So on the back of Arriva Northumbria's new order, I do have a question.

How come 6338-40 sound slightly different to 6341-55? 6338-40 have that more "hummm" like the Classic ZF E400s where as 6341-55 have a more B5TL/B9TL like rhythm.

Do the gearboxes in 6341-55 have a different profile setup? I know there was complaints about the retarders in 6338-40 during the first lockdown when they operated the special 45 and X30/X71.

I am sure we'll congratulate Go North East being nominated for best large operator of the year by Route One magazine, and no Roger French on the nominations panel either!

On a serious note, I can think of at least 10 operators off the top of my head that should be above three of the four nominations. 

https://www.route-one.net/awards/routeon...announced/

I was in Gateshead and I saw the X12 it had the 15 branded bus on, and on the right side it had something called the "Twilight Fare" £1 after 7pm, on the route 15 does anyone know if the Twilight Fare is on any other service.

If you were a bus driver wasnt it free travel for your family, it is now 75p a week. Starting wage seems to have gone up. 

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Historically, I'd always ranked the local big three as 1. GNE, 2. Stagecoach, 3. Arriva. I'd always loved GNE's forward looking approach to vehicles, marketing, networks and ticketing. I'd harboured a grudging respect for Stagecoach's corporatism and Day Rider, and I'd never seen anything I like about Arriva, dreading any journey that included them.

Latterly, I've been surprised how my thoughts have changed....

I have recently had to use Arriva a lot, on many different services, and have found their punctuality excellent, vehicles fair to good, the app surprisingly useful (once you get used to it), and the routes, timings, fares and ticketing options quite reasonable given their operating constraints. All you can really criticise them for is the haphazard use of branding, but that seems to be a problem affecting all operators three days, assuming the reason is the recent ructions. I am not too sure, but they also seem to be the least reluctant to start hacking off bits of their network to save a penny, but perhaps others know different.

GNE has gone way down in my eyes, having seemingly forgotten all the things that made them good, but not so much that they have a better way of doing things now, the resulting hybrid of a bit of the same and yet some changing ways being a sad and almost delusional look, as seems to have been observed here. Their network seems to be crumbling, their marketing, in practice and conception, seeming to be as bad if not worse than Arriva of the present day. And they can't really blame Covid either, since the decline began way before that, and yet they're in possession of the same advantages/drawbacks as Arriva and Stagey, and arguably have a stronger local position from which to leverage efficiencies and new opportunities.

Stageoach's decline is the most depressing to me. A stable network isn't worth much if the routes, timings and connection opportunities aren't as good as they could be. They can't blame urban congestion for all of their increasingly poor time keeping, with notably Arriva seeming to be able to do more with less, but they seem to think the punters are mug enough to believe it. The new corporate livery and growth strategy is frankly absurd, the worst of a world where the three companies seem determined to be the worst at this very basic aspect of running buses (in essence, livery and offer). The DayRider just seems to be less of a good deal and more of a con trick these days. The buses have steadily gone from a well turned out relatively modern fleet, to the embarrassment of the region. The loss of WiFi seems to personify everything that the current Stagecoach offer represents (i.e. we know you don't have any better options, so F You).

What a world to live in, where Arriva is the best local offering. And to be clear, Arriva's offering is poor enough in my eyes for the haphazard use of branding alone, to seriously contemplate the horror of a publicly managed just about good enough not really run for the customer in the ways of counts (treating their needs as priority one, two and three) but at least subsidised by car drivers Manchester style monopoly.

Depressing.

So we have a lot of posts on here, including many from me bemoaning GNEs performance and management. Some from current employees, others from observers and the rest extremely frustrated passengers.

So with limited resources, an apparent inability to recruit, how would you turn the tide or all least stem the blood loss.
This isn’t aimed as slanging match, I’d hope we get constructive ideas and not resort to individual attacks as such..football Manager 22…for buses sort of 

I’ll go first with some basics and I’m sure I’ll build based on whatever gems you come up with. 

Improve customer service away from buses. The current crisis has brought out the best in many drivers but the social media side is at an all time low. Then disconnect in tone between the marketing voice and the customer service voice is a chasm, have the customer service team had any training? It’s an easy in house fix.

Stabilise the network, let it breathe. Look towards Stagecoach for tickin along.

Implement immediate emergency timetables to give passengers confidence a bus will arrive. 

Keep it simple, don’t over egg the marketing pudding. USBs are great but not a deciding factor for passengers. Lower fares, reliable routes are. Cut the bullshit essentially. You’re not Innocent Drinks or Greggs…you run a bus network. 

Clear the decks. The current management and commercial team have presided over the failure over the recent past and pre covid. Whether it’s over promotion, a lack of at the coal face understanding, too many graduates in for lip service or just no fresh ideas, I just don’t have faith in the current line up or their senior leaders. It speaks volumes the new CEO isn’t  an internal promotion and shows the total lack of faith in local level.

Now this was a question which I thought about when someone brought up that people where’s travelling less, but I wondered if anybody has moved to buses since the Pandemic happened or people who now travel by bus to go out to Newcastle, because I do think there has been new passengers coming to GNE, but I feel like pre-pandemic there was a lot more who now work from home. 


I just think its a case of GNE have got new passengers but just not enough to cover the older ones who have been working from home, I wondered if anyone on here now takes the bus more often than the car or moved from Car to buses since the pandemic or know anyone who has. I mean it doesn't help the state of GNE services to try and tempt people I mean a 4 hour wait for an hourly bus, a 48 minute wait for an every 12 min service, and it just gets worse. 13 hour wait for a 50 at one point.

Moderators wroteMerged thread for Go North East: Minor Service Changes August 2022
Source: https://www.gonortheast.co.uk/changes-x-...asider-x11

X1 down to 15 mins and X11 cancelled from Sunday.

Has the Sunderland white open top bus that crashed the other week in fawcett st been fixed or are stagecoach looking for another bus from stagecoach Manchester to cover the open top this season

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