Dan has confirmed on flickr here that most of the Northumberland County Council contracts (at least those with GNE) expire 3rd April. This was in direct relation to the 434/448 but likely also includes the Hexham locals. As far as other operators, there'll presumably be the Wooler services, X14 Morpeth to Thropton, 418, and 58 coming up for renewal, along with the many one day a week/one journey a day rural services.

Arriva have cancelled service 58 on VOSA which may indicate the service will pass to another operator. There will also be changes to the X15/X18 from 10th April likely relating to the contract changes.

(01 Mar 2022, 3:08 pm)peter wrote Arriva have cancelled service 58 on VOSA which may indicate the service will pass to another operator. There will also be changes to the X15/X18 from 10th April likely relating to the contract changes. 

Isn't it around then they traditionally change to the summer timetables?

(01 Mar 2022, 3:21 pm)Andreos1 wrote Isn't it around then they traditionally change to the summer timetables?

It is indeed - however in previous years the details on VOSA for the X18 have always said 'Revised timetable - daily up to every 2 hours' for the summer timetable whereas this time it says 'Revised timetable and route' which makes me think it could be a contract related change as well. Could easily just be the summer timetables tho that they've done to coincide with contract changes such as the 58 which is (potentially) withdrawn 10th April.

Update: The X14 will also be changing from the same date - again possibly related to the current contracted section between Morpeth and Thropton

The new X14/15/18 timetables now available on Bustimes/Arriva's website. From what I could make out Monday-Friday changes are:

X14:
06:40 from Morpeth to Thropton will run 5 minutes later throughout
07:34 from Thropton to Newcastle will run 5 minutes later throughout
13:00 from Morpeth to Thropton withdrawn (12:23 NCL to Morpeth still runs)
13:54 from Thropton to Morpeth withdrawn (14:43 from Morpeth to NCL still runs)
15:28 from Newcastle to Thropton will run 5 minutes earlier throughout
17:09 from Thropton to Newcastle will run 5 minutes earlier to Morpeth

X15:
07:43 will now depart 10 minutes later from Alnwick and 5 minutes later from Morpeth

X18:
15:13 from Newcastle will run 5 minutes earlier

58:
Unless another operator's got the contract and yet to register on VOSA, seemingly withdrawn without replacement.

(26 Mar 2022, 9:05 pm)peter wrote 58:
Unless another operator's got the contract and yet to register on VOSA, seemingly withdrawn without replacement.

Northumberland County Council are currently tendering this service, as well as Rural Link’s town services in Morpeth.

From memory the 58 starts on 10 April (or thereabouts) with contract award next week, and the Morpeth services towards the end of April.

All require contactless-enabled ticket machines. One of the Morpeth services required a bus with 44 seats, which likely rules Rural Link out of providing that one - imagine Arriva will be keen to win it.


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(26 Mar 2022, 9:09 pm)Dan wrote Northumberland County Council are currently tendering this service, as well as Rural Link’s town services in Morpeth.

From memory the 58 starts on 10 April (or thereabouts) with contract award next week, and the Morpeth services towards the end of April.

All require contactless-enabled ticket machines. One of the Morpeth services required a bus with 44 seats, which likely rules Rural Link out of providing that one - imagine Arriva will be keen to win it.


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Ah okay, thanks for the info Dan...thought it would have been awarded further in advance than this tbh!

(26 Mar 2022, 9:09 pm)Dan wrote Northumberland County Council are currently tendering this service, as well as Rural Link’s town services in Morpeth.

From memory the 58 starts on 10 April (or thereabouts) with contract award next week, and the Morpeth services towards the end of April.

All require contactless-enabled ticket machines. One of the Morpeth services required a bus with 44 seats, which likely rules Rural Link out of providing that one - imagine Arriva will be keen to win it.


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I do wonder which companies want to run this. 

Arriva, GNE. Wonder if GCT would like a daily service.

(26 Mar 2022, 9:09 pm)Dan wrote Northumberland County Council are currently tendering this service, as well as Rural Link’s town services in Morpeth.

From memory the 58 starts on 10 April (or thereabouts) with contract award next week, and the Morpeth services towards the end of April.

All require contactless-enabled ticket machines. One of the Morpeth services required a bus with 44 seats, which likely rules Rural Link out of providing that one - imagine Arriva will be keen to win it.


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I would assume the 44 seater contract is the Stannington service, remember seeing it at school finishing time one afternoon a while back and it was a 24 seater MPD with kids standing much of the way down the bus.

Would be great if the 44 could be extended again but don't know how it would work considering the route has changed a bit at that end since PCL Travel won it.

(26 Mar 2022, 9:05 pm)peter wrote The new X14/15/18 timetables now available on Bustimes/Arriva's website. From what I could make out Monday-Friday changes are:

X14:
06:40 from Morpeth to Thropton will run 5 minutes later throughout
07:34 from Thropton to Newcastle will run 5 minutes later throughout
13:00 from Morpeth to Thropton withdrawn (12:23 NCL to Morpeth still runs)
13:54 from Thropton to Morpeth withdrawn (14:43 from Morpeth to NCL still runs)
17:09 from Thropton to Newcastle will run 5 minutes earlier to Morpeth

X15:
07:43 will now depart 10 minutes later from Alnwick and 5 minutes later from Morpeth

X18:
15:13 from Newcastle will run 5 minutes earlier

58:
Unless another operator's got the contract and yet to register on VOSA, seemingly withdrawn without replacement.

So no summer frequency uplift on X18 this year?

(26 Mar 2022, 11:29 pm)busmanT wrote So no summer frequency uplift on X18 this year?

Unless it's coming later, it doesn't look like it! My only thought is that, if I'm correct in my logic, the 418 is coming up for tender so perhaps they're waiting to see the result of that as then that could either replace or be merged into the extra journeys

Just looking at the X14 timetable, I have a feeling Arriva have already won something in Morpeth as the timetable just doesn't work.

The 10:55 service into Morpeth doesn't have a return journey until 12:43 and the 12:55 service into Morpeth doesn't have a return journey until 14:43 and the 14:55 journey doesn't have a return journey until 16:48

Plenty time to run something inbetween ie. the S1 which conveniently runs very close to those times and the very early run towards Chantry could run empty to Longframlington and run that board down.

(27 Mar 2022, 9:57 am)Storx wrote Just looking at the X14 timetable, I have a feeling Arriva have already won something in Morpeth as the timetable just doesn't work.

The 10:55 service into Morpeth doesn't have a return journey until 12:43 and the 12:55 service into Morpeth doesn't have a return journey until 14:43 and the 14:55 journey doesn't have a return journey until 16:48

Plenty time to run something inbetween ie. the S1 which conveniently runs very close to those times and the very early run towards Chantry could run empty to Longframlington and run that board down.

Or perhaps these gaps assist with driver mealbreaks

Yeah, those gaps were already a thing, drivers have mealbreaks or head off onto another route.

(27 Mar 2022, 12:15 pm)busmanT wrote Or perhaps these gaps assist with driver mealbreaks

(27 Mar 2022, 1:07 pm)omnicity4659 wrote Yeah, those gaps were already a thing, drivers have mealbreaks or head off onto another route.

I see it now, my mistake always thought Ashington done driver changeovers at Morpeth so wouldn't need them. Learnt something new today.

Interesting development with the X18/418...
-Boulmer will no longer be served by X18 but will now be served by the 418
-The summer extra X18's will now be operated by Travelsure
-418 will have a revised timetable running a regular 2 hour frequency

(01 Apr 2022, 10:25 pm)peter wrote Interesting development with the X18/418...
-Boulmer will no longer be served by X18 but will now be served by the 418
-The summer extra X18's will now be operated by Travelsure
-418 will have a revised timetable running a regular 2 hour frequency

What are the summer extra X18s? I'm not familiar with many of Arriva's services. How will it be different with Travelsure operating the extras?

(03 Apr 2022, 7:03 pm)OrangeArrow49 wrote What are the summer extra X18s? I'm not familiar with many of Arriva's services. How will it be different with Travelsure operating the extras?

During summer, the frequency of the X18 north of Alnwick through to Berwick increases from every four hours to every two hours. Usually operated by Arriva as a through service, now operated by Travelsure so a. will no longer be a through service to Newcastle and b. will no longer operate with a double decker.

Rural Link's T1A/T1C and S1 cancelled on VOSA presumably pending re-award

(03 Apr 2022, 9:38 pm)peter wrote During summer, the frequency of the X18 north of Alnwick through to Berwick increases from every four hours to every two hours. Usually operated by Arriva as a through service, now operated by Travelsure so a. will no longer be a through service to Newcastle and b. will no longer operate with a double decker.

Thanks, Peter. It's a shame it won't be a through service to Newcastle as it would be good to see what Travelsure is like, and be something different to see from an enthusiast point of view.

(26 Mar 2022, 9:09 pm)Dan wrote Northumberland County Council are currently tendering this service, as well as Rural Link’s town services in Morpeth.

From memory the 58 starts on 10 April (or thereabouts) with contract award next week, and the Morpeth services towards the end of April.

All require contactless-enabled ticket machines. One of the Morpeth services required a bus with 44 seats, which likely rules Rural Link out of providing that one - imagine Arriva will be keen to win it.


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Still nothing on VOSA for the 58 which seems strange when the contract starts next week and was supposed to have been tendered last week?!

(03 Apr 2022, 9:38 pm)peter wrote During summer, the frequency of the X18 north of Alnwick through to Berwick increases from every four hours to every two hours. Usually operated by Arriva as a through service, now operated by Travelsure so a. will no longer be a through service to Newcastle and b. will no longer operate with a double decker.

Presumably Arriva have decided that they can't provide the summer extra frequency commercially (or haven't the drivers).

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(04 Apr 2022, 11:00 am)peter wrote Rural Link's T1A/T1C and S1 cancelled on VOSA presumably pending re-award

Any word on who has won he 58 in Cramlington?  as Arriva have cancelled it from this coming weekend.

(04 Apr 2022, 8:05 pm)busmanT wrote Presumably Arriva have decided that they can't provide the summer extra frequency commercially (or haven't the drivers)

tbh it's probably a lack of vehicles. They struggle as it is already at Ashington without needing more buses on the road.

They lost 2 Streetlites and 3 Omnicity's to be replaced by 2 Pulsars and they've gained the 1/2 with 8 Pulsars and no spares to run them.

It's never been commercial though as far as I'm aware.

(04 Apr 2022, 8:31 pm)Storx wrote They lost 2 Streetlites and 3 Omnicity's to be replaced by 2 Pulsars and they've gained the 1/2 with 8 Pulsars and no spares to run them.

IIRC the 2 Streetlites were ultimately replaced by 7411 and 1407. From memory it seemed that it was only really 4659 that wasn't directly replaced, though 2x Pulsars (1408/11) are likely more reliable/available than 3x Scanias anyway.

I'd imagine it's more likely due to driver availability or funding, or a combination.

(05 Apr 2022, 4:33 am)mb134 wrote IIRC the 2 Streetlites were ultimately replaced by 7411 and 1407. From memory it seemed that it was only really 4659 that wasn't directly replaced, though 2x Pulsars (1408/11) are likely more reliable/available than 3x Scanias anyway.

I'd imagine it's more likely due to driver availability or funding, or a combination.

Doesn't 1407 form part of the 1/2 allocation when it moved to Blyth for a bit when the PVR went down at Ashington during Covid. Blyth didn't really need it though because of the X10/X11 reduction and having spare MAX Pulsars which were used instead which would mean one of Streetlite's effectively didn't get replaced. Must admit I totally forgot about 7411 moving up but it's probably worse or as bad as the Omnicity's.

(05 Apr 2022, 10:33 am)Storx wrote Doesn't 1407 form part of the 1/2 allocation when it moved to Blyth for a bit when the PVR went down at Ashington during Covid. Blyth didn't really need it though because of the X10/X11 reduction and having spare MAX Pulsars which were used instead which would mean one of Streetlite's effectively didn't get replaced. Must admit I totally forgot about 7411 moving up but it's probably worse or as bad as the Omnicity's.

The 8 that moved for the 1/2 were: 1409, 1429, 1432, 1461, 1462, 1463, 1475, and 1497. 

1407 from memory transferred back when the 35 PVR increased back up to 5 from 3 late last year (the other vehicle being freed up from the seasonal X18 which ended on the same date).

(05 Apr 2022, 9:15 pm)mb134 wrote The 8 that moved for the 1/2 were: 1409, 1429, 1432, 1461, 1462, 1463, 1475, and 1497. 

1407 from memory transferred back when the 35 PVR increased back up to 5 from 3 late last year (the other vehicle being freed up from the seasonal X18 which ended on the same date).

Ah buggar aye, always forget about 1497 since most it's sister buses are MAX now. Yeah I believe it was roughly then.

(04 Apr 2022, 8:05 pm)busmanT wrote Presumably Arriva have decided that they can't provide the summer extra frequency commercially (or haven't the drivers).

---

Any word on who has won he 58 in Cramlington?  as Arriva have cancelled it from this coming weekend.

I have seen a facebook post saying Phoenix are going to be operating it from 11 April

Yeah I have seen Phoenix doing the 58 this week. They have been using their Fiat Bluebird buses on there.

(13 Apr 2022, 7:21 pm)Arriva7446 wrote Yeah I have seen Phoenix doing the 58 this week. They have been using their Fiat Bluebird buses on there.

Slightly improved Saturday timetable on the 58

https://www.nexus.org.uk/sites/default/f...100422.pdf