Although the data will never be public, it would be interesting to compare 'off road' and 'failure' rates at GNE vs other subsidaries.

Whilst we always take colleague comments on here with a pinch of salt but also backed up by social media... Riverside engineering team doesn't appear to have a stellar reputation

Its a bank holiday so I'll end with a positive...since most Angel streetdecks are so wrecked they are only trusted on the 51/2 and the 93/4....the fact once made it all the way to middlesbrough is cause for a street party

(05 May 2024, 10:01 pm)Ambassador wrote Although the data will never be public, it would be interesting to compare 'off road' and 'failure' rates at GNE vs other subsidaries.

Whilst we always take colleague comments on here with a pinch of salt but also backed up by social media... Riverside engineering team doesn't appear to have a stellar reputation

Its a bank holiday so I'll end with a positive...since most Angel streetdecks are so wrecked they are only trusted on the 51/2 and the 93/4....the fact once made it all the way to middlesbrough is cause for a street party

It'll be interesting to compare Streetdeck's / B5TL's with anyone more than anything, especially earlier vehicles. They seem pretty awful vehicles beyond hating the windows or whatever wherever they are. I know Arriva London have 10 16 Plates and they've been allocated to nothing for nearly a year now and are just sitting round doing nothing which is rather ironic when other areas are desperate for deckers and some areas ie. Leeds already have some.

6949 currently on Durham Road, Lanchester, side of the road, smoking awayyyyyyy! (might be steam!)

Noted 5400 looking forlorn the other evening. 

It's drivers wingmirror had either been broken or, tucked in away from the traffic. 
It certainly wasn't sticking out like it should do.

If it was tucked in, I'm guessing the driver had seen all the reported wingmirror issues mentioned on here and was playing safe.

After literally years of never been on a bus which has broken down, I've now been on my third in a week. That cannot be a coincidence, all 62 plate Volvo deckers.

Noticed a Cobalt branded B9 this morning with the old GNE logo removed, (which was positioned between the wheels on this batch), and it give a bit of a cleaner & less cluttered look.
From what I could make out however, at least on one side, the old ‘Journeys taken care of’ strap line was still there, which could’ve done with being removed too IMO.

Yesterday there seem like dozens of the dual door bus out and about, mostly on the 21. I always thought i read on here these were only going to be used for school service? Dont get me wrong i'm not bothered what bus turns up as long as it does. And if they are keeping the Centre doors why not use em??

I had the pleasure of 6325 on the Angel from the cannon to Newcastle today at around 10.50

What an utter disgrace. It stunk of vomit, there were empty McDonald’s wrappers everywhere, the bins were overflowing, empty drinks cans on the seats. Whatever vinyl had been on the table had been ripped off and jagged wooden base remained. There’s absolutely no way that vehicle was cleaned before it went into service

It’s to a point where I dread an actual angel turning up as at the least the trundling Ex London heaps are vaguely clean

(26 May 2024, 9:28 pm)Ambassador wrote I had the pleasure of 6325 on the Angel from the cannon to Newcastle today at around 10.50

What an utter disgrace. It stunk of vomit, there were empty McDonald’s wrappers everywhere, the bins were overflowing, empty drinks cans on the seats. Whatever vinyl had been on the table had been ripped off and jagged wooden base remained. There’s absolutely no way that vehicle was cleaned before it went into service

It’s to a point where I dread an actual angel turning up as at the least the trundling Ex London heaps are vaguely clean

Sounds like it's been on the N21 and it didn't get cleaned before it went out on the morning. Hopefully it at least got some diesel.

(27 May 2024, 9:56 am)deanmachine wrote Sounds like it's been on the N21 and it didn't get cleaned before it went out on the morning. Hopefully it at least got some diesel.

I thouht that, though according to bustimes (pinch of salt) it wasn't

(26 May 2024, 9:28 pm)Ambassador wrote I had the pleasure of 6325 on the Angel from the cannon to Newcastle today at around 10.50

What an utter disgrace. It stunk of vomit, there were empty McDonald’s wrappers everywhere, the bins were overflowing, empty drinks cans on the seats. Whatever vinyl had been on the table had been ripped off and jagged wooden base remained. There’s absolutely no way that vehicle was cleaned before it went into service

It’s to a point where I dread an actual angel turning up as at the least the trundling Ex London heaps are vaguely clean

Go North East: PLEASE GET ON THE BUS

The bus when you actually get on

(28 May 2024, 8:25 am)Ambassador wrote I thouht that, though according to bustimes (pinch of salt) it wasn't

It was some other sort of miscommunication then, it could've been moved to the garage during the night and the cleaners haven't noticed it move, then it was needed rather quickly on the morning. Mind, when I've needed a bus changeover on a morning whilst at the depot and it hasn't been cleaned I usually ask for it to be sweeped off at a minimum.

Had the pleasure of 5412 on the 56 and one of the seats back cover was hanging off. What a brilliant way of getting people on the bus especially with a streetshite on the 56

6110 is falling apart

when Northumbria was northumbria didn't they have a cleaner at the haymarket who dumped a bin at the bus doors - went on with his brush and cleaned the bus of rubbish? I sometimes wondered where it had all came from?

(29 May 2024, 9:47 am)Rob44 wrote when Northumbria was northumbria didn't they have a cleaner at the haymarket who dumped a bin at the bus doors  - went on with his brush and cleaned the bus of rubbish? I sometimes wondered where it had all came from?

Yes, even i remember him, but he didnt just do Northumbria buses, he did em all, couldnt tell you when it stopped, must have been the turn of the century

(29 May 2024, 9:47 am)Rob44 wrote when Northumbria was northumbria didn't they have a cleaner at the haymarket who dumped a bin at the bus doors  - went on with his brush and cleaned the bus of rubbish? I sometimes wondered where it had all came from?

Sounds like the fella who worked in the car park at Bristol Zoo. 
The council thought he worked for the zoo. 
The zoo thought he worked for the council. 
Didn't miss a days work in 30 years. And didn't work for either of them. 

Then ran off with 30 years of coins that he'd collected.

(29 May 2024, 5:22 pm)Andreos1 wrote Sounds like the fella who worked in the car park at Bristol Zoo. 
The council thought he worked for the zoo. 
The zoo thought he worked for the council. 
Didn't miss a days work in 30 years. And didn't work for either of them. 

Then ran off with 30 years of coins that he'd collected.

The above is a myth.  I might have had a few pints in Old Orleans as it was then but he definatley existed. Gray uniform, red tie and access to the staff room above greegs and newsagents

(29 May 2024, 9:47 am)Rob44 wrote when Northumbria was northumbria didn't they have a cleaner at the haymarket who dumped a bin at the bus doors  - went on with his brush and cleaned the bus of rubbish? I sometimes wondered where it had all came from?

Didn't GNE also have this at Eldon Square for what was the 'Gold Standard' services? (TEN, Red Arrows)

The amount of streetlites with missing displays is absolutely disgraceful there must be atleast 15-20

(29 May 2024, 8:28 pm)Unber43 wrote The amount of streetlites with missing displays is absolutely disgraceful there must be atleast 15-20

Sadly, it is pretty much the entire fleet these days.

Consett’s 6192 has been running round for weeks showing “poll” and a mixture of letters and numbers on its destination display, whilst in service (albeit mainly on schools).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

(29 May 2024, 8:33 pm)Dan wrote Sadly, it is pretty much the entire fleet these days.

Consett’s 6192 has been running round for weeks showing “poll” and a mixture of letters and numbers on its destination display, whilst in service (albeit mainly on schools).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

and just the general look of the buses in general are awful atm

(29 May 2024, 8:28 pm)Unber43 wrote The amount of streetlites with missing displays is absolutely disgraceful there must be atleast 15-20

Quite a few of the E400MMCs are going round with defective displays, many of them have the rear displays flickering like crazy.

6085 had strips of missing text on the front display when I spotted it the other week.

Most buses I've seen now have an orange back dest or front dest

(29 May 2024, 9:50 pm)Aaron21 wrote Most buses I've seen now have an orange back dest or front dest

Yeah there’s an angel with an orange display, it really stands out. 

When you see where the cuts/ departures from GNE are it makes you wonder the direction of travel. 

Re cleaners, yes, I recall the guy at Haymarket, the old Eldon square had one too. The X66 used to be cleaned after every run at Gateshead too.

(29 May 2024, 11:09 pm)Ambassador wrote Yeah there’s an angel with an orange display, it really stands out. 

When you see where the cuts/ departures from GNE are it makes you wonder the direction of travel. 

Re cleaners, yes, I recall the guy at Haymarket, the old Eldon square had one too. The X66 used to be cleaned after every run at Gateshead too.

Outside looking in these days(!), it would seem there is a big focus on marketing campaigns to attract back passengers in a post-strike world, but little regard for the brilliant basics or any kind of quality.

Appreciate it won’t be a view shared by many on this forum, but I for one am glad to see continued stability of the network allowing customers to re-gain confidence. I do wonder for how much longer this can be sustained.

With registration deadline looming for the fixed service change date in July, it will be interesting to see if there is any further enhancement to the network in terms of frequency, supported using BSIP funding.

There seems to be a big issue with vehicle availability, despite running an excess number of spare vehicles. This indicates a shortage of engineering staff which explains why “serviceable” defects such as destination displays are being allowed to run for months on end without being repaired.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

(30 May 2024, 6:24 am)Dan wrote Outside looking in these days(!), it would seem there is a big focus on marketing campaigns to attract back passengers in a post-strike world, but little regard for the brilliant basics or any kind of quality.

Appreciate it won’t be a view shared by many on this forum, but I for one am glad to see continued stability of the network allowing customers to re-gain confidence. I do wonder for how much longer this can be sustained.

With registration deadline looming for the fixed service change date in July, it will be interesting to see if there is any further enhancement to the network in terms of frequency, supported using BSIP funding.

There seems to be a big issue with vehicle availability, despite running an excess number of spare vehicles. This indicates a shortage of engineering staff which explains why “serviceable” defects such as destination displays are being allowed to run for months on end without being repaired.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

as long as the major repairs are not been left im ok with that.  Dont want the engine to catch on fire or a wheel to fall off!!

(30 May 2024, 7:19 am)Rob44 wrote as long as the major repairs are not been left im ok with that.  Dont want the engine to catch on fire or a wheel to fall off!!

6146 says hello.

(30 May 2024, 7:30 am)mb134 wrote 6146 says hello.

And 6145

(30 May 2024, 10:46 am)V514DFT wrote And 6145

I was following a streetlite the other day, it was smoking out the back, managed to pull in front of it and tell the driver and he stopped it and kicked everyone off, probably due to the amount of warning lights that are on all the time, you don't know whether there is a serious problem, obviously, there shouldn't be warning lights on the dash at all but this is GNE, so there are but once an actual problem that could cause a 'thermal incident' the drives don't know.