Whilst looking for images for another thread, i discovered a solo branded as LinkUp. I know it was operated by Veolia for Nexus and it was a sort of dial-a-ride service, does anyone have anymore info, there was also U CALL which might have been similar.

Link up was a good but restricted service. Limiting use to the area yiu lived in only and therefore restricted travel, eg at the time of link up, I libed in South Shields and worked at Doxford int. I was permitted to use link up to take me to a metro station near where I lived but was not able to take me all the way to Doxford for work as I was then 'out of my area'.

They also used the solo branded buses for some tendered services which off top of my head I remember the

6 Newcastle -Jesmond
500 and 501 South Shields Lawe Top routes
592 and 593, Link up branded buses where the first operator, which was Veolia, until they started running buses in veolia livery.

It only operated for four years I think; it was one of the first things to go under the austerity programme introduced by the Coalition Government. It was an early example of DRT, in an area that didn't really need DRT. It replaced a smaller service called U-Call.

From my experience of it, it was extremely difficult to use due to the availability of buses. I'd say the same people probably had the same regular journeys constantly booked.

I used Link Up a few times, mainly on a night time when I worked in Horsley Hill and needed to get Jarrow to connect with the 9/319 over the water to get home.