PB0003954/1184 Registered
GO NORTH EAST LIMITED

[b]Route:[/b] Newcastle Central Station to Newcastle Central Station
[b]Service number:[/b] Toon Tour
[b]Service type:[/b] Limited Stop
[b]Effective date:[/b] 02 Apr 2021
Service operates weekends, Bank Holidays and school holidays only from Good Friday until Sunday 30th May.



Operates daily from Monday 31st May until Friday 1st October


Operates weekends only from Saturday 2nd October until Sunday 31st October.

If anyone wants to. (If it's still there) Volvo B7TL Plaxton President 3999 is on Bewick Street in Newcastle acting as a driver change over

Here are a pair of suggestions to upgrade the toon tour to euro 6 buses for the CAZ

1. purchase a trio of E400s from London, or somewhere else if no London ones, GAL seem to stoll have a number of 56/07/57 E400s aswell as a pair of 06s (unless they've been sold like the other 06s). when GNE get these they can repaint 2 to toon tour and one to the 2019 corporate livery and obviously convert them to open topper aswell as upgrading the emission standard to euro 6, If they weren't already upgraded in London (which can be done on E400s as arriva has done it to their E400s)

Suggestion 2. Purchase 3 new open top volvo B5TL/Wright Gemini 3s for the toon tour (like the ones on the Edinburgh tour) as they'll already be euro 6, there will be 2 delivered in toon tour and the other will be delivered in 2019 livery.

July 2022 now the date for the Newcastle CAZ beginning.
I wonder, as mentioned above, whether we see a few ex London vehicles brought up next year ready for the summer service. (Hopefully left as dual door ).

(16 Jul 2021, 9:53 pm)ne14ne1 wrote July 2022 now the date for the Newcastle CAZ beginning.
I wonder, as mentioned above, whether we see a few ex London vehicles brought up next year ready for the summer service. (Hopefully left as dual door ).

Hopefully not, ibwould imagine when I'm elderly, I'd prefer a few extra seats downstairs

(17 Jul 2021, 8:45 am)JP6004 wrote Hopefully not, ibwould imagine when I'm elderly, I'd prefer a few extra seats downstairs

Im sure there’ll always be a few seats available on the down stairs of an open top tour… 

(17 Jul 2021, 9:50 am)ne14ne1 wrote Im sure there’ll always be a few seats available on the down stairs of an open top tour… 

Yes let everyone else get wet in a sudden downpour

Newcastle Falcon’s on the ‘Toon Tour’:

The Toontour is back at the same price last year £12.50

Cba to copy the link so here is the info

This May, the popular Toon Tour open-top sightseeing bus will return to the streets of Newcastle and Gateshead. The service will run daily from Saturday 27 May until Sunday 3 September, then weekends only until Sunday 1 October (excluding Sunday 10 September).

The service will run every 30 minutes, starting from Central Station in Newcastle and then serve stops on a circular route which takes in some of the finest sights around the city.

These include Discovery Museum, St James' Park, Great North Museum, Ouseburn, Quayside, Millennium Bridge, Tyne Bridge, Baltic, Sage Gateshead, Grey’s Monument, Grey Street, Newcastle Castle and Newcastle Cathedral.

The first departure from Central Station each day of the tour will be 10:05am, with the last departure at 4:35pm. You can hop on and off as much as you like throughout the day to see all the sights and delights of the toon. Tickets cost just £12.50 for an adult, £10 for a concession/student, £6 for a child under 16, or £30 for a group of four people.

Paid £12.50 last year for a tour u can do on foot for free. Should make a ticket where u can hop on once and that's it

Shame the X11 doesn't seem to be making a comeback

(23 Mar 2023, 12:28 pm)Aaron21 wrote The Toontour is back at the same price last year £12.50

Cba to copy the link so here is the info

This May, the popular Toon Tour open-top sightseeing bus will return to the streets of Newcastle and Gateshead. The service will run daily from Saturday 27 May until Sunday 3 September, then weekends only until Sunday 1 October (excluding Sunday 10 September).

The service will run every 30 minutes, starting from Central Station in Newcastle and then serve stops on a circular route which takes in some of the finest sights around the city.

These include Discovery Museum, St James' Park, Great North Museum, Ouseburn, Quayside, Millennium Bridge, Tyne Bridge, Baltic, Sage Gateshead, Grey’s Monument, Grey Street, Newcastle Castle and Newcastle Cathedral.

The first departure from Central Station each day of the tour will be 10:05am, with the last departure at 4:35pm. You can hop on and off as much as you like throughout the day to see all the sights and delights of the toon. Tickets cost just £12.50 for an adult, £10 for a concession/student, £6 for a child under 16, or £30 for a group of four people.

Paid £12.50 last year for a tour u can do on foot for free. Should make a ticket where u can hop on once and that's it

Aren't most tour buses like that? 

The only one I've done where I couldn't have done it on foot, was Berlin.

(23 Mar 2023, 3:21 pm)Andreos1 wrote Aren't most tour buses like that? 

The only one I've done where I couldn't have done it on foot, was Berlin.

wouldnt like to walk some of the london tour routes!

(23 Mar 2023, 12:28 pm)Aaron21 wrote The Toontour is back at the same price last year £12.50

Cba to copy the link so here is the info

This May, the popular Toon Tour open-top sightseeing bus will return to the streets of Newcastle and Gateshead. The service will run daily from Saturday 27 May until Sunday 3 September, then weekends only until Sunday 1 October (excluding Sunday 10 September).

The service will run every 30 minutes, starting from Central Station in Newcastle and then serve stops on a circular route which takes in some of the finest sights around the city.

These include Discovery Museum, St James' Park, Great North Museum, Ouseburn, Quayside, Millennium Bridge, Tyne Bridge, Baltic, Sage Gateshead, Grey’s Monument, Grey Street, Newcastle Castle and Newcastle Cathedral.

The first departure from Central Station each day of the tour will be 10:05am, with the last departure at 4:35pm. You can hop on and off as much as you like throughout the day to see all the sights and delights of the toon. Tickets cost just £12.50 for an adult, £10 for a concession/student, £6 for a child under 16, or £30 for a group of four people.

Paid £12.50 last year for a tour u can do on foot for free. Should make a ticket where u can hop on once and that's it

Tbh the Toon tour should have 24 hour ticketing like most tour routes rsthef than normal day tickets as that would make for better value for money and also have a ticket Just for the Toon tour which is cheaper rather than ome for all GNE services ontop

(23 Mar 2023, 6:35 pm)EastCoastMXZ1751 wrote Tbh the Toon tour should have 24 hour ticketing like most tour routes rsthef than normal day tickets as that would make for better value for money and also have a ticket Just for the Toon tour which is cheaper rather than ome for all GNE services ontop

They already have a 24 hour normal bus ticket, which I totally forgot about, as it's not marketed. so it can be done. https://www.gonortheast.co.uk/tickets#f3...0b7e3b8a47

What they really need to do is get it on Viator and other such foreign resellers. They are absolutely HUGE for overseas tourists. They take a cut of any ticket sales (around 15 to 20%), but the exposure is massive.

(23 Mar 2023, 8:54 pm)DeltaMan wrote They already have a 24 hour normal bus ticket, which I totally forgot about, as it's not marketed. so it can be done. https://www.gonortheast.co.uk/tickets#f3...0b7e3b8a47

What they really need to do is get it on Viator and other such foreign resellers. They are absolutely HUGE for overseas tourists. They take a cut of any ticket sales (around 15 to 20%), but the exposure is massive.

In fairness we'd need oversea tourists first. I'm surprised the thing works, apart from people getting pissed which isn't exactly the crowd for an open bus tour there's not really much of a tourism trade up here and even then everything is so compact I'm not sure why it's needed at all - as someone said earlier you could literally walk it.

No doubt the reason City Sightseeing pulled out locally.

Joint ticketing with the 327 or a connecting service from the ferry port or Cruise terminal might be a good start. The number of people from visiting cruise ships at Tynemouth Metro is huge so that’s something to be tapped into. The number of weekend breaks (not just stag / hen do’s ) to Newcastle is quite big as well I believe.

(24 Mar 2023, 9:47 am)RMF1254 wrote Joint ticketing with the 327 or a connecting service from the ferry port or Cruise terminal might be a good start. The number of people from visiting cruise ships at Tynemouth Metro is huge so that’s something to be tapped into. The number of weekend breaks (not just stag / hen do’s ) to Newcastle is quite big as well I believe.

Not a bad shout to be fair. I'm always surprised they can't get a bus working from St Mary's Lighthouse to North Shields Ferry / Port of Tyne (Boat times only). 

There's no bus service for it and wouldn't be a bad little day out with kids. 

Get the ferry from South Shields, then hop on the bus to St Mary's for a day out type trips with additional people from the DFDS going to Tynemouth or wherever.

Be quite similar to the very popular North Bay / South Bay buses in Scarborough.

(23 Mar 2023, 3:21 pm)Andreos1 wrote Aren't most tour buses like that? 

The only one I've done where I couldn't have done it on foot, was Berlin.

Just about every one I've encountered is and that goes for the point on fares too they're nearly all around £10 (often more) for a Day/24 Hour Ticket but there's sometimes the offering of 2 days/48 hours either for a few quid extra or it's the default rather than 1/48. There is some exceptions/variations to that such as some of the open top runs on the IoW where singles and returns can be purchased.

They serve their purpose really, means you can get to/from multiple landmarks in a day without too much walking

(24 Mar 2023, 9:47 am)RMF1254 wrote Joint ticketing with the 327 or a connecting service from the ferry port or Cruise terminal might be a good start. The number of people from visiting cruise ships at Tynemouth Metro is huge so that’s something to be tapped into. The number of weekend breaks (not just stag / hen do’s ) to Newcastle is quite big as well I believe.

Joint ticketing is already in place with DFDS. Tickets are sold by DFDS on the ship.


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(25 Mar 2023, 7:19 am)Dan wrote Joint ticketing is already in place with DFDS. Tickets are sold by DFDS on the ship.


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Excellent to hear that. That happens on some cruise ships as well, usually in European ports, at least it did before Covid.

(25 Mar 2023, 7:19 am)Dan wrote Joint ticketing is already in place with DFDS. Tickets are sold by DFDS on the ship.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Is this a recent thing? 

Not sure I've ever seen or heard anything about it at all on either of the ships. 

It would be interesting to see what the take up actually is.

(25 Mar 2023, 6:38 pm)Andreos1 wrote Is this a recent thing? 

Not sure I've ever seen or heard anything about it at all on either of the ships. 

It would be interesting to see what the take up actually is.

Been in place for a year or two now.

DFDS is building back up now (with their patronage up to now being down massively in comparison to pre-Covid), so hopefully the joint ticketing will be more widely publicised this year.


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New video from Go North East promoting the Toontour:

https://youtu.be/roPciY1ojXk

(04 Aug 2023, 11:03 am)Blockybus wrote New video from Go North East promoting the Toontour:

https://youtu.be/roPciY1ojXk

Really good video! Any plans for where this will be used?

It's the kind of thing that'd be equally as effective looped on displays with high footfall.

That video gives me major GCSE Media Studies vibes.
I'm guessing it was done in house?

It looks quite similar to work done by Ithaca films, who tend to use that mundane free canva soundtrack a lot.

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/nor...p-27594914

(27 Aug 2023, 7:49 pm)Blockybus wrote https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/nor...p-27594914

Mindboggling that ToonTour is supposedly better than far more frequent, higher quality (newer vehicles etc) operations elsewhere in the country.

(27 Aug 2023, 8:26 pm)stagecoachbusdepot wrote Mindboggling that ToonTour is supposedly better than far more frequent, higher quality (newer vehicles etc) operations elsewhere in the country.

https://www.greatscenicjourneys.co.uk/cu...023-final/

Some bus spotter awards. Means swfa in the grand scheme of things.

(27 Aug 2023, 10:53 pm)Andreos1 wrote https://www.greatscenicjourneys.co.uk/cu...023-final/

Some bus spotter awards. Means swfa in the grand scheme of things.

You say that but God dammit Transdev have made use of the accolade of 'Most Scenic Bus Route' for promotion of the 840 to Whitby despite having lost in other showdowns of these polls since which happen every few months.