/ debate is going nowhere

The whole point of a forum is to discuss subjects, good or bad, and to dive deeper into the specifics.

Ever since you've joined you appear to be hostile to anyone talking negatively about Go North East, but you're happy to take a swing at other operators. Is nobody allowed to discuss or criticise Go North East in the same way that Arriva, Gateshead Central Taxis and Stagecoach are?

Ever since I first became aware of the X11's existence, I have questioned as to whether the service will be a success or not with me leaning on the side of not but would be happy to be proven wrong on this occasion, we will just have to see how things pan out to see if their efforts succeeded or not...

Regardless of opinions, you somewhat have to admire the drive to try to make some changes and launch new stuff in the current landscape, I'm not convinced some of these investments will pay off and to an extent believe that Arriva and Stagecoach's current plan to do as little as possible will pay off more in the long run albeit with some losses, again we will have to wait and see what happens there too...

This probably says more about my cynical way of thinking more than owt else

(21 Apr 2021, 10:14 am)Michael wrote This is getting very repetitive now and boring..... they try something new and all people are doing are slagging it off... at least they've actually tried unlike Arriva and Stagecoach - which have done sod all throughout of the pandemic.

I wouldn’t necessarily say that they done ‘sod all’. Arriva and Stagecoach have added extra capacity and have partnered alongside GNE to provide duplicates. While not a lot and certainly nothing like the X11 it’s the little things that sometimes matter. (Although that can also be applied to the state vehicles, cough cough Arriva)

Each company will have their financial constraints and their reasons but we don’t know how the pandemic has affected each company, you could say they all serve different markets and locations that will each be affected in a different way. Because Arriva hasn’t done what GNE has it doesn’t mean they don’t want too or have plans to do something in the future, we are just getting back. 
Note:This is not saying that GNE has done better or worse during the pandemic just adding a different viewpoint.

(21 Apr 2021, 12:31 pm)omnicity4659 wrote The whole point of a forum is to discuss subjects, good or bad, and to dive deeper into the specifics.

Ever since you've joined you appear to be hostile to anyone talking negatively about Go North East, but you're happy to take a swing at other operators. Is nobody allowed to discuss or criticise Go North East in the same way that Arriva, Gateshead Central Taxis and Stagecoach are?

Why would I be hostile to other groups. I like each one each way. I have had a dig at GNE for there little coasters amongst others. I love gne there my favourite company as well are the others. I don't take the pick at the rest

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(21 Apr 2021, 1:58 pm)Micheal Aaron Parker wrote Why would I be hostile to other groups. I like each one each way. I have had a dig at GNE for there little coasters amongst others. I love gne there my favourite company as well are the others. I don't take the pick at the rest. 

And no I haven't been nit picking at anyone talking negative about GNE