(18 May 2022, 9:39 pm)mb134 wrote Nice to see they've used one of the desire creating vehicles in that.

The Shields Gazette usually provides a photo of a then-new 53-plate Scania L94, parked in the long defunct South Shields depot.

(19 May 2022, 2:58 pm)Rob44 wrote Wasnt there a 22 to kibblesworth when they had the pink angel buses?

Quite possibly.
They've arsed around with buses around there that much, I've lost track!
Dread to think what goes through the mind of the locals and good old Trent!*

There seems to be a different number and colour every few months! 

*for those who don't know or can't remember, there was a fella called Trent Chipchase who used to post on the GNE page and lived in that neck of the woods. Quite the character and was told off by the GNE fb mod more than once. Think Trent was even told to stop spamming them at one point.
I was genuinely over the moon when I was on a 1 Omnicity one Saturday morning and he rocked up!

When will we know the final changes

the 22nd July?

(19 May 2022, 5:30 pm)Andreos1 wrote *for those who don't know or can't remember, there was a fella called Trent Chipchase who used to post on the GNE page and lived in that neck of the woods. Quite the character and was told off by the GNE fb mod more than once. Think Trent was even told to stop spamming them at one point.
I was genuinely over the moon when I was on a 1 Omnicity one Saturday morning and he rocked up!

Forgot about Trent Chipchase.

(19 May 2022, 6:33 pm)MurdnunoC wrote Forgot about Trent Chipchase.

And he wasn't even one of the made up characters! 

https://www.facebook.com/215880875709/po...160095710/

Edit. Found some cracking references to the characters and Trent here. https://northeastbuses.co.uk/forum/showt...hp?tid=628

(19 May 2022, 2:58 pm)Rob44 wrote Wasnt there a 22 to kibblesworth when they had the pink angel buses?

It was the 24A on evenings and Sundays, withdrawn in August 2013.

If the 78 returns to Consett only, and goes via the old route will it just move back to CLS, or keep at Consett or even move to Deptford.

(20 May 2022, 9:16 pm)Unber43 wrote If the 78 returns to Consett only, and goes via the old route will it just move back to CLS, or keep at Consett or even move to Deptford.

The 78 is already Consett only unless you count the odd early morning short. All 78s terminate at, or west of Chester-le-Street so you'd have way too much dead mileage to start and finish with to make it viable to be run from Deptford. Doubt they'd send it back to Chester as things currently stand.

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Bit random but......Just a though but with lots of people paying by card, including credit cards will this have an effect on the amount GNE ( and others) make per fare? Im sure they have to pay a processing fee or has all that been stopped now?

They said X30/31 are going to be every 20 mins during peak times surely this will just be ran with School buses.

(21 May 2022, 1:18 pm)Unber43 wrote They said X30/31 are going to be every 20 mins during peak times surely this will just be ran with School buses.

Would have to be low height Euro 6 deckers or single deckers.

(21 May 2022, 12:47 pm)Rob44 wrote Bit random but......Just a though but with lots of people paying by card, including credit cards will this have an effect on the amount GNE ( and others) make per fare? Im sure they have to pay a processing fee or has all that been stopped now?

Not sure what their payment processor takes, but I believe the one we use takes 1.7% with no fixed fee per transaction so I can't imagine theirs being too much different. So even on a 7 day all zone pass that would be 50p in fees for a £30 ticket (if my maths is correct!)

(21 May 2022, 1:58 pm)streetdeckfan wrote Not sure what their payment processor takes, but I believe the one we use takes 1.7% with no fixed fee per transaction so I can't imagine theirs being too much different. So even on a 7 day all zone pass that would be 50p in fees for a £30 ticket (if my maths is correct!)

sell 100 of those a week and its $50 quid though. Then i suppose they might have reduced there banking costs with taking less cash??

(21 May 2022, 2:06 pm)Rob44 wrote sell 100 of those a week and its $50 quid though. Then i suppose they might have reduced there banking costs with taking less cash??

I would say card and cash fares are about 

40/60 tbh. But I do wonder what is the difference between cash and card sales.

(21 May 2022, 2:06 pm)Rob44 wrote sell 100 of those a week and its $50 quid though. Then i suppose they might have reduced there banking costs with taking less cash??

I would say there's also the time saved using contactless, but their readers seem to be the slowest contactless readers on the planet. It feels like you have to leave your card there for an eternity before it even pops up to the driver that you're paying by card, then it still takes a few seconds for it to bleep. 

If I'm in any old shop, I could slide the card past the reader and it'd still pick it up instantly.

(21 May 2022, 12:47 pm)Rob44 wrote Bit random but......Just a though but with lots of people paying by card, including credit cards will this have an effect on the amount GNE ( and others) make per fare? Im sure they have to pay a processing fee or has all that been stopped now?

There's costs in handling cash aswell such as a paying in costs, counting it, theft etc

Does anyone know what the PVR of the 58 would be if the extension to Follingsby does happen?

(21 May 2022, 3:36 pm)Jack Gill wrote Does anyone know what the PVR of the 58 would be if the extension to Follingsby does happen?

I think its one more than currently.

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With 58 extending to Follingsby would that remove any need for peak time extra 4's

(21 May 2022, 2:15 pm)streetdeckfan wrote I would say there's also the time saved using contactless, but their readers seem to be the slowest contactless readers on the planet. It feels like you have to leave your card there for an eternity before it even pops up to the driver that you're paying by card, then it still takes a few seconds for it to bleep. 

If I'm in any old shop, I could slide the card past the reader and it'd still pick it up instantly.

Yeah they are the worst machines I’ve used anywhere. So so slow. They save a fortune in time if they changed the tech

(21 May 2022, 9:14 pm)Ambassador wrote Yeah they are the worst machines I’ve used anywhere. So so slow. They save a fortune in time if they changed the tech

Wouldn't that require brand new ticket machine

(21 May 2022, 9:26 pm)Unber43 wrote Wouldn't that require brand new ticket machine

Possibly. 

Big chunks of taxpayer money funded went towards these machines.
I'm sure they're more than happy to get their begging bowl out again for some more money and different tech.

Surely the slow contact readers is an issue with a connection rather than anything else. It's alright in a shop as they're connected to a wired connection direct or use WiFi at least. Both of those aren't available, I'm guessing there will be some form of Offline mode fallback aswell (which maybe when it's really slow) when there's no connection at all.

Go try and use a contact reader in a shop somewhere rural, they're a snails pace aswell.

It's definitely the connection. Independent shops in Durham City often struggle because their card readers are struggling with poor 4g.when it's even vaguely busy, the 4g network collapses.

(21 May 2022, 9:55 pm)Storx wrote Surely the slow contact readers is an issue with a connection rather than anything else. It's alright in a shop as they're connected to a wired connection direct or use WiFi at least. Both of those aren't available, I'm guessing there will be some form of Offline mode fallback aswell (which maybe when it's really slow) when there's no connection at all.

Go try and use a contact reader in a shop somewhere rural, they're a snails pace aswell.

Ok, but, the ones Stagecoach use are noticeably faster, even when paying from the same stop. I think the trouble is that the Ticketer takes a few seconds to detect there's a card on the reader and change the 'issue ticket' button to 'take card payment', Stagecoach's (are they wayfarers?) seem to activate the card reader immediately, like the ones at most shops.

Can anyone make any sense out of what proposals GNE have for the 84/85 in Washington:

Little Pinks 84

• This service would continue to operate every 20 minutes between Concord, Peel, Barmston and Galleries, additionally serving Brady Square to replace service 8. It would then extend across Galleries to Oxclose and Blackfell, operating a circular service around Washington.
  
• The section of route between Galleries, Ayton and Rickleton would no longer be part of service 84, but other buses operate in these areas:
  • Lambton would continue to be served by services 2 and 50
    
  • Ayton with revised service 50
    
  • Rickleton and Harraton by services 8 and revised service 50
    

 
Little Pinks 85

• This service would continue to operate every 20 minutes between Concord, Blackfell, Oxclose and Galleries. It would then extend across Galleries to Barmston and Peel, operating a circular service around Washington (the opposite way around to service 84).
  

Does this mean that the 84 will operate in one direction from Concord back to Concord via The Galleries with the 85 doing the entire route in reverse? A bit like the old 177/178 for those old enough to remember the old Town service that operated in the 1970s and 1980s (one went down Spout Lane through Barmston then to The Galleries then back to Concord via Oxclose and Blackfell while the other bus went Concord-Blackfell-Oxclose-Galleries-Barmston-Spout Lane - Concord.

My local bus is the 84 and I use it two or three times a week to get to The Galleries. This service keeps getting extended (last time it was to serve both Barmston village centre and the bottom of Barmston after the 83 was axed) and now GNE are proposing to extend it to Brady Squre on the way to The Galleries. At this rate the bus is going to be taking close on 30 minutes to get from Concord to The Galleries (I get on the bus one stop further along the road from Concord). I've lived where I live now for 19 years and this service (under its various numbers of W2, W2A, M2, 82 and now 84) has taken longer and longer to get from Concord to The Galleries. It used to be a 17 minute journey during the day back in 2003, it's now effectively been almost doubled in time taken to get to The Galleries.

Little Pinks 82

• Unfortunately, the number of customers using this service isn’t enough to cover the costs of operating it, and so Go North East would no longer be able to operate this service. We are in discussions with Nexus about alternative options available.
  

Sadly, this service has just never taken off. Every time I see it going through Washington Village it's close to empty. It's a service that has been, in part, pieced together by taking parts of the 84 and 85 bus routes, the parts of the routes that saw fewer passengers get on / off the bus. It's unbelievable to think that Washington Village could be left with no bus service at all. That was a part of the route that the 84 used to cover until last year until the part of the route in Barmston was extended after the 83 was axed. Surely GNE should have seen last year that this service route was a non-starter.

(21 May 2022, 11:44 pm)Robbie64 wrote Can anyone make any sense out of what proposals GNE have for the 84/85 in Washington:



Does this mean that the 84 will operate in one direction from Concord back to Concord via The Galleries with the 85 doing the entire route in reverse? A bit like the old 177/178 for those old enough to remember the old Town service that operated in the 1970s and 1980s (one went down Spout Lane through Barmston then to The Galleries then back to Concord via Oxclose and Blackfell while the other bus went Concord-Blackfell-Oxclose-Galleries-Barmston-Spout Lane - Concord.

My local bus is the 84 and I use it two or three times a week to get to The Galleries. This service keeps getting extended (last time it was to serve both Barmston village centre and the bottom of Barmston after the 83 was axed) and now GNE are proposing to extend it to Brady Squre on the way to The Galleries. At this rate the bus is going to be taking close on 30 minutes to get from Concord to The Galleries (I get on the bus one stop further along the road from Concord). I've lived where I live now for 19 years and this service (under its various numbers of W2, W2A, M2, 82 and now 84) has taken longer and longer to get from Concord to The Galleries. It used to be a 17 minute journey during the day back in 2003, it's now effectively been almost doubled in time taken to get to The Galleries.



Sadly, this service has just never taken off. Every time I see it going through Washington Village it's close to empty. It's a service that has been, in part, pieced together by taking parts of the 84 and 85 bus routes, the parts of the routes that saw fewer passengers get on / off the bus. It's unbelievable to think that Washington Village could be left with no bus service at all. That was a part of the route that the 84 used to cover until last year until the part of the route in Barmston was extended after the 83 was axed. Surely GNE should have seen last year that this service route was a non-starter.

I read it as 84 & 85 will be circular services going opposite ways around the same loop, including the double run to Brady Square.

Ayton seems to be the big loser here -once it had a 10 minute frequency local service plus the 50, as proposed it will just have the 50.

(22 May 2022, 8:23 am)busmanT wrote I read it as 84 & 85 will be circular services going opposite ways around the same loop, including the double run to Brady Square.

Ayton seems to be the big loser here -once it had a 10 minute frequency local service plus the 50, as proposed it will just have the 50.

I agree with the 82 being dropped between The Galleries and Waterview Park but between Birtley and Washington it gets used a fair bit so something should probably cover that section

(21 May 2022, 10:18 pm)F114TML wrote Ok, but, the ones Stagecoach use are noticeably faster, even when paying from the same stop. I think the trouble is that the Ticketer takes a few seconds to detect there's a card on the reader and change the 'issue ticket' button to 'take card payment', Stagecoach's (are they wayfarers?) seem to activate the card reader immediately, like the ones at most shops.

Aye possibly, don't Stagecoach use the old ones Arriva had? If so they used to be seriously unreliable when Arriva had them with the card reader broken half the time (believe it didn't work at all when there was no signal which when you go a bit rural is a big problem).

(22 May 2022, 10:31 am)Storx wrote Aye possibly, don't Stagecoach use the old ones Arriva had? If so they used to be seriously unreliable when Arriva had them with the card reader broken half the time (believe it didn't work at all when there was no signal which when you go a bit rural is a big problem).

They use Vix machines.


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(22 May 2022, 10:50 am)Dan wrote They use Vix machines.


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Ah mixed them up, I knew they used to have the same machines as GNE or Arriva just couldn't remember which.