It's never stopped them before!
I remember when they closed Crook depot, they were sending drivers down to Bishop that didn't have a clue where to go because they hadn't learned the route yet! I remember one of them saying they'd only ever been to Bishop once before and they were just following a map they had printed out.
I lost count of the amount of times they stopped and asked passengers which way to go, or just going the wrong way completely

Wonder if those sorts of behaviours are part of the reason staff attrition is so high and passengers are falling away in droves?
It's hardly going to inspire much confidence is it?

An easy way to get drivers sorted at other depots is either buy a sat nav type system with the route fully programmed in ( I know it’s a game and hardy to do in reality but the bus simulator games have exactly that and am fairly sure technology exists if you can track a bus off bus times ) or hire drivers across multiple depots where they split there time. Stagecoach seem to manage it with certain drivers across Hartlepool Stockton and Newcastle so no reason Go North East couldn’t do it.

Wonder if those sorts of behaviours are part of the reason staff attrition is so high and passengers are falling away in droves?
It's hardly going to inspire much confidence is it?

IIRC, they only had 2 senior drivers (is that the proper term?) to train all of the CLS drivers on the route, I think they were also given a stupidly short amount of time to do it as well, hence the drivers having to go out without knowing where to go!

An easy way to get drivers sorted at other depots is either buy a sat nav type system with the route fully programmed in ( I know it’s a game and hardy to do in reality but the bus simulator games have exactly that and am fairly sure technology exists if you can track a bus off bus times ) or hire drivers across multiple depots where they split there time. Stagecoach seem to manage it with certain drivers across Hartlepool Stockton and Newcastle so no reason Go North East couldn’t do it.

Couriers would be the best example to use, I used to work for DPD a few years back and they had a system built into a drivers sat nav that set the route the driver would take in order to deliver parcels in the most efficient/eco friendly manner, can't see why something like this could not be implemented technology wise on a Bus in order to aid a driver particularly in there first weeks on the road whilst still in the learning phase.

Couriers would be the best example to use, I used to work for DPD a few years back and they had a system built into a drivers sat nav that set the route the driver would take in order to deliver parcels in the most efficient/eco friendly manner, can't see why something like this could not be implemented technology wise on a Bus in order to aid a driver particularly in there first weeks on the road whilst still in the learning phase.

Transdev's CityZap buses on the York to Leeds route used to have Sat Nav systems which would send the driver in/out of Leeds via the quickest route so presumably it would be possible for it to be implemented to show a set route but doubt it would ever be implemented due to cost.

Does anyone know if the Seasider branded Levante 7128 will be on the X11 tomorrow for its final day or if 7132 will be on?

Is the X11 permanently withdrawn or will it be coming back next year?

Mod note: Posts around bus incidents and warning systems have been moved into the Bus Incidents thread.

It's never stopped them before!
I remember when they closed Crook depot, they were sending drivers down to Bishop that didn't have a clue where to go because they hadn't learned the route yet! I remember one of them saying they'd only ever been to Bishop once before and they were just following a map they had printed out.
I lost count of the amount of times they stopped and asked passengers which way to go, or just going the wrong way completely

Prior to Crook closing and the X21 moving to Chester, Chester operated the X21 to Bishop Auckland on Sundays, interworking with the 21 at Durham. Through fares available. New drivers (and, by extension, former unit 2 drivers when the two main rotas were amalgamated in 2014) should have been route-learned to account for this but it is possible that some rarely worked any such duties prior to Crook's closure. Some former unit 1 drivers at Chester would have worked the route to Bishop during the Pink Angel days. 

Your anecdote reminded me of an occasion one Saturday not long after the 8/78 changed to Streetlites where an old hand on the 4-day rota asked me to go to Stanley and back with him on the 8 to keep him right. At the time, on a sixteen line rota, there was just a single duty where they covered the Stanley end of the 8 route, it being on a Saturday that they would each encounter once every sixteen weeks.

Prior to Crook closing and the X21 moving to Chester, Chester operated the X21 to Bishop Auckland on Sundays, interworking with the 21 at Durham. Through fares available. New drivers (and, by extension, former unit 2 drivers when the two main rotas were amalgamated in 2014) should have been route-learned to account for this but it is possible that some rarely worked any such duties prior to Crook's closure. Some former unit 1 drivers at Chester would have worked the route to Bishop during the Pink Angel days. 

Your anecdote reminded me of an occasion one Saturday not long after the 8/78 changed to Streetlites where an old hand on the 4-day rota asked me to go to Stanley and back with him on the 8 to keep him right. At the time, on a sixteen line rota, there was just a single duty where they covered the Stanley end of the 8 route, it being on a Saturday that they would each encounter once every sixteen weeks.

There weren't so many drivers that got confused with the core X21 route, I think some of the issues came about due to the extension of the X21 to Tindale Retail Park involving navigating a decker through Woodhouse estate, which didn't (and still doesn't) operate on a Sunday.
At that time, it still operated via Weardale drive, which meant it was an absolute maze to get through, especially since even the Solos/Versas that operated the old 18 service could barely get through with the badly parked cars, never mind a bloody StreetDeck!