GNE have put out an article on service changes happening on October 30th in County Durham & Northumberland: https://www.gonortheast.co.uk/service-ch...30-october

Essentially is just the loss of Durham tendered services 40/40A/41, 42, 59, 204/204A & 239 to other operators and some minor timetable changes on the 206 & 208.

In Northumberland, extra trips has been added on services 680, 681 & 687 whilst the evening X85 is revised to depart Newcastle 15 minutes later (will now be at 17:30).

The recent discussion around the original allocations for the StreetDecks and E400MMCs got me thinking. 

After a few years in operation, were the initial orders made the right ones?

Were GNE right to order a batch of E400s for the X1, when the StreetDecks seem to have been doing perfectly fine (as far as I'm aware anyway)

Were they right to be hesitant about ordering vehicles for the X10, or were E400MMCs enough.

What would have happened if GNE palmed some E400MMCs off on Oxford instead of the StreetDecks

Does the site have any control over them? i read this site mostly on my breaks at work and im getting adverts with " scantily clad" ladies at the top of the page causing me to get funny looks for my colleges!

The 19 will have a new route and timetable from 20th November 2022 till 15th March 2023 due to roadworks in North Shields 

From Monday, 21 November 2022 until Thursday 15 March 2023 to allow Capita major scheme works to take, Bell Street will be fully closed and between 21 November 2021 to Sunday 22 January 2023 5-Arm Roundabout will require 24/7 4-way traffic lights and a closure of Trinity Terrace. Closure of Bell Street will mean access to Fish Quay/Tanners Bank will mean diversions via Saville Street, Stephenson Street, Tynemouth Road.

Go North East Service 19 - Towards North Shields Ferry – New route/timetable introduced from 20 November. Services will operate from Percy Main via Howdon Road, Dock Road, Smith Dock link road, to Ferry Landing Turning Circle.

Service 19 Towards Northumberland Park/Cramlington/Ashington – New route/timetable introduced from 20 November. Services from Ferry Landing will operate via Duke Street, New Quay, Borough Road, Saville Street West, Saville Street, Charlotte Street, Bird Street, Brewhouse Bank, Union Road, Tanners Bank, Tynemouth Road, Albion Road, Nile Street, Railway Terrace, Borough Road, New Quay, Duke Street, Smith Dock link road, Dock Road, Howdon Road.

Hard one to categorise this but the driving standards have really dropped a lot lately.

My EV has temporarily given in with a broken software update resorting into me needing a bus ride most days this week and I've noticed how much standards have fallen. I guess its natural since a lot of experienced good drivers have left and we've got newbies but by god....

A few from this week alone....

900 - the driver got lost twice, mounted two kerbs at a bus stop, had to reverse into a residential cul de sac and was generally in the wrong lane.

21 - 

• coming onto High St West from the bus link - scraped all the way along the kerb. 
  
• The same bus hit a roadworks sign turning onto John Dobson St 
  
• Went around Gateshead Roundabout twice as didn't know the turning for Low Fell and then crawled along in the dark and rain as they were new to the route.
  
• Knocked a roadworks sign off whilst turning onto the Tyne Bridge.
  
• I don't know if its because they are new or if its a Streetdeck issue but without fail they all seem to be stalling or losing power at bus stops. You wait 5 minutes then get the audible fire suppression active and we're away
  

The poor Cannon bus stop has been whacked 3 times in a week. 

X39 - can only assume these buses are fitted with handbrakes and not normal brakes.

I get it's tough to recruit and people have to learn but I've generally no idea how some of the drivers this week got their licence and worst of all - they look equally bloody terrified as the passengers!

Does the DFDS 327 have and official route,or is it upto the driver, saw one going along Wallsend High Street,im assumimg from there it went straight along Tynemouth Road,and onto the A187 from there via the bridge that goes over the Metro Line

The Road will be closed for 40 weeks, starting from 31st October 2022. 

https://www.sunderlandecho.com/business/...ht-3612185

Go North East - Fares increase again 23rd October 2022
https://www.gonortheast.co.uk/fares-and-...23-October

They seem to be determined to nail their own coffin shut!

In this day an age, how is it possible that tenders for once a morning workers buses evidently don't specify tracking as a required feature?

Bonkers.

I seriously doubt it has anything to do with lowering the entry cost to a minimum, but I suppose it's at least possible, but it would still be cost effective and simple common sense for Nexus to then provide trackers for the timespan of the tender.

If my observation is just a one off issue, I suppose that's still indicative of public public incompetence, since the unnerving experience of waiting even once for an evidently untrackable bus for such an important journey (my first day at a new job), I searched out alternative (commercially provided!) services for the next day and beyond. 

And then going forward, with the employer being sympathetic to the hell of relying on buses to get to work at all these days, with strikes looming, they let me, a person they barely know, use a company vehicle for commuting going forward, since me being late for work for even a half hour, would cost them dear. A level of pragmatism that is practically unheard of in the public sector.

Thereby as it happens, merely adding to the congestion afflicting that very service!

Scrimping pennies to lose pounds.

As you will know, Go-Ahead plc has just been taken over by a consortium of Kinetic, Australia and Globalvia, Spain.

We can just await developments with interest.  For example, this article quotes that They also see opportunities for Go-Ahead to "increase its footprint in the regional UK bus market"

So, could they buy out additional operators or subsidiaries of other groups?  Time will tell.

Go-Ahead sale to Kinetic and Globalvia completes - routeone (route-one.net)