Deliberately downgrading a flagship route
Deliberately downgrading a flagship route
I’m interested to hear people’s thoughts why GNE has downgraded the 35 (now the Prince Bishops 20) over the years?
To me it was a flagship route which stood out against the competition from Stagecoach’s E1 E2 and E6.
I used to commute from South Shields to Sunderland everyday on the 35 and it was every 10 minutes, branded as the cross city Laser for commuters, and was marketed as a “Gold Standard” route using Citaros.
GNE replaced the Citaros with some Wrightbus horrors, ditched the Gold Standard service and then replaced the Laser 35 completely with the Prince Bishops 20. The frequency was decreased to every 15 minutes.
To me it seems nonsensical. It annoyed me as an existing customer and the downgrades certainly wouldn’t attract new people to use the bus. Is there some logic that is escaping me?
(20 May 2022, 11:05 am)balise33 I’m interested to hear people’s thoughts why GNE has downgraded the 35 (now the Prince Bishops 20) over the years?If your vehicles mean they cost too much for the amount of revenue coming in then changes are usually needed. The nature of what those changes are or should be are up for debate.
To me it was a flagship route which stood out against the competition from Stagecoach’s E1 E2 and E6.
I used to commute from South Shields to Sunderland everyday on the 35 and it was every 10 minutes, branded as the cross city Laser for commuters, and was marketed as a “Gold Standard” route using Citaros.
GNE replaced the Citaros with some Wrightbus horrors, ditched the Gold Standard service and then replaced the Laser 35 completely with the Prince Bishops 20. The frequency was decreased to every 15 minutes.
To me it seems nonsensical. It annoyed me as an existing customer and the downgrades certainly wouldn’t attract new people to use the bus. Is there some logic that is escaping me?
(20 May 2022, 11:05 am)balise33 I’m interested to hear people’s thoughts why GNE has downgraded the 35 (now the Prince Bishops 20) over the years?If your vehicles mean they cost too much for the amount of revenue coming in then changes are usually needed. The nature of what those changes are or should be are up for debate.
To me it was a flagship route which stood out against the competition from Stagecoach’s E1 E2 and E6.
I used to commute from South Shields to Sunderland everyday on the 35 and it was every 10 minutes, branded as the cross city Laser for commuters, and was marketed as a “Gold Standard” route using Citaros.
GNE replaced the Citaros with some Wrightbus horrors, ditched the Gold Standard service and then replaced the Laser 35 completely with the Prince Bishops 20. The frequency was decreased to every 15 minutes.
To me it seems nonsensical. It annoyed me as an existing customer and the downgrades certainly wouldn’t attract new people to use the bus. Is there some logic that is escaping me?
(20 May 2022, 11:05 am)balise33 I’m interested to hear people’s thoughts why GNE has downgraded the 35 (now the Prince Bishops 20) over the years?The 35 had mixed allocation of citaro and L94
To me it was a flagship route which stood out against the competition from Stagecoach’s E1 E2 and E6.
I used to commute from South Shields to Sunderland everyday on the 35 and it was every 10 minutes, branded as the cross city Laser for commuters, and was marketed as a “Gold Standard” route using Citaros.
GNE replaced the Citaros with some Wrightbus horrors, ditched the Gold Standard service and then replaced the Laser 35 completely with the Prince Bishops 20. The frequency was decreased to every 15 minutes.
To me it seems nonsensical. It annoyed me as an existing customer and the downgrades certainly wouldn’t attract new people to use the bus. Is there some logic that is escaping me?
(20 May 2022, 11:05 am)balise33 I’m interested to hear people’s thoughts why GNE has downgraded the 35 (now the Prince Bishops 20) over the years?The 35 had mixed allocation of citaro and L94
To me it was a flagship route which stood out against the competition from Stagecoach’s E1 E2 and E6.
I used to commute from South Shields to Sunderland everyday on the 35 and it was every 10 minutes, branded as the cross city Laser for commuters, and was marketed as a “Gold Standard” route using Citaros.
GNE replaced the Citaros with some Wrightbus horrors, ditched the Gold Standard service and then replaced the Laser 35 completely with the Prince Bishops 20. The frequency was decreased to every 15 minutes.
To me it seems nonsensical. It annoyed me as an existing customer and the downgrades certainly wouldn’t attract new people to use the bus. Is there some logic that is escaping me?
(20 May 2022, 11:05 am)balise33 I’m interested to hear people’s thoughts why GNE has downgraded the 35 (now the Prince Bishops 20) over the years?I'm sure there will have been some logic in downgrading it and never being able to make it work since. What that was, I'll never know. Not sure many others will either.
To me it was a flagship route which stood out against the competition from Stagecoach’s E1 E2 and E6.
I used to commute from South Shields to Sunderland everyday on the 35 and it was every 10 minutes, branded as the cross city Laser for commuters, and was marketed as a “Gold Standard” route using Citaros.
GNE replaced the Citaros with some Wrightbus horrors, ditched the Gold Standard service and then replaced the Laser 35 completely with the Prince Bishops 20. The frequency was decreased to every 15 minutes.
To me it seems nonsensical. It annoyed me as an existing customer and the downgrades certainly wouldn’t attract new people to use the bus. Is there some logic that is escaping me?
(20 May 2022, 11:05 am)balise33 I’m interested to hear people’s thoughts why GNE has downgraded the 35 (now the Prince Bishops 20) over the years?I'm sure there will have been some logic in downgrading it and never being able to make it work since. What that was, I'll never know. Not sure many others will either.
To me it was a flagship route which stood out against the competition from Stagecoach’s E1 E2 and E6.
I used to commute from South Shields to Sunderland everyday on the 35 and it was every 10 minutes, branded as the cross city Laser for commuters, and was marketed as a “Gold Standard” route using Citaros.
GNE replaced the Citaros with some Wrightbus horrors, ditched the Gold Standard service and then replaced the Laser 35 completely with the Prince Bishops 20. The frequency was decreased to every 15 minutes.
To me it seems nonsensical. It annoyed me as an existing customer and the downgrades certainly wouldn’t attract new people to use the bus. Is there some logic that is escaping me?
I agree the 35 has been trashed beyond recognition, mainly because of the insistence over a lot of years to extend the 20 to Shields, but was it ever a flagship route?
I can't remember exactly what routes had the 'Gold Standard', but I'm pretty sure the 2/2A and 53/54 were part of it.
(20 May 2022, 11:05 am)balise33 I’m interested to hear people’s thoughts why GNE has downgraded the 35 (now the Prince Bishops 20) over the years?
To me it was a flagship route which stood out against the competition from Stagecoach’s E1 E2 and E6.
I used to commute from South Shields to Sunderland everyday on the 35 and it was every 10 minutes, branded as the cross city Laser for commuters, and was marketed as a “Gold Standard” route using Citaros.
GNE replaced the Citaros with some Wrightbus horrors, ditched the Gold Standard service and then replaced the Laser 35 completely with the Prince Bishops 20. The frequency was decreased to every 15 minutes.
To me it seems nonsensical. It annoyed me as an existing customer and the downgrades certainly wouldn’t attract new people to use the bus. Is there some logic that is escaping me?
(20 May 2022, 11:05 am)balise33 I’m interested to hear people’s thoughts why GNE has downgraded the 35 (now the Prince Bishops 20) over the years?
To me it was a flagship route which stood out against the competition from Stagecoach’s E1 E2 and E6.
I used to commute from South Shields to Sunderland everyday on the 35 and it was every 10 minutes, branded as the cross city Laser for commuters, and was marketed as a “Gold Standard” route using Citaros.
GNE replaced the Citaros with some Wrightbus horrors, ditched the Gold Standard service and then replaced the Laser 35 completely with the Prince Bishops 20. The frequency was decreased to every 15 minutes.
To me it seems nonsensical. It annoyed me as an existing customer and the downgrades certainly wouldn’t attract new people to use the bus. Is there some logic that is escaping me?
(20 May 2022, 6:44 pm)Adrian I agree the 35 has been trashed beyond recognition, mainly because of the insistence over a lot of years to extend the 20 to Shields, but was it ever a flagship route?The 60 was when it was Versas
I can't remember exactly what routes had the 'Gold Standard', but I'm pretty sure the 2/2A and 53/54 were part of it.
(20 May 2022, 6:44 pm)Adrian I agree the 35 has been trashed beyond recognition, mainly because of the insistence over a lot of years to extend the 20 to Shields, but was it ever a flagship route?The 60 was when it was Versas
I can't remember exactly what routes had the 'Gold Standard', but I'm pretty sure the 2/2A and 53/54 were part of it.
(20 May 2022, 8:06 pm)F114TML The 60 was when it was VersasThose Versa's are anything but gold standard.
(20 May 2022, 8:06 pm)F114TML The 60 was when it was VersasThose Versa's are anything but gold standard.
(20 May 2022, 6:44 pm)Adrian I agree the 35 has been trashed beyond recognition, mainly because of the insistence over a lot of years to extend the 20 to Shields, but was it ever a flagship route?And the 58 too
I can't remember exactly what routes had the 'Gold Standard', but I'm pretty sure the 2/2A and 53/54 were part of it.
(20 May 2022, 6:44 pm)Adrian I agree the 35 has been trashed beyond recognition, mainly because of the insistence over a lot of years to extend the 20 to Shields, but was it ever a flagship route?And the 58 too
I can't remember exactly what routes had the 'Gold Standard', but I'm pretty sure the 2/2A and 53/54 were part of it.
(20 May 2022, 8:31 pm)Unber43 Those Versa's are anything but gold standard.Yeah, I'll have to agree that the Versas are probably the least favourable vehicles currently in the GNE fleet. Probably tied with the older Omnidekkas (the 03/04 batches), but the majority of them have been withdrawn/left the fleet anyway.
They are awful inside, the sides (where the windows are) are stained a awful yellow.
The 35 has just been totally destroyed, chopped and changed.
Tbh the whole route needs some re-imaging.
Also as far as Flagship Routes go, I would say 56,60,20 are the only ones at Deptford.
(20 May 2022, 8:31 pm)Unber43 Those Versa's are anything but gold standard.Yeah, I'll have to agree that the Versas are probably the least favourable vehicles currently in the GNE fleet. Probably tied with the older Omnidekkas (the 03/04 batches), but the majority of them have been withdrawn/left the fleet anyway.
They are awful inside, the sides (where the windows are) are stained a awful yellow.
The 35 has just been totally destroyed, chopped and changed.
Tbh the whole route needs some re-imaging.
Also as far as Flagship Routes go, I would say 56,60,20 are the only ones at Deptford.
Add the X84/X85 to the list, going from new X-lines branded Enviros to older Versas in corporate livery within a year of being introduced.
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Tbf irregardless of branding GNE have been making fairly awful fleet decisions for years , it’s amazing the same team is still in place
(20 May 2022, 10:24 pm)Ambassador Tbf irregardless of branding GNE have been making fairly awful fleet decisions for years , it’s amazing the same team is still in placeHopefully the 7x StreetDecks (assuming all of the Consett 'X-Lines' routes will be E400MMC operated) will actually be put to good use.
(20 May 2022, 10:24 pm)Ambassador Tbf irregardless of branding GNE have been making fairly awful fleet decisions for years , it’s amazing the same team is still in placeHopefully the 7x StreetDecks (assuming all of the Consett 'X-Lines' routes will be E400MMC operated) will actually be put to good use.
(20 May 2022, 10:24 pm)Ambassador Tbf irregardless of branding GNE have been making fairly awful fleet decisions for years , it’s amazing the same team is still in place
(20 May 2022, 10:24 pm)Ambassador Tbf irregardless of branding GNE have been making fairly awful fleet decisions for years , it’s amazing the same team is still in place
(21 May 2022, 7:24 am)Storx Tbf the team is probably extremely limited numbers now in the low single digits who likely do support aswell. When they're butchering the frontline services I can't imagine them having a team of 20 people sitting in an office offering nothing.I think if people knew how few people most bigger operators employ for back office functions they'd be surprised to be honest.
There's a definite noticeable decrease in support staff.
(21 May 2022, 7:24 am)Storx Tbf the team is probably extremely limited numbers now in the low single digits who likely do support aswell. When they're butchering the frontline services I can't imagine them having a team of 20 people sitting in an office offering nothing.I think if people knew how few people most bigger operators employ for back office functions they'd be surprised to be honest.
There's a definite noticeable decrease in support staff.
Edit's done now. I must have changed it from Versas to Vera