(21 Feb 2015, 11:39 am)aureolin wrote Similar issues with the X1 and 21 yesterday too. Important to note that it's not just badly run Metro systems that suffer from gaps in service.

Agree to a point, but there is nothing in the way of the Metro's unlike the buses.....traffic, roadworks etc.

(21 Feb 2015, 12:36 pm)citaro5284 wrote Agree to a point, but there is nothing in the way of the Metro's unlike the buses.....traffic, roadworks etc.

Must agree with citaro5284 here, the two can not be compared. Metro is running on rail's, only thing that gets in its way is other metro's or national rail trains between Pelaw and Sunderland. Buses have traffic to deal with, tickets to issue, customers to enquires to deal with. And the worst at the moment is incompetent council's, non-existant parking control, poor bus stop positioning and just poor planning. 

Just to give a few examples of the problems buses face in Sunderland due to council involvement  

No traffic control on Vine Place/Holmeside or at other problem areas like Pallion, Southwick ect.
Traffic lights that are set up against buses. John Street to West Wear street is on green then when they change to red the lights that take you onto Wearmouth bridge change from green to red, then the confusion to deal with from other drivers as the traffic lights here are signaled as NO RIGHT TURN so effectively nothing should then turn right onto Wearmouth Bridge. Badly positioned bus stop infrastructure, bus stops positioned that close to the curb its impossible to pull up at the bus stop close to the curb because the bus stop pole, shelter or other street furniture will either remove the near side mirror or miss judge you position by an inch and your scrapping the front corner of the bus. 

Anyway enough about that and back on subject of the Tyne and Wear metro. Nexus only franchised it out because they new it was about to crumble. DB were basically given a spanner to try and tighten a screw, why is nobody shouting for nexus to take back control??? The only thing that should have happened was that they should have been made to sell it into private ownership. DB, First, Go-Ahead, Stagecoach or any of the other private transport company's would have made the system make a profit, anyone that says they couldn't is just saying the system will never be profitable and we as tax payers will constantly be paying to try and make something work that never will. 

(21 Feb 2015, 3:38 pm)roar wrote Must agree with citaro5284 here, the two can not be compared. Metro is running on rail's, only thing that gets in its way is other metro's or national rail trains between Pelaw and Sunderland. Buses have traffic to deal with, tickets to issue, customers to enquires to deal with. And the worst at the moment is incompetent council's, non-existant parking control, poor bus stop positioning and just poor planning. 

Just to give a few examples of the problems buses face in Sunderland due to council involvement  

No traffic control on Vine Place/Holmeside or at other problem areas like Pallion, Southwick ect.
Traffic lights that are set up against buses. John Street to West Wear street is on green then when they change to red the lights that take you onto Wearmouth bridge change from green to red, then the confusion to deal with from other drivers as the traffic lights here are signaled as NO RIGHT TURN so effectively nothing should then turn right onto Wearmouth Bridge. Badly positioned bus stop infrastructure, bus stops positioned that close to the curb its impossible to pull up at the bus stop close to the curb because the bus stop pole, shelter or other street furniture will either remove the near side mirror or miss judge you position by an inch and your scrapping the front corner of the bus. 

Anyway enough about that and back on subject of the Tyne and Wear metro. Nexus only franchised it out because they new it was about to crumble. DB were basically given a spanner to try and tighten a screw, why is nobody shouting for nexus to take back control??? The only thing that should have happened was that they should have been made to sell it into private ownership. DB, First, Go-Ahead, Stagecoach or any of the other private transport company's would have made the system make a profit, anyone that says they couldn't is just saying the system will never be profitable and we as tax payers will constantly be paying to try and make something work that never will. 

But we're talking about a gap in service from a customer perspective here? The two can be compared, as the only reference point is punctuality.


Traffic congestion or leaves on the track aren't going to make a blind bit of difference to your average customer. If either a train or a bus is timetabled at a set time, then the customer expectation is it arrives at that time. If there are regular issues creating a gap in the timetable, then they need to be addressed. It's basic problem management.

I think as enthusiasts, we're too quick to look at then nitty gritty as to why a service is late, and try and use the reasons behind it as valid reasoning. I'm not saying that's right or wrong, but the businesses exist because there's a customer base using them. The regular customer quite frankly doesn't give a toss why, but more what the operator is going to do to prevent it happening.

Homeside/Vine Place has had congestion issues for years. I doubt the lights timing for John Street to West Wear Street has changed in the past few years either. Shouldn't timetables be adjusted to reflect this? My experience are that most running times are quite tight at the best of times. One of the X1s I used yesterday was late, and the driver was trying to make up time by putting their foot down along Old Durham Road. Going through 3 red lights between The Galleries and Gateshead Interchange in the process. This is ridiculous, and there should never be a need for a driver to have to put their licence at risk. I see the same on my local Arriva routes during peak times too.

Quite interested to see your factual sources for the Metro system being about to crumble? I'm not necessarily disagreeing with what you're saying at this stage, but it's quite a claim to make without putting a source to it? You may want to back it up by telling us about the grand work those private companies do in the rail industry, and about how little subsidy they take from the tax payer?

(21 Feb 2015, 3:38 pm)roar wrote Must agree with citaro5284 here, the two can not be compared. Metro is running on rail's, only thing that gets in its way is other metro's or national rail trains between Pelaw and Sunderland. Buses have traffic to deal with, tickets to issue, customers to enquires to deal with. And the worst at the moment is incompetent council's, non-existant parking control, poor bus stop positioning and just poor planning. 

Just to give a few examples of the problems buses face in Sunderland due to council involvement  

No traffic control on Vine Place/Holmeside or at other problem areas like Pallion, Southwick ect.
Traffic lights that are set up against buses. John Street to West Wear street is on green then when they change to red the lights that take you onto Wearmouth bridge change from green to red, then the confusion to deal with from other drivers as the traffic lights here are signaled as NO RIGHT TURN so effectively nothing should then turn right onto Wearmouth Bridge. Badly positioned bus stop infrastructure, bus stops positioned that close to the curb its impossible to pull up at the bus stop close to the curb because the bus stop pole, shelter or other street furniture will either remove the near side mirror or miss judge you position by an inch and your scrapping the front corner of the bus. 

Anyway enough about that and back on subject of the Tyne and Wear metro. Nexus only franchised it out because they new it was about to crumble. DB were basically given a spanner to try and tighten a screw, why is nobody shouting for nexus to take back control??? The only thing that should have happened was that they should have been made to sell it into private ownership. DB, First, Go-Ahead, Stagecoach or any of the other private transport company's would have made the system make a profit, anyone that says they couldn't is just saying the system will never be profitable and we as tax payers will constantly be paying to try and make something work that never will.

Quite amazing.
I have said something similar and backed it up with facts and figures in the QCS thread, yet get shot down in flames - with people justifying taxpayers funding a system as 'a benefit to society'.
How can it be acceptable for the bus industry to obtain several handouts, but not the Metro?

Using the 'benefit to society' logic, isn't it a benefit that the Metro has received all of this money?

Whatever justification there may be for one, surely the status quo needs to be maintained for the other?

Metro passengers benefit from the modernisation programme and passengers benefit via everything the bus operators receive...
Or is that not the case?

At what point were Nexus intending to discover depreciation, I wonder?

Posted at 14:30 this afternoon...
A train has been withdrawn from service at Regent Centre. Due to this we have a gap in the service of up to 20 mins to trains running between South Gosforth and Airport / St James. Please leave extra time for your journey if you're travelling in the area.

Posted at 20:36 tonight...
The earlier delay between South Gosforth and Airport and The Coast has now cleared. This was due to a train being withdrawn from service.


It took six hours to overcome the delays? Wonder if this coincides with the frequency dropping from 12 to 15 at this time of night - enough trains to cover the PVR of this section of the line, now, perhaps?

Undoubtedly.

Whilst not perfect, it would at least be understandable if the failure was south of the blockade (e.g. no reserve trains stationed at pelaw, or such like). But that this happened on the section of line running right past the depot rather smacks more of no driver resource.

Which really should not have been the case because excess drivers should have been available today due to the planned section of route without service "freeing up" staff. 

Utter shambles.

Tyne and Wear Metro
1 hr ·
There are delays of up to 15 mins between Pelaw and South Shields and South Hylton, up to 15 mins between South Gosforth and St James, this is due to a train being withdrawn from service.

Noticed this post on Facebook - if you have no faith in the metro sign it!

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/v...-and-twita

(22 Feb 2015, 10:07 pm)Tom wrote Noticed this post on Facebook - if you have no faith in the metro sign it!

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/v...-and-twita

I signed that about a year ago and have been getting irritating e-mails from 38 Degrees ever since. There was an update on it recently asking for one last push to get the 3,000 signatures.

(22 Feb 2015, 10:09 pm)Dan wrote I signed that about a year ago and have been getting irritating e-mails from 38 Degrees ever since. There was an update on it recently asking for one last push to get the 3,000 signatures.

Oh no 

(22 Feb 2015, 10:10 pm)Tom wrote Oh no 

I'm sure you'll be able to opt out of e-mails if they start to send you them regularly, too. If the petition actually has an impact, I'm sure it'll be worth it, but I'm doubtful it will.

(22 Feb 2015, 10:12 pm)Dan wrote I'm sure you'll be able to opt out of e-mails if they start to send you them regularly, too. If the petition actually has an impact, I'm sure it'll be worth it, but I'm doubtful it will.

Worth a try I suppose.

They'll get enough signatures in the end, thousands of people use the Metro and are surely disappointed about how disruptive it has become.

I'm a very rare user of it myself, and the over-crowdedness, the state of the trains, etc, would have put me off for life! But, I am a transport enthusiast, and I like these things regardless of their condition.

Doubtfully, as Dan says, will the petition be able to have much effect.

(22 Feb 2015, 10:12 pm)Dan wrote I'm sure you'll be able to opt out of e-mails if they start to send you them regularly, too. If the petition actually has an impact, I'm sure it'll be worth it, but I'm doubtful it will.

When I signed one of their petitions, it was just 'NHS this, NHS that' until I sent them "Please stop sending emails to me, Thanks", they sent an auto response, I sent "STOP SENDING EMAILS TO ME! IM GETTING SICK OF THEM", then the next day someone responded apologising and they stopped the emails.

#TommysTopTips #HowToStop38DegreesFromSendingStupidEmails

Pathetic today like!

06:30 - Trains towards Park Lane and South Hylton are currently delayed due to the overrun of Network Rail engineering works. Passengers travelling between Pelaw and South Hylton (in both directions) should expect delay to their journey. Tickets are being accepted on Go North East bus services X36 and 29 from Heworth to Sunderland.

11:30 - There are delays of up to 30 mins to trains running between South Shields and St James due to obstruction on the line. Please leave extra time for your journey.

17:45 - Walkergate is closed and trains will not be stopping at this station until further notice. This is due to a problem with the power supply. Go North East are accepting Metro tickets on bus services 1 between Chillingham Road and Wallsend. We're sorry for any inconvenience.

(24 Feb 2015, 5:54 pm)Tom wrote Pathetic today like!

06:30 - Trains towards Park Lane and South Hylton are currently delayed due to the overrun of Network Rail engineering works. Passengers travelling between Pelaw and South Hylton (in both directions) should expect delay to their journey. Tickets are being accepted on Go North East bus services X36 and 29 from Heworth to Sunderland.

11:30 - There are delays of up to 30 mins to trains running between South Shields and St James due to obstruction on the line. Please leave extra time for your journey.

17:45 - Walkergate is closed and trains will not be stopping at this station until further notice. This is due to a problem with the power supply. Go North East are accepting Metro tickets on bus services 1 between Chillingham Road and Wallsend. We're sorry for any inconvenience.

In all fairness the first one was completely out of their control so there's nothing they could have done since it was caused by engineering work done by a separate entity.

Same sort of goes for the second, while I was one of those affected by the delays I can understand that they can't prevent objects obstructing the line. However the speed of the response was somewhat disappointing and should have been better. 

I can't really say anything on the third but my gut tells me they could have done something about that so of those three there's only one I can see them being completely accountable for

(24 Feb 2015, 8:20 pm)Busman69 wrote In all fairness the first one was completely out of their control so there's nothing they could have done since it was caused by engineering work done by a separate entity.

Same sort of goes for the second, while I was one of those affected by the delays I can understand that they can't prevent objects obstructing the line. However the speed of the response was somewhat disappointing and should have been better. 

I can't really say anything on the third but my gut tells me they could have done something about that so of those three there's only one I can see them being completely accountable for

Apparently it was lights on the platform being out - H&S issues I imagine.
No idea what caused the outage, whether it was a Nexus issue or part of the wider area had been affected.

(24 Feb 2015, 5:54 pm)Tom wrote Pathetic today like!

06:30 - Trains towards Park Lane and South Hylton are currently delayed due to the overrun of Network Rail engineering works. Passengers travelling between Pelaw and South Hylton (in both directions) should expect delay to their journey. Tickets are being accepted on Go North East bus services X36 and 29 from Heworth to Sunderland.


17:45 - Walkergate is closed and trains will not be stopping at this station until further notice. This is due to a problem with the power supply. Go North East are accepting Metro tickets on bus services 1 between Chillingham Road and Wallsend. We're sorry for any inconvenience.

Who is responsible for giving the information out here. Service 29 from Heworth to Sunderland????????

Go North East service 1 from Chillingham Road to Wallsend????? Its Stagecoach service 1 that operates along Chillingham Road and it dosn't go to Wallsend. 

Just viewed this youtube video on another forum. Some stupid but very lucky people.

Forcing the doors open.

A video from the late 70's/early 80's about thenl introduction of the Metro called Metro - The Way Ahead

A video about Metro in the late 80's called Clocking up the Kilometres

(24 Feb 2015, 11:05 pm)roar wrote Who is responsible for giving the information out here. Service 29 from Heworth to Sunderland????????

Go North East service 1 from Chillingham Road to Wallsend????? Its Stagecoach service 1 that operates along Chillingham Road and it dosn't go to Wallsend. 

Go North East were definitely accepting tickets on their Coaster 1 service. Although it doesn't serve the Interchange, it does stop in the town centre which is all of a two to three minute walk away.

My metro is 9 mins pate atm. Just missed one to!

(25 Feb 2015, 7:28 am)Dan wrote Go North East were definitely accepting tickets on their Coaster 1 service. Although it doesn't serve the Interchange, it does stop in the town centre which is all of a two to three minute walk away.

Ditto Chillingham Rd Metro Station. I believe it was the station rather than the street to which whomever compiles the updates was referring.

(25 Feb 2015, 12:24 am)roar wrote Just viewed this youtube video on another forum. Some stupid but very lucky people.

Forcing the doors open.

I quite like that Metro do this. I wish bus operators would start doing it with the driver's view CCTV footage, with morons cutting them up pulling out of junctions, blocking box junctions off, and generally poor parking.

(25 Feb 2015, 6:10 pm)aureolin wrote I quite like that Metro do this. I wish bus operators would start doing it with the driver's view CCTV footage, with morons cutting them up pulling out of junctions, blocking box junctions off, and generally poor parking.

They probably could do or already do but it isnt publicised by the operator, Im pretty sure Go North East Vehicles have exterior CCTV Cameras along with one on the Dashboard, whether drivers report these incidents or not is an entirely different matter.

There are delays systemwide due to a technical fault. Delays of up to 30 mins between Airport and South Hylton Delays of up to 15 mins between St James and South Shields Delays of up to 15 mins between South Gosforth and Pelaw

Talking of stupidity on the Metro, I am sure I saw a pic of in the Echo of a young lad on a cable doing a tightrope walk, absolutey barmy

(25 Feb 2015, 6:10 pm)aureolin wrote I quite like that Metro do this. I wish bus operators would start doing it with the driver's view CCTV footage, with morons cutting them up pulling out of junctions, blocking box junctions off, and generally poor parking.

There is some good training videos going about that have been made from cctv footage. A cycle awarness one is quite good. Shows how cyclists and bus drivers can take silly risks.