They used to alight on St Mary's place as it was quicker than waiting for the bus to navigate the lights and fight its way into Haymarket.  Haven't been through for a while though, is that still the case?

(28 Aug 2024, 5:57 am)RMF1254 wrote As a frequent user of Coast Road services, I would say most people alight in St Mary’s Place. However, if you look at the queues in the 3 bays heading towards the Coast Road you will see that the majority actually board in the Haymarket. Put those 3 queues together in St Mary’s Place and there would be little shelter and traffic chaos.

Do most people no alight at St Marys place due to the fact the bus stops there for a while before heading off into the haymarket though?  I know i've been on the 44 several times when its approached barras bridge and stopped and the driver has said he has to wait "x" minutes before heading to heymarket and the bus just empties?

(28 Aug 2024, 2:54 pm)Rob44 wrote Do most people no alight at St Marys place due to the fact the bus stops there for a while before heading off into the haymarket though?  I know i've been on the 44 several times when its approached barras bridge and stopped and the driver has said he has to wait "x" minutes before heading to heymarket and the bus just empties?

Yeah, I've had drivers point out that they're going to be there a while. 

I've taken to jumping off a late running Angel 21 at St Mary's Place because I know from experience that we're not likely to have another chance to get off until Newgate street as it is highly likely to skip Eldon Square altogether.

Had a group of 7 HR Colleagues up at Cobalt today ironically to promote eco transport within the group (tho our focus was bike to work and e car leasing) We thought we’d be good role models and get their in a green way!

We went for the 7.26 X39 which is now a single deck run. Standing room only and didn’t fancy that with our laptop wheelies and bags so ended up in an uber.

We wrapped up at 3.45 and went for the 4.08 X39 back to Haymarket for our meal out to El Coto. A fairly battered panel missing 5447 turned up full to the brim with very little hope of getting on. A late running 22X ADL 400 decker picked us up.

I guess my point here is to suit operational convenience GNE intentionally whack a single decker on a commuter express route in the morning and are tending to now do the same of an evening a service that could attract new passengers, literally designed to get them out of cars and it feels like they’re doing everything they can to encourage you not to use it

(30 Sep 2024, 9:22 pm)Ambassador wrote Had a group of 7 HR Colleagues up at Cobalt today ironically to promote eco transport within the group (tho our focus was bike to work and e car leasing)  We thought we’d be good role models and get their in a green way!

We went for the 7.26 X39 which is now a single deck run. Standing room only and didn’t fancy that with our laptop wheelies and bags so ended up in an uber.

We wrapped up at 3.45 and went for the 4.08 X39 back to Haymarket for our meal out to El Coto. A fairly battered panel missing 5447 turned up full to the brim with very little hope of getting on. A late running 22X ADL 400 decker picked us up.

I guess my point here is to suit operational convenience GNE intentionally whack a single decker on a commuter express route in the morning and are tending to now do the same of an evening a service that could attract new passengers, literally designed to get them out of cars and it feels like they’re doing everything they can to encourage you not to use it

I am guessing Percy Main have very few spare deckers. It must be bad as I seen a pink Streetlite on a scholars service yesterday. 

I’ve seen quite a few (very busy) Streetlites on the 307/309 recently - they’ve even got 2 Versas on today…

It's now been over 3 months since I last used the bus and if I'm being completely honest, with the current level of service I can't see myself using it again any time soon! Put it this way, in the 3.5 months since I acquired a motor vehicle, I've put over 4k miles on it. 

I forgot what it was like being able to meet friends in the evening and be able to get home! Pre-covid this was possible and I did it every week, but since they cut the evening services on the X21 it hasn't been possible. 

It's also nice not having to deal with the riffraff of Bishop and Spenny.

If they were to bring back the evening services they cut, maybe I would start using public transport again, but I'm not holding my breath.

(30 Sep 2024, 9:22 pm)Ambassador wrote Had a group of 7 HR Colleagues up at Cobalt today ironically to promote eco transport within the group (tho our focus was bike to work and e car leasing)  We thought we’d be good role models and get their in a green way!

We went for the 7.26 X39 which is now a single deck run. Standing room only and didn’t fancy that with our laptop wheelies and bags so ended up in an uber.

We wrapped up at 3.45 and went for the 4.08 X39 back to Haymarket for our meal out to El Coto. A fairly battered panel missing 5447 turned up full to the brim with very little hope of getting on. A late running 22X ADL 400 decker picked us up.

I guess my point here is to suit operational convenience GNE intentionally whack a single decker on a commuter express route in the morning and are tending to now do the same of an evening a service that could attract new passengers, literally designed to get them out of cars and it feels like they’re doing everything they can to encourage you not to use it

Heard on the radio the other day, Arriva advertising the 306 & 308.....no mention of GoNE's 307 & 309 services.

Surely by now, both Arriva & GoNE should be operating the 306, 307, 308 & 309 under a fully joint & coordinated brand and dedicated service delivery leads from both operators. X39 should also be part of this too IMO.
If anything....the Coast Road services should be (with backing from both operators & NECA) a good taste of what franchising could be and put it in a positive light.

(01 Oct 2024, 8:08 pm)L469 YVK wrote Heard on the radio the other day, Arriva advertising the 306 & 308.....no mention of GoNE's 307 & 309 services.

Surely by now, both Arriva & GoNE should be operating the 306, 307, 308 & 309 under a fully joint & coordinated brand and dedicated service delivery leads from both operators. X39 should also be part of this too IMO.
If anything....the Coast Road services should be (with backing from both operators & NECA) a good taste of what franchising could be and put it in a positive light.

Arriva seem to have picked up their game since the takeover, would you really want to associate yourself with Go Ahead at the moment? 

Being serious though, I think maybe it's a sign that Arriva are seeing opportunities in the North East and want to rebuild their reputation after a tough few years. You can't blame them for taking the opportunity to build their own business. Returning the Ashington services to regular timetables is another sign that of that.

Got my car done over 10K miles in 4 months, been all over, Scotland, Lakes, London, its totally changed my life, I havent a wont be going on a bus anytime soon, I do like getting the bus but its just, all the cut frequencies, lateness, cold, damp, just a massive put off.

Getting somewhere in 40 mins which would take nearly 2 hours by the bus just to meet someone then you have to decide where to go which would porbably be another hour if not longer by the time you wait and thats if the bus shows up.

(01 Oct 2024, 10:23 pm)Shrek wrote Arriva seem to have picked up their game since the takeover, would you really want to associate yourself with Go Ahead at the moment? 

Being serious though, I think maybe it's a sign that Arriva are seeing opportunities in the North East and want to rebuild their reputation after a tough few years. You can't blame them for taking the opportunity to build their own business. Returning the Ashington services to regular timetables is another sign that of that.

Seen they're finally upping the PVR on the X7/X8/X9/X10/X11 aswell to try and finally sort out the issues with the timetables, especially at peak times.

Something they've been scraping around for years, literally, and nothing changing as it's simply impossible under the current timetable.

https://www.arrivabus.co.uk/latest-news/...wear-nov24 - Changes btw for those who haven't seen them.