(31 Mar 2022, 8:07 pm)peter wrote Not sure if it's been mentioned but the 95 in Whitby is changing from 24th April, presumably associated with NYCC contract changes

Lealholm end was up for tender from this date. Not sure who has won it yet.

Interestingly the extra buses for the top end of the X18 has been won under contract by Travelsure this summer.


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(03 Apr 2022, 12:18 pm)tyresmoke wrote Lealholm end was up for tender from this date. Not sure who has won it yet.

Interestingly the extra buses for the top end of the X18 has been won under contract by Travelsure this summer.


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The X18 is an odd one, unless Travelsure are getting a new vehicle especially, will presumably be operated by an E200!

Mentioned it elsewhere in the Northumberland tenders thread, the X18 will also no longer serve Boulmer now served by the 418.

(03 Apr 2022, 12:18 pm)tyresmoke wrote Lealholm end was up for tender from this date. Not sure who has won it yet.

Interestingly the extra buses for the top end of the X18 has been won under contract by Travelsure this summer.


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Arriva have won the 95 again.

I believe that their current alternative timetable has been successful.

(03 Apr 2022, 12:44 pm)peter wrote The X18 is an odd one, unless Travelsure are getting a new vehicle especially, will presumably be operated by an E200!

Mentioned it elsewhere in the Northumberland tenders thread, the X18 will also no longer serve Boulmer now served by the 418.

Travelsure is running an X18 themselves Arriva still running X18 North

(03 Apr 2022, 8:49 pm)countydurhambuses wrote Travelsure is running an X18 themselves Arriva still running X18 North

The current X18 journeys north of Alnwick will still run but seemingly the extra journeys that run summer only will be run by Travelsure

Could I get a day ticket on a scholars bus? My only local Arriva service is a scholars, would it be possible to get adult tickets in that if needed?

(05 Apr 2022, 8:03 pm)OrangeArrow49 wrote Could I get a day ticket on a scholars bus? My only local Arriva service is a scholars, would it be possible to get adult tickets in that if needed?

Arriva don’t generally run commercial schools around here (no doubt someone will correct me now!) they’re usually under contract to someone else in the NE.
The only one I can think of which might be is the Durham one (865?).


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(05 Apr 2022, 8:08 pm)tyresmoke wrote Arriva don’t generally run commercial schools around here (no doubt someone will correct me now!) they’re usually under contract to someone else in the NE.
The only one I can think of which might be is the Durham one (865?).


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Scholars aren't usually commercial are they? Go North East tickets are valid on scholars buses, no idea what tickets can be purchased though. I think only Go North East has that arrangement though. On Arriva it would probably be £1 or something.

Arriva run some school services in the Killingworth and Seaton Burn areas, including 652/654/656/693/695/698 I think. They are on the Nexus website.

(06 Apr 2022, 9:03 am)RMF1254 wrote Arriva run some school services in the Killingworth and Seaton Burn areas, including 652/654/656/693/695/698 I think. They are on the Nexus website.

They are all Nexus contracts though.
Arriva Yorkshire run a number of (I believe) commercial school services in West Yorkshire though!


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I wonder if there be any Durham changes?

Temporary changes to our bus timetables
Darlington, Middlesbrough, and Stockton from Sunday 12 June

Bus companies across the area have suffered from the UK-wide driver shortage over recent months, which has resulted in some last-minute cancellations to services within the area. Buses not turning up because of last-minute cancellations goes completely against our service standards and what passengers rightly expect from us. We do not want to let you down, and we are sorry if we have done recently.

As a result, we are making further temporary changes to the services and timetables that we operate, to ensure that we can provide the reliable service that passengers expect and need at this time.

We know that reducing timetables is not a perfect solution, nor do we consider it a permanent one, however the changes we are introducing are designed to ensure critical routes continue to be served, reliably. We feel this is the least disruptive option available to us.

These changes should mean we expect to have a suitable level of available drivers to operate the published timetable and to minimise disruption, whilst we work behind the scenes to recruit new drivers to help us restore our services back to normal frequencies.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our existing drivers, who continue to work extremely hard to run the level of service we do today. Their dedication is exemplary, and we would like to thank them for their continued efforts.

If you know a friend or relative who would like to drive their career forward with Arriva Northeast, do please let them know we are recruiting. We welcome applicants via arrivabusjobs.co.uk.



Services 2/2A Red Hall to Branksome

Monday to Saturday off peak journeys will be revised to operate every 20 minutes. Evening journeys between Red Hall and Branksome will run hourly after 2200 hours daily. Service 2A journeys serving Amazon at shift times will continue to run every 15 minutes. Some Monday to Friday peak time journeys will serve Lingfield Point to replace X67 journeys which are temporarily withdrawn (see X66/X67).
Services 3/3A Skerne Park-Darlington-Mowden/Harrowgate Hill

Sunday daytime journeys between Skerne Park and Darlington will be reduced to operate hourly. No other changes on other days.
Service 4 Darlington – Minors Crescent

Sunday daytime journeys will be reduced to operate hourly. No other changes on other days.
Service 8 Middlesbrough – Netherfields

Monday to Friday daytime journeys will be reduced to operate every 12 minutes. No other changes on other days.
Service 9 Darlington – Springfield

Sunday daytime journeys will reduce to run hourly, when combined with Service 10 this will continue to provide a 30-minute frequency between Haughton Road and Darlington. No other changes on other days.
Service 10 Darlington – Whinfield

Sunday daytime journeys will reduce to run hourly, when combined with Service 9 this will continue to provide a 30-minute frequency between Haughton Road and Darlington. No other changes on other days.
Service 12 Teesside Airport – Hurworth

The 0719 Monday to Friday journey from Teesside Airport will terminate at Darlington Town Centre. An additional journey will run at 0802 from Darlington to Hurworth.
The 0807 Monday to Friday journey from Hurworth to Darlington will leave at 0817 and run 10 minutes later. No other changes on other days.
Services 13A/13B Darlington – Firth Moor

Sunday daytime journeys will reduce to run hourly on each service combining into a frequency of every 30 minutes between Darlington and Firth Moor. No other changes on other days.
Service 15 Roseworth – Stockton – Thornaby-Ingleby Barwick

Monday to Friday daytime journeys will reduce to operate every 15 minutes between Stockton and Thornaby Town Centre continuing every 30 minutes to either Bassleton Court or Ingleby Barwick. No other changes on other days.
Services X66/X67 Darlington – Middlesbrough

Service X67 will be temporarily withdrawn.
Service X66 will instead be increased to operate every 20 minutes during Monday to Saturday daytimes instead and all journeys will operate via Hartburn (as they currently do on evenings and Sundays), replacing Service X67 in this area.
Journeys between Faverdale and Darlington will be temporarily withdrawn.
The 2225 journey from Middlesbrough will now terminate at Hartburn on Monday to Saturday evenings.
Customers travelling to Amazon can use service 2A from Darlington Town Centre, whilst Lingfield Point customers will now be served by a revised Service 2 route, via Lingfield Point, During Monday to Friday peak hours.
Full timetables for all changes listed above are now available on our website and journey planner.

We thank all our customers for their patience and understanding.


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As part of these changes, all journeys on the X66 will be operated by Stockton depot - hence the reductions to the 8 and 15 to compensate for this change (and to avoid driver issues at Stockton - despite Stockton having staff a plenty at present, hence an X66 board is currently on-loan from Darlington).

Must say a very contrasting post to other companies in the North East taking the blame for their issues rather than blaming the football, lower passenger numbers, Covid and whatever else isn't their fault.

Also credit for actually doing something about it even knowing it's not ideal reducing frequencies but personally I'd prefer that than it might be, it might be running but it's okay as we told you 12 hours in advance so it's not our problem you have to wait an extra hour for a bus.

(23 May 2022, 9:35 am)Storx wrote Must say a very contrasting post to other companies in the North East taking the blame for their issues rather than blaming the football, lower passenger numbers, Covid and whatever else isn't their fault.

Also credit for actually doing something about it even knowing it's not ideal reducing frequencies but personally I'd prefer that than it might be, it might be running but it's okay as we told you 12 hours in advance so it's not our problem you have to wait an extra hour for a bus.

Must say action probs should've been taken sooner at Darlington as its been an absolute mess of an operation throughout much of this, looked like I drove past many customers stood waiting for the 5 towards Darlington that wasn't running on Saturday (although may have just been late running, didn't check).

Funny thing is, to some (myself included) the temporary X66 timetable is argubly an improvement, despite the longer journey time, its balanced out with a higher frequency to many although at the loss of service to Lingfield Point & Haughton Road.

(23 May 2022, 10:40 am)Jimmi wrote Must say action probs should've been taken sooner at Darlington as its been an absolute mess of an operation throughout much of this, looked like I drove past many customers stood waiting for the 5 towards Darlington that wasn't running on Saturday (although may have just been late running, didn't check).

Funny thing is, to some (myself included) the temporary X66 timetable is argubly an improvement, despite the longer journey time, its balanced out with a higher frequency to many although at the loss of service to Lingfield Point & Haughton Road.

Aye I've heard Darlington haven't been to clever. Not sure what's gone so wrong at both Darlington and Durham bar rather ironically they're the two depots which have always been the worst even before Covid especially fleet presentation.

No doubt there's serious problems behind the scenes which we aren't aware of which seem to blight GNE aswell where there's all sorts of morale issues being leaked constantly especially from Consett which is one of the worst depots. The other 5 Arriva depots have generally done well especially Ashington, Stockton and Redcar don't believe there's been any issues with them 3 at all. For balance Percy Main and Hexham at GNE are the same.

I was thinking the X66 might've been popular for some for those reasons mind, must admit I don't know the route too well but I'd much rather have a slightly longer 20 minute service than a faster 30 minute service.

(23 May 2022, 2:58 pm)Storx wrote Aye I've heard Darlington haven't been to clever. Not sure what's gone so wrong at both Darlington and Durham bar rather ironically they're the two depots which have always been the worst even before Covid especially fleet presentation.

No doubt there's serious problems behind the scenes which we aren't aware of which seem to blight GNE aswell where there's all sorts of morale issues being leaked constantly especially from Consett which is one of the worst depots. The other 5 Arriva depots have generally done well especially Ashington, Stockton and Redcar don't believe there's been any issues with them 3 at all. For balance Percy Main and Hexham at GNE are the same.

I was thinking the X66 might've been popular for some for those reasons mind, must admit I don't know the route too well but I'd much rather have a slightly longer 20 minute service than a faster 30 minute service.

Before the introduction of the X67, the X66 ran on a 20 minute frequency with its current route (not serving Hartburn).

For me at least its this temporary timetable (and previous 20 min frequency on X66) was easier for Travel options as it was easier to connect to/from Aycliffe services whereas with the X67 by the time I reach and change in Darlington Town Centre, I can usually get the X66 15 mins behind and connect with the same bus as the previous X67 would. The numbers down North Road and along Whinfield Road are much better than what the X67 takes along Haughton Road, only seems to carry light loadings to the in-between stops once you factor out those that just get on in Darlington Town Centre and board whichever of the X66/X67 that turns up first.

(23 May 2022, 2:58 pm)Storx wrote Aye I've heard Darlington haven't been to clever. Not sure what's gone so wrong at both Darlington and Durham bar rather ironically they're the two depots which have always been the worst even before Covid especially fleet presentation.

No doubt there's serious problems behind the scenes which we aren't aware of which seem to blight GNE aswell where there's all sorts of morale issues being leaked constantly especially from Consett which is one of the worst depots. The other 5 Arriva depots have generally done well especially Ashington, Stockton and Redcar don't believe there's been any issues with them 3 at all. For balance Percy Main and Hexham at GNE are the same.

I was thinking the X66 might've been popular for some for those reasons mind, must admit I don't know the route too well but I'd much rather have a slightly longer 20 minute service than a faster 30 minute service.

Durham is atrocious the interiors are like sitting on bricks and awful. They're so bad, its just sad. The buses looks like they have been dragged across the the ground

Redcar are majorly struggling with vehicle availability… 5 boards missing today but it has been as high as 9 recently. Plenty of drivers, though (despite me pinching them regularly!), in fact lots of drivers sat around with no bus…


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(23 May 2022, 8:02 pm)Jimmi wrote Before the introduction of the X67, the X66 ran on a 20 minute frequency with its current route (not serving Hartburn).

For me at least its this temporary timetable (and previous 20 min frequency on X66) was easier for Travel options as it was easier to connect to/from Aycliffe services whereas with the X67 by the time I reach and change in Darlington Town Centre, I can usually get the X66 15 mins behind and connect with the same bus as the previous X67 would. The numbers down North Road and along Whinfield Road are much better than what the X67 takes along Haughton Road, only seems to carry light loadings to the in-between stops once you factor out those that just get on in Darlington Town Centre and board whichever of the X66/X67 that turns up first.

Yeah I can see that actually, it is a bit pointless the X67 running direct out of Darlington, at least you'd think it would be better running through Haughton Le Skerne, the time is negligible anyway.

Mind I do understand why someone wouldn't want to use the X66 at rush hour. North Road and Whinfield Road can be a right chore. I'm quite regularly down there with someone else driving and quite often use the rat run up towards Bradbury along the country roads which I know is quite well known. tbf. Darlington is just riddled with rat runs everywhere.

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(23 May 2022, 8:14 pm)tyresmoke wrote Redcar are majorly struggling with vehicle availability… 5 boards missing today but it has been as high as 9 recently. Plenty of drivers, though (despite me pinching them regularly!), in fact lots of drivers sat around with no bus…


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Ah didn't realise there was fleet problems down there aswell. I'm not sure who's idea it was to withdraw all the Omnicity's without replacing them. I'm guessing it's partly come from the Pulsar's been released to Blyth without nothing really replacing them?

changes f9or north tyneside and newcastle from 5th June. Looks like the 44 and 45 will only have 1 bus per hour to toon and another bus in that hour if they fancey going to toon via dininngton!

(27 May 2022, 4:22 pm)Rob44 wrote changes f9or north tyneside and newcastle from 5th June. Looks like the 44 and 45 will only have 1 bus per hour to toon and another bus in that hour if they fancey going to toon via dininngton!

As with Darlington it's a temporary timetable changes due to driver shortages.

The 43 will be reduced to every 20 minutes Newcastle to Cramlington

The 44/45 will be revised to run a combined every 20 minute frequency. One bus an hour will go out to Dinnington as a 44 back to Newcastle as a 45, another will go out to Dinnington as a 45 back to Newcastle as a 44 and the last will go in and out as a 44. So the 44 still has two buses an hour, but now a 40/20 split rather than every 30 minutes, the 45 like you say will have one bus but passengers do have the option of catching the outbound bus that will go back inbound as a 44.

Full details here: https://www.arrivabus.co.uk/latest-news/...north-east

(27 May 2022, 4:42 pm)peter wrote As with Darlington it's a temporary timetable changes due to driver shortages.

The 43 will be reduced to every 20 minutes Newcastle to Cramlington

The 44/45 will be revised to run a combined every 20 minute frequency. One bus an hour will go out to Dinnington as a 44 back to Newcastle as a 45, another will go out to Dinnington as a 45 back to Newcastle as a 44 and the last will go in and out as a 44. So the 44 still has two buses an hour, but now a 40/20 split rather than every 30 minutes, the 45 like you say will have one bus but passengers do have the option of catching the outbound bus that will go back inbound as a 44.

Full details here: https://www.arrivabus.co.uk/latest-news/...north-east

So basically a sunday service 7 days a week with a few early buses ( hopefully)

(27 May 2022, 4:46 pm)Rob44 wrote So basically a sunday service 7 days a week with a few early buses ( hopefully)

Not really, the 43 runs half hourly on Sundays, it's still gonna run every 20 minutes (with the hourly Morpeth extension), and the 44 only runs hourly on Sundays but it's still running twice per hour as it does currently. The timetable is on Nexus already and there's still early buses. You're only losing one 43 to Cramlington and one 45 to Dinnington per hour.

cheers for that. When i read you could get a through ticket to get to town via brunswick ( or via Hazlerigg) i just assumed it was 2 per hour but it actuall looks like 3 per hour in hazlering and 2 per hour in brunswick?? That seems like more buses than less lol

I heard a month ago that Go Ahead had been pushing other companies to make cuts that would save Arriva/Stagecoach money that would also help GNE when they made their huge cuts. Basically they're hoping other companies making cuts will save their own bad PR. This was one of the moves they'd been pushing for. Very clever by GNE management. Make other areas suffer so you can maximise profits. I respect and hate your management in equal degree.

(27 May 2022, 8:21 pm)Shrek wrote I heard a month ago that Go Ahead had been pushing other companies to make cuts that would save Arriva/Stagecoach money that would also help GNE when they made their huge cuts. Basically they're hoping other companies making cuts will save their own bad PR. This was one of the moves they'd been pushing for. Very clever by GNE management. Make other areas suffer so you can maximise profits. I respect and hate your management in equal degree.

These are stated to be temporary cuts due to the driver shortage, not sure how this wild GAG conspiracy comes into it?

(27 May 2022, 8:21 pm)Shrek wrote I heard a month ago that Go Ahead had been pushing other companies to make cuts that would save Arriva/Stagecoach money that would also help GNE when they made their huge cuts. Basically they're hoping other companies making cuts will save their own bad PR. This was one of the moves they'd been pushing for. Very clever by GNE management. Make other areas suffer so you can maximise profits. I respect and hate your management in equal degree.

Completely false, nothing short of a rumour with absolutely no substance.

I think you will find all three operators are in a dire state financially (Stagecoach the least, Go North East the most), and that as part of the BSIP process there are active conversations taking place about rationalisation of certain corridors. I assume someone has twisted this into the dirty rumour in your post.

Naturally operators are reviewing services which have a poor financial contribution as they deem that they cannot sustainably operate these any longer. Whilst Go North East are making these cuts first, they are absolutely not pushing anyone else to do it too, the other companies will be doing it off their own backs.

The big difference is that Go North East is proposing to make these changes while there is still some level of Government support (BRG funding), while the others are presumably waiting it out until the end. The funding is of course designed to bridge the gap for revenue so that operators don’t make cuts while the market is recovering. That said it probably isn’t enough to prevent some operators being loss-making, and I’d imagine many of the proposed temporary changes at Arriva will in fact be permanent.

(27 May 2022, 8:21 pm)Shrek wrote I heard a month ago that Go Ahead had been pushing other companies to make cuts that would save Arriva/Stagecoach money that would also help GNE when they made their huge cuts. Basically they're hoping other companies making cuts will save their own bad PR. This was one of the moves they'd been pushing for. Very clever by GNE management. Make other areas suffer so you can maximise profits. I respect and hate your management in equal degree.

Why would Arriva / Stagecoach want to do that? They're not friends regardless to the PR that comes out. Arriva and Stagecoach would be over the moon if GoAhead went bust tomorrow.

To give Arriva some credit, the evening timings of the 43/44/45 departures at xx:05, xx:25 and xx:25 are a sensible move with a 20 min core frequency and a 20/40 split with the 43/45 to Wideopen.

I've had my fair share of digs with Arriva but they're starting to get things right in Northumbria especially with the X8/X9 route swap between Blyth & Shankhouse. If they keep their fleet tidy (but not OTT), get rid of the deadwood services with some handy links created (i.e X8 replaced by X7 and a sister service to the 43) and push the post 11pm departures to Blyth & Ashington back more towards 23:20-23:30ish, they'd be on a winner without a great deal of effort or cost.

(28 May 2022, 12:17 pm)L469 YVK wrote To give Arriva some credit, the evening timings of the 43/44/45 departures at xx:05, xx:25 and xx:25 are a sensible move with a 20 min core frequency and a 20/40 split with the 43/45 to Wideopen.

I've had my fair share of digs with Arriva but they're starting to get things right in Northumbria especially with the X8/X9 route swap between Blyth & Shankhouse. If they keep their fleet tidy (but not OTT), get rid of the deadwood services with some handy links created (i.e X8 replaced by X7 and a sister service to the 43) and push the post 11pm departures to Blyth & Ashington back more towards 23:20-23:30ish, they'd be on a winner without a great deal of effort or cost.

Why? So the drinkers get an extra 20 minutes in the pub? They tried an extra X10/11 leaving at 2340 a few years ago and it picked up next to nobody.