(22 Sep 2021, 10:34 am)Thomas12 wrote I noticed he was also complaining about A-Line as one of their Versas had seatbelts. I'm assuming he didn't know at the time they were covering for/helping out Go North East.

Looking at the 'Best Impressions' twitter feed, it certainly doesn't give the best impression - and they aren't a company I'd want to associate with based on their Twitter.

Yup, if a design agency can’t even get their own company logo into their profile picture then it doesn’t exactly give you the …best impression.

https://twitter.com/creatingdesire/photo

(22 Sep 2021, 2:03 pm)Dan wrote Good job work is going into providing more high quality spare buses, then, isn’t it?


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Just hoy some tables and USB ports on a half decent Omnidekka and I'd be happy

(22 Sep 2021, 2:03 pm)Dan wrote Good job work is going into providing more high quality spare buses, then, isn’t it?

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It is, yes.

(22 Sep 2021, 9:04 am)streetdeckfan wrote They clearly aren't a regular on the X21, using its always been a game of dodge the Omnidekka!

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I saw 3 on it the other day.

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at this time today.

There were more omnidekka's on X21 (5), than allocated buses (4). There are 7 branded & Extra High Spec Spares.

Oh I've met Graham a few times at marketing events and is a sound guy. He has a valid point. Mind not that I ever rely on the app to say how busy it is. Even after you've guven feedback it doesn't change how busy it is.

Was there a voyager double decker doing the X62 to Peterlee today, just seen the decker in Peterlee dropping passengers off at the side of Asda , but couldn’t catch the service it was on, but it looks like on the x62 was due at that bus stop

Just looked up on bustimes and it was 6174


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Still surprised to see 5253 at Percy Main. According to Bus times its been going between the Royal Quays and Tynemouth Metro station

(23 Sep 2021, 4:20 pm)Train8261 wrote Still surprised to see 5253 at Percy Main. According to Bus times its been going between the Royal Quays and Tynemouth Metro station

5240/42/53 in use at Percy Main on cruise ship shuttles.


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(23 Sep 2021, 4:29 pm)Dan wrote 5240/42/53 in use at Percy Main on cruise ship shuttles.


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Is there route pattern to Tynemouth metro station as that's where 5253 seems to have been going to and from

It seems 9062 is the Dedicated spare for the 60, for now.

(23 Sep 2021, 4:11 pm)cbma06 wrote Was there a voyager double decker doing the X62 to Peterlee today, just seen the decker in Peterlee dropping passengers off at the side of Asda , but couldn’t catch the service it was on, but it looks like on the x62 was due at that bus stop

Just looked up on bustimes and it was 6174


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Seems to be a regular working, operated by Chester Le Street. A little strange one might say - the AM X62 is a solo that runs on to the 206s but then the evening journey uses a double decker, bit of a capacity difference!

(23 Sep 2021, 5:10 pm)Drifter60 wrote Seems to be a regular working, operated by Chester Le Street. A little strange one might say - the AM X62 is a solo that runs on to the 206s but then the evening journey uses a double decker, bit of a capacity difference!

It does, 28S - S2 (several)- 28S then X62, it used to do a 265 for the Durham Sixth Form. However they just throw the EDE (East Durham Explorer) Streetlites on to it creating massive capacity over flows.

Not mentioned anywhere on any forums, but 6112 has been impounded by the police after a serious accident on Sunday. Various reports are available in local news sites, nontheless I hope the old lady recovers and hope it was just one of them freak accidents where no one is really to blame.

(23 Sep 2021, 7:08 pm)Rapidsnap wrote Not mentioned anywhere on any forums, but 6112 has been impounded by the police after a serious accident on Sunday. Various reports are available in local news sites, nontheless I hope the old lady recovers and hope it was just one of them freak accidents where no one is really to blame.

Can I please have a link to one of these stories.

(23 Sep 2021, 7:14 pm)GNE6312 wrote Can I please have a link to one of these stories.

Google it, that's what it is there for!

(23 Sep 2021, 7:08 pm)Rapidsnap wrote Not mentioned anywhere on any forums, but 6112 has been impounded by the police after a serious accident on Sunday. Various reports are available in local news sites, nontheless I hope the old lady recovers and hope it was just one of them freak accidents where no one is really to blame.

I hope the old lady recovers. Also I do hope that the Driver is okay. Idk if he is still in Jail however I hope he can recover and drive again. 
These accidents are awful. I hope both recover well.

6112 is it alpha and according to the chronicle the driver was arrested on dangerous driving

(23 Sep 2021, 8:12 pm)Train8261 wrote 6112 is it alpha and according to the chronicle the driver was arrested on dangerous driving

Isn't it basically standard practice to arrest the driver for dangerous driving after such an incident while they establish all of the facts?

(23 Sep 2021, 8:19 pm)streetdeckfan wrote Isn't it basically standard practice to arrest the driver for dangerous driving after such an incident while they establish all of the facts?

No, they wouldn’t do that unless they had strong evidence. I have a personal connection through a friend to the victim and this is life changing although it looks positive in a sense,

(23 Sep 2021, 8:12 pm)Train8261 wrote 6112 is it alpha and according to the chronicle the driver was arrested on dangerous driving

That was 4 days ago.

According to bustimes, 6175 has arrived and is working off Washington in Voyager livery. This was 9068 when it first arrived, initially being on loan from Brighton and Hove.

9051 has also reappeared on bustimes. Unless it's another "ghost in the machine", does this mean that, after two false starts, it might get to make a useful contribution to the GNE fleet ?

Former X66 Streetlite 5391 appears to be now in service on the 65 today. Just 5392 that hasn’t yet appeared.

(22 Sep 2021, 5:02 pm)Keeiajs wrote I saw 3 on it the other day.

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at this time today.

There were more omnidekka's on X21 (5), than allocated buses (4). There are 7 branded & Extra High Spec Spares.

So are the B5TLs unreliable or is it down to parts / engineering staff shortages etc?

Me thinks given now that the evening & Sunday X45/X46 are covered by E400MMC's (unless the Sunday 47/47A will be covered by StreetDecks to save fuel over the B9TLs), it would make more sense to move the B5TLs to Consett and move 6356-63 on to the X21.

The StreetDeck MH3's are supposedly reliable after all aren't they? They seem okayish on the X1. And the original plan pre-covid was to use StreetDecks on the X21.

Obviously don't forget the enhanced BOSG mileage (40 mile round trip vs nearly 80 mile) and potential decker fleet commonality at Washington & CLS

(24 Sep 2021, 3:57 pm)L469 YVK wrote So are the B5TLs unreliable or is it down to parts / engineering staff shortages etc?

Me thinks given now that the evening & Sunday X45/X46 are covered by E400MMC's (unless the Sunday 47/47A will be covered by StreetDecks to save fuel over the B9TLs), it would make more sense to move the B5TLs to Consett and move 6356-63 on to the X21.

The StreetDeck MH3's are supposedly reliable after all aren't they? They seem okayish on the X1. And the original plan pre-covid was to use StreetDecks on the X21.

Obviously don't forget the enhanced BOSG mileage (40 mile round trip vs nearly 80 mile) and potential decker fleet commonality at Washington & CLS

It's been said over and over again, there's no point in moving  recently painted B5s from chester to Consett in exchange for streetdecks, it's simply not cost effective.

(24 Sep 2021, 7:42 pm)Stanleyone wrote It's been said over and over again, there's no point in moving  recently painted B5s from chester to Consett in exchange for streetdecks, it's simply not cost effective.

I agree although would only be a partial repaint. But is it cost effective (unless used on standalone Sunday 47/47A journeys) having brand new fuel efficient double deck vehicles only being used during Monday to Saturday daytimes as opposed to a higher mileage route that also has a requirement for such vehicles during the Evenings and on Sundays?

The X21 is almost double the mileage of the X45/X46. Plus (excluding the X22) keeping Washington's & CLS' main decker routes under 1x vehicle type.

And even if the PVR is 9x, the remaining 2x could be made up by 6100/6101 (closer to XLines spec) with 6334/35 (no tables) acting as spares at Percy Main for the 309/310/311

(24 Sep 2021, 7:49 pm)L469 YVK wrote I agree although would only be a partial repaint. But is it cost effective (unless used on standalone Sunday 47/47A journeys) having brand new fuel efficient double deck vehicles only being used during Monday to Saturday daytimes as opposed to a higher mileage route that also has a requirement for such vehicles during the Evenings and on Sundays?

The X21 is almost double the mileage of the X45/X46. Plus (excluding the X22) keeping Washington's & CLS' main decker routes under 1x vehicle type.

And even if the PVR is 9x, the remaining 2x could be made up by 6100/6101 (closer to XLines spec) with 6334/35 (no tables) acting as spares at Percy Main for the 309/310/311

6334/6335 should **not** move to Percy Main.

(24 Sep 2021, 8:15 pm)Keeiajs wrote 6334/6335 should **not** move to Percy Main.

But 6100-01 would better match XLines spec as opposed to 6334/35. If 6334/35 showed up on the 309/310/311, the only real thing missing would be tables.

2x out of 6338-40 would be an option to make up the PVR but they'd best be kept as spares due to being low height.

The main reason why I'd suggest swapping 6356-63 with 6100/01 (6334/35) & 6308-14 is:

- Fleet commonality at CLS & Washington (smaller depots)

- Consett already operate 4x main DD types after the changes (B5LH, B9TL, StreetDeck, E400MMC). That would reduce to 3x (B5TL, B5LH, E400MMC) or even 2x taking into account that the B5TL is effectively a non-hybrid derivative of the B5LH. Commonality would even whittle down to gearbox type (B5TL/E400MMC = ZF, StreetDeck = Voith).

- Enhanced BSOG payments for X21 trip distance including evening & Sunday trips.

- Easier work for Volvo B5TLs taking into account their previous use on X9/X10 (Mon-Sat only and 45/46/47 previously run using StreetLites).

(24 Sep 2021, 8:47 pm)L469 YVK wrote But 6100-01 would better match XLines spec as opposed to 6334/35. If 6334/35 showed up on the 309/310/311, the only real thing missing would be tables.

2x out of 6338-40 would be an option to make up the PVR but they'd best be kept as spares due to being low height.

The main reason why I'd suggest swapping 6356-63 with 6100/01 (6334/35) & 6308-14 is:

- Fleet commonality at CLS & Washington (smaller depots)

- Consett already operate 4x main DD types after the changes (B5LH, B9TL, StreetDeck, E400MMC). That would reduce to 3x (B5TL, B5LH, E400MMC) or even 2x taking into account that the B5TL is effectively a non-hybrid derivative of the B5LH. Commonality would even whittle down to gearbox type (B5TL/E400MMC = ZF, StreetDeck = Voith).

- Enhanced BSOG payments for X21 trip distance including evening & Sunday trips.

- Easier work for Volvo B5TLs taking into account their previous use on X9/X10 (Mon-Sat only and 45/46/47 previously run using StreetLites).

I don't know why fleet commonality has been mentioned both depots go to Deptford for maintence. The problem is 6334-6335 are much better and younger than 6101-6102, you might aswell say 6099 aswel. 6334-35 have comfier seats (imo) and are much higher spec. It wouldn't make any sense at all.

Where are the Ex Red Kite Streetlites going, as when they came to Deptford nothing was withdrawn, maybe one or two buses but nothing major. So why not brand some of those into S&D they would definitely benefit on services as 35 as the reliablity of the branded Cherry buses are atrocious, also Berries those Streetlites they barely make it through the day.

(25 Sep 2021, 5:50 am)Keeiajs wrote Where are the Ex Red Kite Streetlites going, as when they came to Deptford nothing was withdrawn, maybe one or two buses but nothing major. So why not brand some of those into S&D they would definitely benefit on services as 35 as the reliablity of the branded Cherry buses are atrocious, also Berries those Streetlites they barely make it through the day.

Nothing was withdrawn because there was a PVR increase (all the school duplicates) at the same time resulting in most of the Citaros used on the routes the Streetlites became allocated to (ie 35 and 55).

The Euro 4 Citaros have all now been withdrawn bar two (5484/86) and some of the Black Cats Streetlites have been released without replacement. Deptford aren’t sitting on a lot of extra buses in reality.

On receipt of the all the Sunderland District branded buses at Deptford, these Streetlites will transfer to Riverside.

There are no major reliability issues on the Versas used on the 2/2A, nor the Citaros on the 35. This is speculation, and is wrong. Not denying that they, as older buses than Streetlites, are more expensive to maintain, parts more difficult to get a hold of, and are more likely to breakdown, but this isn’t major.


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