(21 Oct 2022, 8:58 pm)L469 YVK wrote Not just Arriva, but Coast Road capacity needs sorted for mid week evening NUFC kick offs! Considering that 7x per hour used to run before COVID and now only 4x per hour....even more so with stable crowds since changs at the club. Some queues for buses now still exist after 11pm. The worst used to be over after 10.30pm

Even if GNE & Arriva collaborated and outsourced some special extra journeys to Stanley & JH, that would make a difference.

Percy Main quite often run duplicates on the 309/310 on match days - even on a Saturday when the frequency is relatively high anyway.

interest read about a village in Scotland and its " bus service"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-t...l-63345158

Metro replacement today... shambles. The 901 especially.

At Heworth, they had St James bound Metros off P1 and Airport bound Metros off P2, but aside from a handwritten notice telling you, the staff weren't bothering to split footfall evenly between the two. P2 was extremely busy when I was there, yet I and a few others managed to walk onto an empty Metro on P1.

Upstairs in the bus station, Nexus had decided that both the 900/X900 and the 901 were going to use Stand R. This resulted in the queue being a couple of laps round the inside of that shelter, then outside and right back beyond the public toilets. The staff were all bunched at the top and no coordination of who was after which bus. Utter madness.

There was a high volume of football fans there at the time, including Burnley fans heading over to the SoL. A Nexus bod walked the line and was actually recommending people take taxis, as the next replacement bus would be about half an hour! Then when a 901 eventually turned up, JH Coaches had decided to put an Enviro 200 out, to the bemusement of people stood waiting.

Looking on tracking, everything seemed to be bunching up, with no one bothering to intervene and try and sort the situation out. Unorganised chaos.

Lets not forget about actual people who aren't football fans trying to get into Sunderland from the other stops which that E200 would have presumably left rammed meaning the people after will have tp wait even longer, Hours!

Saw this on twitter 

"The joys of public transport! I was planning to go to a meeting in Newcastle catching the 1050 Arriva North East 22 to Dalton Park. I abandoned that, I saw it later running 15 minutes late and drove to Dalton Park for the 1115 Go North East X10. Sadly no show. 1220 train full!" 

https://twitter.com/PeterShelley2/status...96257?s=20&t=RmjNWTn2JMbgkrBTcnu-wg 

Tbf the X10 would have probs been standing like it is regularly!

(22 Oct 2022, 4:29 pm)Unber43 wrote Saw this on twitter 

"The joys of public transport! I was planning to go to a meeting in Newcastle catching the 1050 Arriva North East 22 to Dalton Park. I abandoned that, I saw it later running 15 minutes late and drove to Dalton Park for the 1115 Go North East X10. Sadly no show. 1220 train full!" 

https://twitter.com/PeterShelley2/status...96257?s=20&t=RmjNWTn2JMbgkrBTcnu-wg 

Tbf the X10 would have probs been standing like it is regularly!

The X10 was cancelled due to 'delayed operation' https://twitter.com/gonortheast/status/1...pPY2R_nrlw&s=19

So, the next one would certainly be stuffed.

Mr Shelley is a well connected individual. So, I wouldn't be surprised if a stern email is sent to the higher echelons of the various parties involved.

(22 Oct 2022, 4:08 pm)Adrian wrote Metro replacement today... shambles. The 901 especially.

At Heworth, they had St James bound Metros off P1 and Airport bound Metros off P2, but aside from a handwritten notice telling you, the staff weren't bothering to split footfall evenly between the two. P2 was extremely busy when I was there, yet I and a few others managed to walk onto an empty Metro on P1.

Upstairs in the bus station, Nexus had decided that both the 900/X900 and the 901 were going to use Stand R. This resulted in the queue being a couple of laps round the inside of that shelter, then outside and right back beyond the public toilets. The staff were all bunched at the top and no coordination of who was after which bus. Utter madness.

There was a high volume of football fans there at the time, including Burnley fans heading over to the SoL. A Nexus bod walked the line and was actually recommending people take taxis, as the next replacement bus would be about half an hour! Then when a 901 eventually turned up, JH Coaches had decided to put an Enviro 200 out, to the bemusement of people stood waiting.

Looking on tracking, everything seemed to be bunching up, with no one bothering to intervene and try and sort the situation out. Unorganised chaos.

I'm not sure what time this was but surely it would've made more sense to direct people to use the Northern Rail train towards Sunderland and walk back especially considering Day Savers are valid anyway.

No doubt it was chaos after the match aswell as per usual, since the Northern decided that a 2 carriage train was appropriate for it which seems to be the train after the one mentioned on the tweet below. Not sure what happened with the Class 158's as they all seem be out of service today.

If only we didn't scrap all the Pacer's as trophy politics and kept them in reserve and bolt them on the back of a Class 156 for days like today. I'm sure people would much rather have a bus seat than being left on the platform. It's not as if there wasn't an abundance of parts from all the ones being scrapped to keep a few going.

Don't think JH Coaches had enough deckers to fulfil the 901 today as they also had the Sunderland AFC Park & Ride service to operate, they have less deckers since GNE won a lot of the Nexus misc contracts, many of the contracts JH now have only require single deckers.

(22 Oct 2022, 6:35 pm)Jimmi wrote Don't think JH Coaches had enough deckers to fulfil the 901 today as they also had the Sunderland AFC Park & Ride service to operate, they have less deckers since GNE won a lot of the Nexus misc contracts, many of the contracts JH now have only require single deckers.

They shouldn’t have put in for a contract that they didn’t have enough buses for. That would have allowed other operators not on the framework agreement, such as Stanley Travel and L&G Coaches, to bid instead.


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(22 Oct 2022, 6:46 pm)Dan wrote They shouldn’t have put in for a contract that they didn’t have enough buses for. That would have allowed other operators not on the framework agreement, such as Stanley Travel and L&G Coaches, to bid instead.


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I do agree with this however in the contract did it state

- Does it need deckers?
- What Frequency should the vehicles come?

If it didn't state that the service didn't need to be deckers than JH did nothing wrong. However every 30 mins frequency is a bit of a joke for a line which is every 12 mins

(22 Oct 2022, 6:53 pm)Unber43 wrote I do agree with this however in the contract did it state

- Does it need deckers?
- What Frequency should the vehicles come?

If it didn't state that the service didn't need to be deckers than JH did nothing wrong. However every 30 mins frequency is a bit of a joke for a line which is every 12 mins

It's a 15 minute frequency

(22 Oct 2022, 4:29 pm)Unber43 wrote Saw this on twitter 

"The joys of public transport! I was planning to go to a meeting in Newcastle catching the 1050 Arriva North East 22 to Dalton Park. I abandoned that, I saw it later running 15 minutes late and drove to Dalton Park for the 1115 Go North East X10. Sadly no show. 1220 train full!" 

https://twitter.com/PeterShelley2/status...96257?s=20&t=RmjNWTn2JMbgkrBTcnu-wg 

Tbf the X10 would have probs been standing like it is regularly!

I was driving South on the A19 today. Got to Peterlee just before 12.
Branded X10 decker heading north NIS.

Got to Castle Eden and there was one in service heading north.

Not sure where the delays had been, but I certainly didn't see any when I had been travelling north a few hours earlier.

The issue with me for X10s running dead, they all change drivers, so why not just get a replacement vehicles at Gateshead.

The last 2 from Blyth to Morpeth appears to have been cancelled tonight.

(22 Oct 2022, 10:17 pm)omnicity4659 wrote The last 2 from Blyth to Morpeth appears to have been cancelled tonight.

Sure I saw it on its way across to Blyth, issues in Blyth with antisocial behaviour as per?

(22 Oct 2022, 11:03 pm)mb134 wrote Sure I saw it on its way across to Blyth, issues in Blyth with antisocial behaviour as per?

Shows on the website as cancelled, not able to track it on Bus Times due to the outage to see if its correct.

(22 Oct 2022, 11:59 pm)omnicity4659 wrote Shows on the website as cancelled, not able to track it on Bus Times due to the outage to see if its correct.

All journeys will be showing as cancelled, as the Bustimes outage is an issue with Ticketer being unable to communicate information which the app (and Bustimes) relies on. I believe that if the app hasn't received the data it needs by a certain time, it is programmed to automatically log that particular journey as cancelled. 

Realistically Arriva needed to put out a social media post/update on the app to say that journeys will be incorrectly logged as cancelled while the Ticketer disruption is ongoing.

(22 Oct 2022, 6:53 pm)Unber43 wrote I do agree with this however in the contract did it state

- Does it need deckers?
- What Frequency should the vehicles come?

If it didn't state that the service didn't need to be deckers than JH did nothing wrong. However every 30 mins frequency is a bit of a joke for a line which is every 12 mins

All Metro Replacement contracts specify Euro 4 vehicles with a minimum capacity of 84, and give a set timetable determined by Nexus.


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(23 Oct 2022, 6:17 am)Dan wrote All Metro Replacement contracts specify Euro 4 vehicles with a minimum capacity of 84, and give a set timetable determined by Nexus.


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Only Euro 4?!

(23 Oct 2022, 6:17 am)Dan wrote All Metro Replacement contracts specify Euro 4 vehicles with a minimum capacity of 84, and give a set timetable determined by Nexus.


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As JH Definitely did not do this

Surely they should be banned from operating the 901/900 for a while as they clearly dont have the fleet for it. With atleast 4 E200 on yesterday.

(23 Oct 2022, 10:09 am)Unber43 wrote As JH Definitely did not do this

Surely they should be banned from operating the 901/900 for a while as they clearly don't have the fleet for it. With at least 4 E200 on yesterday.

Single deckers on 901s happened earlier this year during a multi operator operation, and going back to when Arriva operated some, Pulsars were common.

Perhaps this contract was awarded pre rationalisation?

Or maintenance forced the substitutes single deckers?

LR52KWU/SU53UNV/LK04NMZ/JH09COM/JH59COM all out of service

(23 Oct 2022, 12:25 am)mb134 wrote All journeys will be showing as cancelled, as the Bustimes outage is an issue with Ticketer being unable to communicate information which the app (and Bustimes) relies on. I believe that if the app hasn't received the data it needs by a certain time, it is programmed to automatically log that particular journey as cancelled. 

Realistically Arriva needed to put out a social media post/update on the app to say that journeys will be incorrectly logged as cancelled while the Ticketer disruption is ongoing.

I checked other stops and other journeys, including on the 2, were showing as operating.

(23 Oct 2022, 10:25 am)54APhotography wrote Single deckers on 901s happened earlier this year during a multi operator operation, and going back to when Arriva operated some, Pulsars were common.

Perhaps this contract was awarded pre rationalisation?

Or maintenance forced the substitutes single deckers?

LR52KWU/SU53UNV/LK04NMZ/JH09COM/JH59COM all out of service

The double-deck vehicle spec for planned Metro Replacement is certainly not new, and has been commonplace now for many years.

Nexus agreed to the use of single-decks earlier this year when they put it out to all operators.

The same could/should have happened again, if JH were unable to provide the vehicles contracted for the service.

Of course the issue here is that JH don’t have as many double-decks as they used to following their loss of school contracts, and they had five double-decks on the SAFC Park & Ride contract yesterday, meaning they probably over-committed based on their current fleet size.

They may have asked Nexus for dispensation - but I’d be surprised if they were agreeable to this when it was a match day…


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(23 Oct 2022, 10:25 am)54APhotography wrote Single deckers on 901s happened earlier this year during a multi operator operation, and going back to when Arriva operated some,  Pulsars were common.

Perhaps this contract was awarded pre rationalisation?

Or maintenance forced the substitutes single deckers?

LR52KWU/SU53UNV/LK04NMZ/JH09COM/JH59COM all out of service

If you're contractually obliged to deliver something, then surely you'd make sure you have a spare capacity to ensure you can deliver service? 

To me it stinks of the 'any bus will do' mentality that exists in the industry, instead of and as Dan suggests in his post, allowing other operators not on the framework agreement to bid instead.

Having E200s on a Saturday Metro Replacement, with a football match on, is a waste of time. The one I saw won't have picked a single passenger up after Heworth to the Stadium of Light, as it was full of football fans.

(23 Oct 2022, 11:15 am)Dan wrote The double-deck vehicle spec for planned Metro Replacement is certainly not new, and has been commonplace now for many years.

Nexus agreed to the use of single-decks earlier this year when they put it out to all operators.

The same could/should have happened again, if JH were unable to provide the vehicles contracted for the service.

Of course the issue here is that JH don’t have as many double-decks as they used to following their loss of school contracts, and they had five double-decks on the SAFC Park & Ride contract yesterday, meaning they probably over-committed based on their current fleet size.

They may have asked Nexus for dispensation - but I’d be surprised if they were agreeable to this when it was a match day…


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Considering JH commitment to match day, surely a degree of responsibility is shouldered by Nexus. Should they not assess a bid based upon careful appraisal of fleet and commitments? 

Noticed their E200 LK09ENY again on 901s this evening.

(23 Oct 2022, 6:07 pm)54APhotography wrote Considering JH commitment to match day, surely a degree of responsibility is shouldered by Nexus. Should they not assess a bid based upon careful appraisal of fleet and commitments? 

Noticed their E200 LK09ENY again on 901s this evening.

No, by signing a contract to operate a service for Nexus, you accept the terms and conditions which includes running with vehicles of the correct specification.

It’s not down to Nexus to tell operators that they cannot deliver a contract that the operator has told Nexus they can.


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(23 Oct 2022, 6:18 pm)Dan wrote No, by signing a contract to operate a service for Nexus, you accept the terms and conditions which includes running with vehicles of the correct specification.

It’s not down to Nexus to tell operators that they cannot deliver a contract that the operator has told Nexus they can.


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Then indeed JH are solely responsible.

(23 Oct 2022, 6:18 pm)Dan wrote No, by signing a contract to operate a service for Nexus, you accept the terms and conditions which includes running with vehicles of the correct specification.

It’s not down to Nexus to tell operators that they cannot deliver a contract that the operator has told Nexus they can.


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Perhaps JH Coaches got dispensation from Nexus to use (some) single decks? -

(23 Oct 2022, 6:37 pm)busmanT wrote Perhaps JH Coaches got dispensation from Nexus to use (some) single decks? -

I mentioned that as a possibility yesterday but I would be very surprised if Nexus were agreeable to this on a match day.

Other operators not on the framework might have been able to provide buses that did meet the contract specification, if JH were unable to do so.


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(23 Oct 2022, 6:37 pm)busmanT wrote Perhaps JH Coaches got dispensation from Nexus to use (some) single decks? -

Nothing short of insanity if they've done that, given it was a Saturday and a football match on.

When I was at Heworth, Metro staff were recommending that people get a taxi if they can!