(27 Dec 2019, 11:27 pm)OrangeArrow49 wrote NEW Service 4, Newcastle - Gosforth - Quorum - Killingworth, operating every 30 minutes Mon-Sat xx:10 and XX:40 from Newcastle, XX:20 and XX:50 from Gosforth, XX:31 and XX:51 from Quarum and XX:40 and XX:10 arrival into Killingworth Bus Station, departing at XX:15 and XX:45 towards Newcastle.

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Also renumbering the 11 to 43 is a good idea. As 4 is currently in use for the Connections 4, maybe the new service could be numbered 44 or 64.

(29 Dec 2019, 11:17 am)michaelb wrote Durham service changes
21- Newcastle-Gateshead-Low Fell-Birtley-Chester-le-Street-Durham-Croxdale-Tudhoe-Spennymoor-Bishop Auckland-Woodhouse-Tindale Cresent-West Auckland (Every 30 minutes)
21A- Newcastle-Gateshead-Low Fell-Birtley-Chester-le-Street (Every 10 minutes)
X21- To run between Newcastle and Durham every 15 minutes- will now observe all stops between Chester-le-Street and Durham.

PVR:
Angel 21/21A- PVR 19: 6302-6303 & 6315-6331
X21- PVR 8: 6304-6307, 6332-6333 and the 2 new streetdecks when they arrive.

• This would never happen as it's going right through Arriva territory, but with the extension to West Auckland on the X21, who knows!
  
• Too many services running to Bishop
  

• It would also provide direct links to Durham from places like Howden Le Wear 
  
• Better better links to Bishop from Willington
  
• Better fares for passengers wanting to travel further north as they won't have to buy Arriva and GNE tickets separately
  

(29 Dec 2019, 11:40 am)Jimmi wrote Posts have been made in the upcoming changes thread suggesting that reducing the Newcastle to Chester section in frequency would be a bad idea and re-numbering the shorts 21A would be pointless and confusing.

Replacing X21 with the 21 would not be an attractive option for those travelling towards Gateshead/Newcastle from as far as Bishop Auckland and Spennymoor, already a long enough journey without stopping at every lamppost in Birtley.

(30 Dec 2019, 6:27 pm)michaelb wrote Durham service changes
Service X21- Current proposed route between Newcastle and West Auckland every 30 minutes. (PVR 8)
NEW Service X22: Newcastle-Gateshead-Low Fell-Chester-le-Street-Durham-A1 (M)-Cockerton-Darlington every 30 minutes (PVR 5)
Service X21 & X22 will link up between Newcastle & Durham every 15 minutes.
Service X22- Renumbered service X23. Times remain the same.
Allocation
Service X21\X22- 6301-6307, 6330-6333 and the new streetdecks when they arrive.

(30 Dec 2019, 6:32 pm)cbma06 wrote Durham to Darlington is Arriva Territory, already carved up years ago


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(30 Dec 2019, 6:47 pm)streetdeckfan wrote So is Durham to West Auckland. And the issue is it still will be even after the X21 extends there.

The only people who will be using the X21 over the 6 are the people who are coming from the north, where GNE already serve. 
The others more than likely connect to a different Arriva service in Durham, so it would make no sense for them to switch to the X21 instead.

Until GNE start offering more services in Durham (ie, relaunching services they sold to Arriva), the X21 extension to West Auckland is likely to be a failure, or at least not as successful as they hope

This is the issue with each operator having their own territory, there is no competition

(30 Dec 2019, 7:07 pm)cbma06 wrote What the government didn’t realise for deregulation that bigger operators would buy or run other companies to the ground and carve up there own areas and charge what there like as the passenger needs to get from A to B and have to use that bus service, this is probably why car ownership has grown over the years as if the passenger needs to get to there destination A to B then the passenger these days it’s more like from A to Z and have to go through the alphabet to get to Z .

You can blame the government/EU for no competition left

Regarding the Durham to Darlington corridor, the original 723 which were jointly operated by arriva/northern  was carved up as Arriva took the Durham to Darlington section and northern took the Newcastle to Durham section , same as the 230 and 231 with arriva taking the 230 while northern took the 231, and between the X1 and X10, with arriva taking the X1 while northern took the X10, the list goes on.


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(30 Dec 2019, 7:21 pm)streetdeckfan wrote The thing is, with Arriva the way it is at the minute, GNE could probably run a lot of Arriva services into the ground if they started running services along side of them, but then they would risk all the 'happenings' of a few years back all over again

Like I said, it's no use GNE extending the X21 to West Auckland unless they have services in County Durham that people want to connect to.

If GNE want the X21 extension to succeed, they need service that go to Crook, Newton Aycliffe, Darlington, Shildon etc.
Even if they're not as frequent as the Arriva service, it would give people a reason to buy a GNE ticket over an Arriva ticket

(30 Dec 2019, 7:47 pm)cbma06 wrote I just wish arriva would bugger off in East Durham and let GNE take the bus services on, Peterlee have always had the bad end of the stick from the days of United, even when there had the Peterlee depot open and still had buses off the road with bus services missing or  only half running the routes.

Even the late Peter Huntley said if he became MD at GNE a lot sooner he would of halted the sale of Bishop and would of put a bid in to purchase Stagecoach Darlington if Arriva and Stagecoach didn’t agree, also asked availability for purchase of stagecoach Hartlepool which Stagecoach gived a blunt no to, also asked about South Shields and got a reply back saying not at this present time.


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(30 Dec 2019, 7:59 pm)S813 FVK wrote *thinks back to the OK1*

(30 Dec 2019, 8:01 pm)streetdeckfan wrote And that had exactly the same issue they're going to face with the extension to the X21.

Why would you use a GNE service if it's just one route?

If you're travelling anywhere that isn't on that route, you'll have to buy an Arriva ticket as well, and at that point, why not just use all Arriva services.

(30 Dec 2019, 8:03 pm)cbma06 wrote Is the extension only Monday to Saturday daytime only?

Wasn’t the OK1 put on for an anniversary or something.


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(30 Dec 2019, 8:01 pm)streetdeckfan wrote And that had exactly the same issue they're going to face with the extension to the X21.

Why would you use a GNE service if it's just one route?

If you're travelling anywhere that isn't on that route, you'll have to buy an Arriva ticket as well, and at that point, why not just use all Arriva services.

(30 Dec 2019, 8:10 pm)S813 FVK wrote The OK1 was the service that went to the likes of Crook, Darlington, West Auckland etc that you said was needed a couple of posts back and it still only lasted 18 months.

Even when people had the reason to buy a GNE ticket with the connection to the X21 in Bishop Auckland, it wasn't enough to combat the dominance of Arriva.

(30 Dec 2019, 8:10 pm)S813 FVK wrote The OK1 was the service that went to the likes of Crook, Darlington, West Auckland etc that you said was needed a couple of posts back and it still only lasted 18 months.

Even when people had the reason to buy a GNE ticket with the connection to the X21 in Bishop Auckland, it wasn't enough to combat the dominance of Arriva.

(30 Dec 2019, 8:10 pm)S813 FVK wrote The OK1 was the service that went to the likes of Crook, Darlington, West Auckland etc that you said was needed a couple of posts back and it still only lasted 18 months.

Even when people had the reason to buy a GNE ticket with the connection to the X21 in Bishop Auckland, it wasn't enough to combat the dominance of Arriva.

(30 Dec 2019, 8:10 pm)S813 FVK wrote The OK1 was the service that went to the likes of Crook, Darlington, West Auckland etc that you said was needed a couple of posts back and it still only lasted 18 months.

Even when people had the reason to buy a GNE ticket with the connection to the X21 in Bishop Auckland, it wasn't enough to combat the dominance of Arriva.

(30 Dec 2019, 8:21 pm)cbma06 wrote So does anyone know what’s happening with the arriva buses?, has DB changed there mind or selling divisions off or as a whole as there intention was the rail side of the company and run the bus side into the ground, last I heard that in the new year to float it on the stock market or something like that


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(30 Dec 2019, 8:21 pm)cbma06 wrote So does anyone know what’s happening with the arriva buses?, has DB changed there mind or selling divisions off or as a whole as there intention was the rail side of the company and run the bus side into the ground, last I heard that in the new year to float it on the stock market or something like that


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(30 Dec 2019, 8:21 pm)cbma06 wrote So does anyone know what’s happening with the arriva buses?, has DB changed there mind or selling divisions off or as a whole as there intention was the rail side of the company and run the bus side into the ground, last I heard that in the new year to float it on the stock market or something like that


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(31 Dec 2019, 8:57 am)Rob44 wrote Be careful what you wish for..... I lived in north Newcastle in my younger days and used united/northumbria then arriva and i thought their service was bad. I now live in gateshead and have no choice but  to use go north east and in my view the service is worse than arriva ever was.

TBF i think both stagecoach and arriva should dip their toe into GNE "teritory" and get GNE to pull their socks up. Its alright investing in new buses with wifi and charging point but they arn't much use to a passenger if the bus flies passed the bus stop, starts it journey in gateshead when your waiting at eldon square or not turning up at all.

(30 Dec 2019, 8:38 pm)streetdeckfan wrote In order for GNE to succeed again in West Durham, I'd say at the bare minimum they'd need a competitor to the X46, X1, 5 and 6. That would give them coverage of Bishop Auckland, West Auckland, Crook, Willington, Newton Aycliffe, Shildon, and Darlington.
In my opinion that would give them enough reach to make travelling GNE in this area worthwhile, now that still wouldn't account for the passengers travelling further afield on Arriva services, but it would at least give them an offering through the key routes so passengers would have less of a reliance on Arriva

(31 Dec 2019, 8:57 am)Rob44 wrote Be careful what you wish for..... I lived in north Newcastle in my younger days and used united/northumbria then arriva and i thought their service was bad. I now live in gateshead and have no choice but  to use go north east and in my view the service is worse than arriva ever was.

TBF i think both stagecoach and arriva should dip their toe into GNE "teritory" and get GNE to pull their socks up. Its alright investing in new buses with wifi and charging point but they arn't much use to a passenger if the bus flies passed the bus stop, starts it journey in gateshead when your waiting at eldon square or not turning up at all.