(24 Nov 2014, 10:53 am)Greg in Weardale wrote There is someone at Park Lane doing a "consultation" according to a friend of mine. 20 going through to South Shields, 35 cut back to Sunderland and down to 15 minute frequency, X36 down to hourly through to Newcastle, the other terminated at Downhill. 99 cut to Seaburn to Townend Farm. Naturally he requested that the X3 is reinstated. ha ha.
(24 Nov 2014, 10:59 am)Andreos1 wroteWhat is their fascination with the 20 going to Shields?They have put it forward a year a two ago and it was knocked back.
The service (and at the risk of starting the debate again) and vehicles, struggle as things are.
Maybe they should speak to punters in Houghton, Hetton and Durham - those who use the 20 and 35, yet don't always go to Park Lane...
(24 Nov 2014, 11:00 am)Michael wrote Bloody knew it!
I had a feeling the 20 to south shields would crop up again!
35 - surprised tbh, i thought it was doing ok, i hope they dont swap the 20 and 35 around.
Hmm, i know the X36 isn't used as well but wasn't expecting them to put it hourly to Newcastle....
99 - why don't they just withdraw it... how many times has it changed in the last couple of years?
(24 Nov 2014, 11:17 am)marxistafozzski wrote The 20 to Shields, no thanks, would take forever as it stands, not sure about timing what kind of time would Durham-Sunderland-Shields take compared to the 50
Leave the 35 as it is, they have tinkered with it so much recently, pulled it from Moorsley to Houghton/Rainton Bridge, then later added Hetton/Moorsley back to the route...The 35 as it is has been there for donkeys years, going back to the 535/536 and probably before...
The X36, they should take a risk and extend 1/hour to Hartlepool, 6 month trial to start with going down the Coast...
Never seen the point of the 99...ever
(24 Nov 2014, 11:31 am)cbma06 wrote I went to the GNE stall at park lane, no consultation leaflets, you have to ask, their did mention that their propose to extend the 2a 2c to silksworth and in turn to replace service 42.In my little Mista Fozz dreamworld that I have been known to live in, I wanted the 2A/C extended to Murton replacimg the 61 lmao...Then I could enjoy Mercs all week long instead of just a Sunday
There is someone at Park Lane doing a "consultation" according to a friend of mine. 20 going through to South Shields, 35 cut back to Sunderland and down to 15 minute frequency, X36 down to hourly through to Newcastle, the other terminated at Downhill. 99 cut to Seaburn to Townend Farm. Naturally he requested that the X3 is reinstated. ha ha.I imagine part of the reason for extending the 20 to South Shields will be to get people who want to spend a day at the seaside who live in the Durham area, I do imagine a decline in the reliability, if this does happen I'd hope to be proven wrong but the longer the route the worse it seems to be, wonder if it would be more reliable than the 50 is.
(24 Nov 2014, 11:31 am)cbma06 wrote I went to the GNE stall at park lane, no consultation leaflets, you have to ask, their did mention that their propose to extend the 2a 2c to silksworth and in turn to replace service 42.
(24 Nov 2014, 11:31 am)cbma06 wrote I went to the GNE stall at park lane, no consultation leaflets, you have to ask, their did mention that their propose to extend the 2a 2c to silksworth and in turn to replace service 42.
(24 Nov 2014, 12:35 pm)Greg in Weardale wrote The "consultation" was pretty pathetic, having to ask the man what the changes were rather than having a leaflet, hence he didn't mention 2a/c replacing 42 - have any other changes been missed? He also seemed to think that the changes were inevitable, as we all know they are, whatever people say on the form. I always thought X36 half-hourly to Newcastle had worse loadings than the alternate X3/X36 prior to January this year. Yes the 99 is rather pointless; 20 to Shields will be useful to my friend living at Fulwell, but is it better for those travelling the full 35 route (and its predecessors) from time immemorial? I actually favour longer routes as they offer more journey opportunities, but they do make regulation more difficult when there's severe delays.
(24 Nov 2014, 1:43 pm)Andreos1 wrote So it was located where passengers from affected services wouldn't necessarily need to be either?
Those waiting for a Shields bound 35, 20, X36 (as well as 99), would potentially not have a say on the services...
The loadings on the 35a have been diabolical since the leg between Rainton Bridge and Houghton was sent via the A690.
Any idea which route the 38 will be taking?
(24 Nov 2014, 1:31 pm)Dan wrote As someone who was previously less cynical about the consultation being held in Park Lane, I think it stands to reason that my negative opinions (having attended the consultation) are potentially less bias than what could have been expected from others...
For reasons unknown, Go North East did not turn up on time this morning. I'm not sure when the consultation team arrived, but it certainly wasn't before 08:10am, which is when I arrived travelling to school. The opinions of a large number of commuters were therefore potentially missed, and the audience of the consultation will be more limited now, I'd imagine...
I decided to attend the consultation during my lunch break instead. A vertical banner (not sure what they're called) was set up near Stand L in Park Lane, with two employees present. One employee (who is a regular face at publicity launches and such) was busy talking to someone, and another (Deptford-based) was at the table showing a Sunderland Councillor the proposed changes, ahead of a meeting next Thursday to make a final decision on the proposed route changes. It was good to have the employee from Sunderland present, as I'd guess he had a better local knowledge than the other employee possibly did.
Having arrived half way through the councillor's discussion with the Go North East employee, I managed to pick up a few things which I otherwise would not have done... After the councillor left, I was asked where I live, to which I responded 'Near the Stadium of Light', and I was told that there would be no changes to me other than the number of the service. The chat was all of 15-seconds in length, and I was extremely disappointed that there was no opportunity for me to go through the proposed route changes in full like the councillor did. I feel this was perhaps done to minimise the amount of irrelevant feedback which could have been gathered, though in the past (with printed leaflets), we've been able to see the full picture...
All in all, I was extremely disappointed with the consultation. I had no opportunity to give my feedback, despite there being forms on the table ready to be filled out... I shall be sending an e-mail to Customer Services tonight to voice my concerns with this method of consultation, as it really wasn't as good as I thought it potentially could have been.
- The 20/35 merge was expected, for the aforementioned suggestion of it increasing the likelihood of investment being viable (providing passenger numbers - and hence profit levels - increase). Reliability and lost mileage on these services isn't as bad as is being made out above, other than during peak times (when service 20 tends to struggle a little more).
- The 2A/2C / 42 merge wasn't as expected, though it's something I personally would like to see. Reliability is pretty solid during the day time and the majority of buses have time to lay over at either end of the route on services 2A/2C, so this would work well.
- Service 99 being curtailed - wasn't someone suggesting on Go North East's Facebook page that this service has full loads? Not impressed to see changes being made when very few customers from this route are going to be there to contribute.
- Service X36 having its frequency reduced comes as a surprise, as the loadings I have witnessed have been quite decent (albeit full of pensioners rather than fare-paying passengers).
- The 38 extending to Houghton-le-Spring / nPower replacing the 35A on an half-hourly frequency combined with the 238 (from what I could make out) isn't too bad...
(24 Nov 2014, 1:31 pm)Dan wrote Having arrived half way through the councillor's discussion with the Go North East employee, I managed to pick up a few things which I otherwise would not have done... After the councillor left, I was asked where I live, to which I responded 'Near the Stadium of Light', and I was told that there would be no changes to me other than the number of the service. The chat was all of 15-seconds in length, and I was extremely disappointed that there was no opportunity for me to go through the proposed route changes in full like the councillor did. I feel this was perhaps done to minimise the amount of irrelevant feedback which could have been gathered, though in the past (with printed leaflets), we've been able to see the full picture...[*]
[*]The 38 extending to Houghton-le-Spring / nPower replacing the 35A on an half-hourly frequency combined with the 238 (from what I could make out) isn't too bad...
(24 Nov 2014, 1:48 pm)Michael wrote 20/35 sounds quite good but it will be a long route... could the current scanias cope unless new buses will be ordered for changes, for the 20.
20 - maybe new buses
35 - citaros
The 38 changes sounds decent, think parts of the current timetable are stupid...sure 1 part of the timetable is 20, 40 then nothing... why not have the full route 20 minutes, then have the 238 carry on from the 38 route -maybe fully cadet?
Service 99 -pointless just withdraw it!
How much will the PVR go down on the fast cats, just 1?, least it will have a spare!
(24 Nov 2014, 1:51 pm)Drifter60 wrote Very strange that they told you you wouldn't be affected. If they are changing the 20 to run past your house, it means you could lose links to the Royal Hospital, Silksworth, Herrington, Hetton but in turn gain links to Durham, The Raintons etc.
Not totally understanding what's propsoing on service 38?
Every 20 minutes retained Sundeland, Ashbrooke, Hollycarraide. Then two buses each hour to Rainton Bridge (via Tunstall Bank, Doxford & Houghton presumably?) as Sercice 38. The 238 hourly unchanged to Seaham, Northlea, Houghton?
(24 Nov 2014, 2:09 pm)Greg in Weardale wrote Hate to say "told you so", Dan, but it was a lousy consultation and perhaps you'll realise that the sun doesn't always shine out of GNE's exhaust pipe. Their consultations have been progressively worse over the years. When they did the full ones via internet and leaflets I really thought they did care about what people thought, but soon realised they didn't.
(24 Nov 2014, 2:09 pm)Greg in Weardale wrote Hate to say "told you so", Dan, but it was a lousy consultation and perhaps you'll realise that the sun doesn't always shine out of GNE's exhaust pipe. Their consultations have been progressively worse over the years. When they did the full ones via internet and leaflets I really thought they did care about what people thought, but soon realised they didn't. And today's one was the most pathetic ever; one man at 8.45 am who asked my friend where he lived, thus when he said "North Sunderland" only told him about those changes and didn't mention 2a/c or 38, although he travels widely across the whole network, as many members of this forum do, so our views, more informed than the average passengers, are at least as important. So if anyone mentions sampling techniques again, this consultation was total bollocks.