(31 Jan 2019, 9:00 pm)Malarkey wrote Might get some more E400's from Manchester if we are lucky once they start getting their intake of Enviro 400 City's due over the next 3 years.

Deckers for Stockton. Now that WOULD be optimistic!

(31 Jan 2019, 7:23 pm)GNE6312 wrote New suggestion:
Arriva to upgrade 52/53/54 to sapphire
The branding style will be that the nearside will be branded for the 52/54 Newcastle, South gosforth, Quorum, Killingworth every 15 mins
And the offside will be branded for the 53: North Shields, Shiremoor, Killingworth, Dudley, Cramlington every 30 mins


1574/5 will be spares
With 1576-89 being branded

1579/80 will come to jesmond in trade for 2 if jesmonds pulsars

During the refurbishment the 7424/69/74/75/78 will be loaned out to jesmond during the refurbishment of the streetlites allowing them to be taken out 5 at a time for refurbishment.
They will be taken out numericaly so the order of refurbishment will be the following:
1574-78 then 1579-83 then 1584-88 and the last  one 1589 will go for refurbishment on it's own

The buses will be internaly repainted and get new sapphire style flooring
And will feature white LED displays on the front
Tgey will also be branded after refurbishment before entering service and again will be branded and enter service in the same order as refurbishnent
After the first 5 enter service there will be announcements for the 52/53/54 on all sapphire viechles

What do you think?

This should be on the fantasy thread in Other Discussion not on here.

(28 Jan 2019, 7:03 pm)Michael wrote Looks like new coaches are arriving soon according to the fleet list.... 

Volvo B11RT Caetano Levante 3 - 7138-7142 - 

7138 BD68 TXG
7139 BD68 TXH
7140 BD68 TXJ
7141 BD68 TXK
7142 BD68 TXL

(28 Jan 2019, 7:10 pm)Dan wrote Hasn't been this much discussion on the forum in months...!

The coaches are going to be re-registered prior to delivery, due to an issue at the DVLA.

7138 will now be registered BM68 AHA
7139 will now be registered BM68 AHC
7140 will now be registered BM68 AHD
7141 will now be registered BM68 AHE
7142 will now be registered BM68 AHF

Stagecoach North East: Rare & Odd Workings - January 2019

Arriva North East: Latest News & Discussion - January 2019

Go North East: Latest News & Discussion - January 2019

4808 I think it was, on 8/8A

(17 Dec 2018, 11:31 am)RBZ 5459 wrote No bother - the one for Carlisle will be 11157 when it arrives, the last of the CNL batch. Delivery started last week:

11157 now at Carlisle Willowholme depot - a collection of photos here..

https://www.flickr.com/photos/stagecoach...M2-2cKr1qJ


And at some point the E300s 27141 and 27142 will be repainted back into standard livery.

Bit of a random thread, but as 2018 draws to a close, I thought it'd be worth reflecting - what are your positives and negatives from this year, as far as the bus world (or other forms of public  transport!) goes?

There isn't really a suitable place for this, and it is probably something that merits it's own discussion thread.

Here's why bus passenger numbers are falling in the North East
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/nor...g-15536961

North East travellers are turning their backs on buses and the Metro, transport bosses have warned.

Millions of journeys are still made each year, but the numbers are falling.

And local transport experts think congestion caused by the number of cars on the road may be partly to blame.

Marshall Poulton, assistant director for transport at Newcastle City Council, said “congestion in and around the city centre” was slowing down bus journeys into Newcastle city centre, and services running between the East and West in the region.

A fall in the number of Metro users may be connected to poor reliability, he said.

He was speaking at a seminar for transport leaders in the North of England, held in Manchester.

Mr Poulton, speaking in a personal capacity, said one answer to cutting congestion could be to increase parking charges in Newcastle city centre. This is not currently city council policy.

He said there were around 164 million bus passenger journeys each year in the area covered by the North East Combined Authority, which includes Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, County Durham and Northumberland.

But the number had fallen by 22 million in recent years.


And there are 36 million trips annually on the Metro system - but this is 1.3 million journeys fewer than a year ago.

Mr Poulton said: “Our general feeling is that from a bus perspective, the congestion in and around the city centre is preventing buses penetrating East-West and into Newcastle.

“It’s not as bad on the North-South route, but East-West is definitely held up.

“That is then maybe making the car more attractive to travel into the city centre.”

Car travel may also appear to offer better value than bus transport, he said.

He added: “I personally feel we’ve got to look at parking policies as well.

“The supply of car parking and the pricing policy. It’s very affordable in Newcastle compared to other cities.”

The Metro was “very successful” and offered good value for money, he said.

But he added: “One challenge we’ve got there is the resilience of the network.

“Sometimes it’s unreliable a bit further out from Newcastle, not so much in Newcastle itself.”

Bus passenger numbers have fallen across the country.

Earlier this year, the bus company that owns Go North East urged local councils to consider road-charging schemes to cut congestion on the roads.

Go-Ahead Group, which provides 175,000 bus journeys every day under the Go North East brand name, said authorities should be more willing to introduce road charges, or to impose charges on workplace car parks used by employees.

In a written submission to House of Commons Transport Committee, Go-Ahead Group said councils should use the powers they already have in order to get cars off the roads and cut congestion.

It said: “Powers are available for local authorities to tackle congestion through the Traffic Management Act 2004 but are not effectively used and enforced.

"Through the Transport Act 2000, measures such as workplace charging/road user charging should be more readily deployed, as a means of achieving target journey times.”

A congestion charge was introduced in London in 2003 and other parts of the country are now beginning to follow suit. Birmingham is introducing a “clean air zone”, which involves imposing charges on many private vehicles coming into the city centre, while Manchester City Council is considering a similar scheme.