(09 Jan 2024, 2:39 pm)Mike_98 wrote Has anyone seen the new E300’s at Stockton yet. I’ve seen the 2 new ones in Redcar but still not yet seen the ones at Stockton. I imagine their in reserve?

They all need MOT and some bits of prep work.

They will be split across multiple depots to get the MOTs done, then Darlington is the permanent home for them all, by Easter. Those in service at Redcar are temporary allocations.

(09 Jan 2024, 9:37 pm)RobinHood wrote They all need MOT and some bits of prep work.

They will be split across multiple depots to get the MOTs done, then Darlington is the permanent home for them all, by Easter. Those in service at Redcar are temporary allocations.

These the Solo replacement by any chance? Assuming that something will be displaced to Ashington (remainder of the Jesmond Streetlite's?) to get shot of the remaining ones up here which are being as 'reliable' as ever.

Believe there's 7 Solo's excluding Whitby's and 2601-2603 left now so balances each other out.

Is anything transferred to Ashington for the 777 since it interwork with the X16

(09 Jan 2024, 9:37 pm)RobinHood wrote They all need MOT and some bits of prep work.

They will be split across multiple depots to get the MOTs done, then Darlington is the permanent home for them all, by Easter. Those in service at Redcar are temporary allocations.

There ALL going to Darlington? My understanding was Redcar and Stockton are sharing them. Or are Darlingtons lites going to Stockton and being replaced by E300s and Pulsars? Same as Redcar swapped their lites for pulsars?

(09 Jan 2024, 9:53 pm)Aaron21 wrote Is anything transferred to Ashington for the 777 since it interwork with the X16

Something that’s Euro 6 and fitted with luggage racks to conform to the tender specification of the 777.


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(10 Jan 2024, 4:01 am)Dan wrote Something that’s Euro 6 and fitted with luggage racks to conform to the tender specification of the 777.


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Weekday 1 and, not only is there nothing fitted with luggage racks allocated, I don't believe anything has been yet. 

Believe this is to be branded "Northumberland Airlink" if the information on the destination is to be believed, and again nothing has been painted for it yet. They've known about this for months, and there seems to be no plan to get buses matching the contracted spec.

This is Arriva…

1479 has transferred over to Ashington (dk why it didn't just stay there) for the 777.

777 and X16 interwork. Pvr of 3 buses in total

(29 Jan 2024, 11:08 am)Bazza wrote This is Arriva…

It is, but they've obviously known what's required for months now (the general public have known they've had the 777 for over a month, and you'd imagine you could add a couple onto that for when the tender would have been put out). To have no plan to get 3 vehicles sorted out before yesterday is poor.

(29 Jan 2024, 11:25 am)mb134 wrote It is, but they've obviously known what's required for months now (the general public have known they've had the 777 for over a month, and you'd imagine you could add a couple onto that for when the tender would have been put out). To have no plan to get 3 vehicles sorted out before yesterday is poor.

Wonder how long it takes to have luggage racks taken fitted with seats taken out. Must be done as quick as possible to fit the needs of someone complaining

Really Nexus should make them do alteast 1 bus a month or their contract gets terminated

(29 Jan 2024, 11:46 am)Unber43 wrote Really Nexus should make them do alteast 1 bus a month or their contract gets terminated

What just cause of no luggage racks. Imagine if gne had the service and they didn't have luggage racks or stagecoach would you say the same thing

(29 Jan 2024, 12:18 pm)Aaron21 wrote What just cause of no luggage racks. Imagine if gne had the service and they didn't have luggage racks or stagecoach would you say the same thing

Whether I would or not, its a clear breach of a contract.

If GNE or SCNE blatantly ignored Nexus Contract Demands i would want it stripped from them

(29 Jan 2024, 11:37 am)Aaron21 wrote Wonder how long it takes to have luggage racks taken fitted with seats taken out. Must be done as quick as possible to fit the needs of someone complaining

I'm going to say probably less than 2 months? Buses have been given full refurbishments in less time than that. 

Ultimately it's a service marketed as going to the airport, so people will expect luggage racks.

Don't bid for the service if you can't meet the spec.

(29 Jan 2024, 12:18 pm)Aaron21 wrote What just cause of no luggage racks. Imagine if gne had the service and they didn't have luggage racks or stagecoach would you say the same thing

If Go North East had won the contract, they were prepared to have two buses modified to meet contract specification from day one of the service being operational.

But if they hadn’t, the comments on this forum would have been far worse than the comments Umber43 has made against Arriva.

I hope three buses are planned to be repainted/branded and not just one bus (1512), as the rumour mill suggests.


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(29 Jan 2024, 12:31 pm)Unber43 wrote Whether I would or not, its a clear breach of a contract.

If GNE or SCNE blatantly ignored Nexus Contract Demands i would want it stripped from them

Gateshead Central Taxis have been breaching contracts for years, and nothing gets done. For example two of the three buses on the 19 the other day were the little mjnj buses and not full sized. I've lost track of the number of 342s that haven't turned up in my time and I imagine that is the thin end of the wedge and all, if what if I've been told is 1% of what actually has been going on

(29 Jan 2024, 1:48 pm)Dan wrote If Go North East had won the contract, they were prepared to have two buses modified to meet contract specification from day one of the service being operational.

But if they hadn’t, the comments on this forum would have been far worse than the comments Umber43 has made against Arriva.

I hope three buses are planned to be repainted/branded and not just one bus (1512), as the rumour mill suggests.


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1537 has been of the road since the 11th January so maybe that's being done. 1512/1513/1479 have all returned to Ashington since October (1479 moving last night). Its possible Arriva haven't had spare buses to covert with luggage racks or even get a brand. Remember the amount of buses Walkergate had to loan while the StreetLite got painted. Its possible the same here

Never mind the actual buses, the routes really need looked at. Having it interworking with the X16 just does not make sense in any way at all, considering the X16 really should be Decker's and I haven't seen the 777 but I can imagine what the loads will be like the 777 and I'll be fairly certain a minibus will be enough (and that's not a typo for midi either).

Also having luggage racks and airport branding on the X16, is confusing as an understatement.

I'm not sure how possible it would be, but surely merging the 777 with the Morpeth locals, and the X16 potentially extended to Northgate every hour (replacing the 417) to give a large housing estate a proper bus service would make more sense...

(29 Jan 2024, 2:47 pm)Storx wrote Never mind the actual buses, the routes really need looked at. Having it interworking with the X16 just does not make sense in any way at all, considering the X16 really should be Decker's and I haven't seen the 777 but I can imagine what the loads will be like the 777 and I'll be fairly certain a minibus will be enough (and that's not a typo for midi either).

Also having luggage racks and airport branding on the X16, is confusing as an understatement.

I'm not sure how possible it would be, but surely merging the 777 with the Morpeth locals, and the X16 potentially extended to Northgate every hour (replacing the 417) to give a large housing estate a proper bus service would make more sense...

Both the 777 & X16 get a long layover in Morpeth. Makes sense to make them interwork instead of having them sit there till its time for a return trip. 

Also prob the reason it'll be not known much is cause Northumberland County Council ain't the fastest at update timetables

(29 Jan 2024, 2:47 pm)Storx wrote Never mind the actual buses, the routes really need looked at. Having it interworking with the X16 just does not make sense in any way at all, considering the X16 really should be Decker's and I haven't seen the 777 but I can imagine what the loads will be like the 777 and I'll be fairly certain a minibus will be enough (and that's not a typo for midi either).

The X16 is fine with full size saloons.

(29 Jan 2024, 2:52 pm)Aaron21 wrote Both the 777 & X16 get a long layover in Morpeth. Makes sense to make them interwork instead of having them sit there till its time for a return trip. 

Also prob the reason it'll be not known much is cause Northumberland County Council ain't the fastest at update timetables

Aye it's why I mentioned the other services ie 417 and that, which is poor really. 

Tbf there's no-where for timetable information in Northumberland if it's like here it's just a QR code now.

(29 Jan 2024, 2:07 pm)Aaron21 wrote 1537 has been of the road since the 11th January so maybe that's being done. 1512/1513/1479 have all returned to Ashington since October (1479 moving last night). Its possible Arriva haven't had spare buses to covert with luggage racks or even get a brand. Remember the amount of buses Walkergate had to loan while the StreetLite got painted. Its possible the same here

Realistically though, it should be straightforward enough to fit vehicles with luggage racks (even if the branding is waiting until NCC finalise a design, if that is the case). 

Most luggage racks, such as those Stagecoach use (https://www.flickr.com/photos/41987105@N...nvW-8QiHc5), are literally some metal poles and a bit of wood.

(29 Jan 2024, 3:42 pm)Storx wrote Aye it's why I mentioned the other services ie 417 and that, which is poor really. 

Tbf there's no-where for timetable information in Northumberland if it's like here it's just a QR code now.

Morpeth Bus Station didn't even have the 777 timetable updated yesterday when I was there yet nexus had the 777 timetable updated within a week of the changes

(29 Jan 2024, 6:57 pm)Aaron21 wrote Morpeth Bus Station didn't even have the 777 timetable updated yesterday when I was there yet nexus had the 777 timetable updated within a week of the changes

Ah that's fair, isn't the timetable stuff in Northumberland done by Nexus now? 

I'm sure Northumberland Council sub contracted it out, awhile back. Not sure if it ended though. I know the local parish councillors done it last time around here as no-one else bothers.

Timetable production is handled by Nexus, then it gets handed to the parish councils.

So it would be Morpeth Town Council or Sanderson Arcade who handle it at Morpeth bus station.

(29 Jan 2024, 7:52 pm)omnicity4659 wrote Timetable production is handled by Nexus, then it gets handed to the parish councils.

So it would be Morpeth Town Council or Sanderson Arcade who handle it at Morpeth bus station.

Aye that's fair, wasn't sure how it worked. Makes sense in why the parish councillors done it here last time aswell.

I hope that Ashington come to there senses and upgrade the 57/57A to long buses. These solos now can't handle the capacity they get. I've seen loads of trips now be a full solo. This needs looked into to see what can be done

(01 Feb 2024, 3:44 pm)Aaron21 wrote I hope that Ashington come to there senses and upgrade the 57/57A to long buses. These solos now can't handle the capacity they get. I've seen loads of trips now be a full solo. This needs looked into to see what can be done

Have you sent in an official complaint? It's probably the only way they start to pay attention, given it's been something that's constantly been strongly rumoured (plans have been put into place at least once I believe) but then gets dropped for something else happening instead.

(01 Feb 2024, 5:00 pm)mb134 wrote Have you sent in an official complaint? It's probably the only way they start to pay attention, given it's been something that's constantly been strongly rumoured (plans have been put into place at least once I believe) but then gets dropped for something else happening instead.

I always wonder if it was the reason why the Enviro 200's were sent up here from Manchester. Rather large co-incidence that the PVR for the 57/57A is 5 and there's 2 Solo's limping on down at Redcar and Darlington, excluding the 3 at Whitby, and 7 of them were due. Darlington being the obvious choice for them since it's the only depot which has Euro 6 buses which could be sent out.

Obviously now it's all gone out the window as they're in worse shape than the Solo's.

(01 Feb 2024, 5:00 pm)mb134 wrote Have you sent in an official complaint? It's probably the only way they start to pay attention, given it's been something that's constantly been strongly rumoured (plans have been put into place at least once I believe) but then gets dropped for something else happening instead.

I sent a complaint into them about the 306 diversion. Not a single response was given. Sending a complaint about an allocation won't gey anywhere