Seeing as this now appears to have well and truly developed legs, I've created a new thread to discuss the ongoing potential of Industrial Action at Go North East. 

Chronicle Report: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/nor...g-31022860

Go North East buses facing strike vote in row on safety and treatment of staff

Union Unite has issued a strongly-worded statement after a number of rows between staff and management at Go North East, which has depots in Tyneside, Northumberland and County Durham

More than 1,000 workers at public transport firm Go North East could be balloted on strike action after a row with the firm over safety and treatment of staff.

Unite the Union say drivers and engineers at depots in Tyneside, Northumberland and County Durham have been threatened with dismissal, suspended and sent home from work when health and safety issues are raised.

Safety issues, including CCTV now working on the top floor of double decker buses, have been raised by staff and the union says that members of staff who had raised health and safety concerns were sent home from work with some of them given final written warnings. Unions also allege that the company’s higher standard buses are being sent to the North West, where its parent group Go Ahead has recently won a major contract.

The threat of a strike will concern commuters after a strike on Go North East buses in 2023 caused huge disruption and damage to the regional economy.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Go North East has a track record of appalling management practices but it has plumbed new depths with this latest reign of terror that has seen workers, including union reps, forced to sign paperwork under threats of dismissal. We have members who have been threatened with dismissal or forced to resign due to such Dickensian working practices and despite attempts by our reps and officers to find a way forward, such a vindictive approach to the workforce has left little choice but to consult with our membership on next steps.”

The 2023 industrial action on Go North East cost the region an estimated £10m as people were unable to get to work, school and college, and medical appointments. Drivers, engineers and other staff at Go North East staged seven weeks of strike action from late September, including a continuous five-week walkout, before a deal was struck in a pay dispute.

A Go North East spokesperson said: “Go North East is committed to ensuring the highest safety standards at all times. Recently, we introduced safety briefings for drivers to reinforce best practices, for example to ensure that double deck buses are not driven on routes with low bridges in case it leads to bridge strikes. Safety standards of this nature are essential for protecting our passengers.

“Over 99% of drivers supported this but a very small number of drivers (seven out of 1300) initially declined to sign up to the safety standards or provide assurances that they would adhere to these safe ways of working. In accordance with our established procedures, these drivers were temporarily suspended. However, the issue was resolved, and the suspensions lifted.”

Go North East is one of the region’s main public transport operators, with the company saying that around 175,000 journeys are made on its buses each day.

Who writes these comments for the company? "Recently, we introduced safety briefings for drivers to reinforce best practices, for example to ensure that double deck buses are not driven on routes with low bridges in case it leads to bridge strikes" - I'd say it's little more than best practice to avoid hitting a bridge!

Anyone know why the bygone era has gone completely to pot?

There are files on there that are returning 404 errors when you try and view them.

Very sad news coming out of DCA (Ronald Reagan Airport) with a ERJ-145 and a Blackhawk Helicopter colliding seconds after ATC instructed flight 5342 from Wichita Kanas, to change runways and land on runway 33 (shortest runway at DCA) commonly used for Embraer Jets. 

With these events the response was quick and urgent however it was soon seen as a recovery incident not a rescue operation, with ambulance staying unmoved for hours as the search went on. Companies, People, Groups give there thoughts to the incident. However one man was more focused on the blame of Biden, Obama, Butigeig, Diversity, not the cuts he just forced through within his first 10 days in office (this is going to be a long 4 years), incuding marching out a senior office in FAA as he had fined SpaceX in the years previous, or the firing of 100 safety personal. 

Just coming out that the DCA ATC Tower only had 1 operator missing two more, was this down to the cuts which Trump imposed (Ofc not, nothings his fault its anyone else)

Very Sad day for America, the deadliest crash in over 20 years, its a time to come together but not to blame, or suggest conspiracy theories.

So lets, let the NTSB do its job and hope it never happens again. 67 PEOPLE DIED they were everyone's VIP.

https://new.newcastle.gov.uk/news/2025/p...bus-routes

Split into 4 plans, I can only see the road plan for East End.

- New Bridge street bus stop near Manors moved further back from crossing, with the removal of the on street parking to ensure the bus lane functions. 
- Bus lane extended from Byker bridge to Byker roundabout, removal of a crossing there to widen the road allowing it to go the run length, with a Pelacan crossing added. 
- Shields Road Morrisons road-about removed and replaced with traffic lights, with the existing pelican crossing slightly further up removed.

All makes sense, however removing that roundabout near Morrisons seems a bold move.

We're planning service changes in North Tyneside, Newcastle and south east Northumberland, set to launch on Sunday 23 March 2025.

We're encouraging our passengers to share their views on these proposed changes to the bus network. Feedback received will help us refine our plans, ensuring local travel needs are met as effectively as possible.


https://www.gonortheast.co.uk/share-your...h-tyneside




Some contracts have been confirmed too:

54 Newcastle-Whitley Bay: Evening/Sunday Nexus contract service from Stagecoach

342 Wallsend-Kingston Park: We will take over the operation of this service from Gateshead Central Taxis.


With the X78 - Going back to Stagecoach - The contract for this service has been awarded to Stagecoach, who will operate the service from this date.




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But couldn't do on a online survey for Sunderland/South Tyneside?

North East Combined Authority multi-modal ticket increases are on the agenda at Cabinet today.

"In addition to the introduction of the NECA adult single bus fare cap, the following BSIP fare caps
are proposed for the period 1 April 2025 to 31 December 2025: 
• The £1 single fare and £3 daily cap for people aged 21 be retained at the existing price points. This is estimated to cost £14.5m for April to December 2025;
• Adult multi-modal daily caps to be adjusted to £5 for Durham (from £4), £6 for Northumberland (from £5), £6.80 for Tyne and Wear (from £6), and £7.50 for the entire  North East CA area (from £6.80).
Cabinet is asked to approve the revised levels of these fare caps, at an estimated cost of £4.4m for April to December 2025."

Source: 14.4 - Page 15 - https://www.northeast-ca.gov.uk/download...y-2025.pdf

It's really disappointing to see these fares raised so soon after the tickets were launched, but I think their hands have been somewhat forced by the single-fare cap being raised, and then refusing to fully support the difference (per other MCAs). Durham at £4 is currently cheaper than two singles. 

I'd have actually liked to see some proper forecasting on fare increases, or a commitment to cap the %, instead of this almost reactive annual process that we've experienced in the commercial world. The Northumberland ticket being £6 or the Regionwide ticket now being £7.50 suddenly doesn't sound as attractive!

The same report also highlights how significant BSIP funding has become, and what it's costing us: "Secured bus services, where BSIP funding significantly augments existing levy-funded budgets. 47% of secured bus mileage in the North East is funded by BSIP revenue funding, at a cost of approximately £16 million per annum. This equates to 12% of the total bus network being reliant on BSIP revenue funding."

More worryingly, there's a highlighted risk of funding beyond 2025-26. The report states:

"Whilst BSIP funding has been confirmed until March 2026, funding from that point onwards is less clear:
• Post-BSIP revenue funding for buses is currently under consideration by the Government.
• The Government’s forthcoming Spending Review is expected to address the problem.
• It is also possible, but far from certain, that the discussion becomes related to single settlement and/or CRSTS2.
• There may be some residual BSIP revenue funds to rollover further into 2026-27, subject to DfT approval."

Not only does this present a risk for the future of the BSIP multi-modal tickets; originally this was a two-year arrangement (2023-25, albeit a lengthy delay to actually launch them), so this is effectively the first annual extension, but it also presents a cliff-edge for a lot of services. I think as we've seen with the minute the £2 cap was raised, some operators won't think twice about swinging the axe about.

I noticed in the NECA Cabinet agenda for 28th January 2025, there's an item for 'Sale of land by Nexus'

Unfortunately it's in the exclusion of the press and public section of the agenda, so there's nothing in the pack containing details.

Does anyone have any idea what this is likely to relate to? I vaguely remember them acquiring some land around 2013 for the QCS Project?

it looks like GNER are sold out for train tickets to London kx on the 15th March!  I am thinking of getting train to Carlisle then train down to London Euston.   Anyone got experience of these operators??  Are they reliable?

Thanks in advance!

I am trying to make a computer generated timetable based on either bustimes data or something else. I was thinking of using R or Python to generate this. 

Any help would be greatly received

I have decided to create a thread as I couldn't find one in the list (?) 

As I put in the GNE thread I had an awful time trying to get from Shiremoor to West Boldon which would take 15-20 mins in car. The 9 is great for people who live on the route or nearby Jarrow Bus Station (and is well used with between 5-15 people on it regularly). 

I will be increasing cross tyne connections while chnaging a few South Tyneside routes to accommodate things...

Some suggestions I have are;

10/11 (Yellow Line) | Cobalt & Silverlink - South Shields, Every 30 mins

26 (Green Line) | Lukes Lane - South Shields, every 30 mins

*Swap the routing around at Primrose & Simonside and onwards to Jarrow (for 10/11 & 26) - improving links and journeys times would still be similar. This also makes the stupidity of being able to miss the 26 in Lukes Lane walk 5-10 mins and catch the one before you missed due to the awful routing/timetabling. This will increase passenger numbers on the 10/11 improving sustainability.

*The 26 route in Hebburn would miss out Finchdale road as it is useless having the 26 & 27 to Jarrow & Shields being on opposite sides of the roads. This would also increase the sustainability of the 27 and can improve evening/Sunday timetables. 

*Extend the 10/11 back up to Cobalt as this was popular pre-covid and was withdrawn during Covid. 

99 (blue) | Wallsend - Sunderland (599)
99A (blue)  | Castletown - Grangetown (99)

*Renumber the 599 to the 99 as it is easier to remember and the 99 to the 99A. I would make sure the links from Castletown to Chester Road are timetabled to coincide a 30 min frequency as there are a fair few people who do this journey often and this will only increase with the cross city links being lost on the *new 35&36. Currently until 2pm there are 4 buses per hour from Ferryboat Lane to Buzz Bingo - Pallion. And it is mad that the 599 & 99 currently are not timetabled together (and are ran by 2 different companies). I would bring back some of the original 99/135&136 around the northern estates and send it up to South bents for improved connections without having to cross the dangerous road at the Wheatsheaf. 

*I would change the 599 significantly...and have it turn left after Nissan and go to Amazon then up past Whitemare pool to Monkton Business park and into Hebburn that way. The route on the map has incorporated as much of the Hebburn loop as possible so not many people would miss out enabling a cross-tyne extension to Wallsend (this used to be 1bph when it was the 9A a long time ago). It significantly increases links easy for cars to do. 


12 (pink) | South Shields | Tyne Dock | ST Hospital | The Lonnen | Cleadon | Boldon | Fellgate | Simonside | Tyne Dock | South Shields
13 (pink) | South Shields | Tyne Dock | Simonside | Fellgate | Boldon | Cleadon | The Lonnen || ST Hospital | Tyne Dock | South Shields

*Both every 30 mins and creates new connections

*As you can see this would be after the 26th Jan changes by GNE so the 35 would still exist (I just couldn't be bothered to draw it as we all know the route). I would up the 26 to half hourly and withdraw the 5. You can merge the 12/X20/30 together to create new links and keep the Fellgate/Boldon to ST Hospital possible.


All frequencies would every 30 mins besides the 99/99A being hourly but joint from Castletown to Royal Hospital. Additionally I would up the 50 to every 20 mins to help over crowding...