(30 Aug 2021, 1:10 pm)ASX_Terranova wrote Wiill all the PDF versions of the new timetables be uploaded by Sunday?
Also which service change does anyone think will be reversed first?

(30 Aug 2021, 9:23 pm)Drifter60 wrote Well the obvious ones, will be 730, 643, 734. They’ll not last as we’ve seen with the 938 & 925. The 938 is been reversed though? I think I’m right in suggesting that the 38 is going back to what it ran previously therefore no need for the 938? The 925 though is just withdrawn. I’d hazard a guess that Service 30 will go back the way it is now, one to Lanchester, one terminating early at Quaking Houses, withdrawing the 730.

(31 Aug 2021, 1:00 am)Washingtonian wrote Have I missed something here but what is the purpose of this new 734 service? Looking at Google maps, it looks like this route is already covered by the 34. Can't understand how this can be run commercially when only a handful of people will use it no doubt. It's the same as parts of the 23. I know this isn't commercially ran but I have never understood some parts of this service and how this has been funded for years. I've never understood why it serves several side streets in Springwell and Donwell carrying more or less fresh air all day, when the main bus stops in these areas are within short walking distance!

Don't get me wrong I am quite happy myself with most of the changes coming into effect from Sunday, but how is it fair for GNE and other operators to expect people of certain areas to walk further to a bus stop, while other areas get what they want? Its like Lambton, they are gaining yet another bus during the day and another two on an evening when the changes come into effect, and this is an area that is over saturated with bus services. During the day they will have two buses an hour with Service 2, two buses an hour with the 50, two an hour with the 82 and three an hour with the 84. Thats 9 an hour! On evenings and Sundays there will be six buses an hour, up from the current four! How is this fair when parts of Donwell will no longer have any bus service. Coach Road Estate is a big estate that gets only one bus an hour during Monday - Saturday daytimes, and yet again there has been no thought for them! I'm sure I've said it before but years ago we had much better all round service coverage, but step entrance vehicles. Now we have easy access vehicles but poorer service coverage in certain areas! No wonder people complain really!

(31 Aug 2021, 2:47 am)Stanleyone wrote 734 is replacing the 34 around pelaw Estate. In my opinion the 34 was well used when I worked at CLS but that was over 5 years ago

(30 Aug 2021, 11:24 pm)Wybus wrote I’d love to know what Nexus’s stand point is on that, there is literally no reason why the racks can’t be reintroduced now Covid restrictions have been removed.

They could open the Gateshead travel centre unmanned and use the ones in there as well. I imagine it is pretty doubtful that that unit will ever get a commercial tenant considering the number of shops already present around the Interchange, so it’s just sitting there empty

(31 Aug 2021, 12:41 pm)Washingtonian wrote Ah right thanks for that. When I looked at the bus stops around Pelaw Estate on Google maps they have both the 34 and 734 as serving them. Perhaps the 28A should be extended from Perkinsville to serve Pelaw Estate and then on to Chester. I can't see the 734 lasting long serving only two places.

(31 Aug 2021, 2:27 pm)Andreos1 wrote Bizarrely, they have the 28 running on to the 734 from Chester and back on to the 28 as it returns.
Not as one service, opening up new links, but as two separate services.
Travelling from Pelton Fell to Pelaw to save walking up the huge steps by the viaduct? Two tickets mate. Even though its the same vehicle.

You've then got the Chester Town service that turns left opposite Pelaw Estate and in to Hilda Park.
Pretty sure they could have squeezed an extra few hundred yards out of it, without it affecting the timetable too much.

(31 Aug 2021, 3:04 pm)Washingtonian wrote Ah yes I see what you mean about the 28 running onto the 734. That is a very strange decision and surely they could merge the two services into one.

Now that you've mentioned the Chester Town service I wonder can GNE not extend this service to serve the estates in Barley Mow and Birtley? Either that or can they not operate a seperate commercially ran Birtley town service to replace parts of the 23?

(31 Aug 2021, 2:27 pm)Andreos1 wrote Bizarrely, they have the 28 running on to the 734 from Chester and back on to the 28 as it returns.
Not as one service, opening up new links, but as two separate services.
Travelling from Pelton Fell to Pelaw to save walking up the huge steps by the viaduct? Two tickets mate. Even though its the same vehicle.

You've then got the Chester Town service that turns left opposite Pelaw Estate and in to Hilda Park.
Pretty sure they could have squeezed an extra few hundred yards out of it, without it affecting the timetable too much.

(31 Aug 2021, 12:56 pm)Adrian wrote They seem to jump straight to eliminating the activity, rather than controlling the risk. There are several examples of this:

- Timetable racks (as you mention) have been removed since the uncertainty around the start of COVID-19. This is excessive, as I imagine very few people pick up and put back timetables. An even smaller percentage of those people are likely to have COVID.
- Toilets have been removed from use at Nexus managed bus stations; Gateshead and South Shields spring to mind, but I believe it is also the case at Park Lane. My understanding is that at South Shields, they're not even available for bus driver use, given that there's a portable welfare room in place at Shields Bus Station. This out of the four makes the least sense, because at a time we were all told to wash our hands more frequently, Nexus decide to close off access to do that...
- Seating has been removed en-mass at some locations. Gateshead springs to mind. Again, this is excessive and far beyond reasonable controlling of risk. The seating is yet to be replaced.
- Travel Shops may have been in decline over the past couple of years, but Nexus made the decision during a pandemic to close the remaining ones, including the South Shields bus station that opened just a year previous. Again excessive, and at a point that they're probably needed more than ever, to get people back out and using public transport.

I really worry about the future under an enhanced partnership and a world of bus service improvement plans, when we have a PTE that is so backward thinking.

(31 Aug 2021, 3:27 pm)Ambassador wrote They used to run a 734 that ran Chester - Durham Rd - Birtley then as is 'new' 734 but even in the days of the Metrorider minis it was carrying fresh air. It lasted as recentley as to when the original Solos came into the fleet (late 90s early 00s)

They could feasibly route that through Barley Mow but then I'm not sure where you'd terminate the 23 as it still needs to serve Birtley Town Centre (you could potentially turn left at Station Lane and loop round Birtley Lane and down Harras Bank)

(31 Aug 2021, 3:31 pm)Stanleyone wrote In the years I worked at CLS the only destination that the folk of pelaw estate went to was chester Town centre. I'm pretty sure nobody travels between Pelton Fell and Pelaw even when the same bus done both the 28 & 34 on a Sunday. As for the town service being diverted to cover pelaw, it's a DCC service, if it could've been done it would have.

 Yes, it is just one example - but it is possibly a snapshot of the issues commuters face in that because there's never been an established, regular connection between two points, operators think that should never be a regular connection between the two points.

Except, maybe there should be. Or at least something that is better than what we have now.

(31 Aug 2021, 12:56 pm)Adrian wrote They seem to jump straight to eliminating the activity, rather than controlling the risk. There are several examples of this:

- Timetable racks (as you mention) have been removed since the uncertainty around the start of COVID-19. This is excessive, as I imagine very few people pick up and put back timetables. An even smaller percentage of those people are likely to have COVID.
- Toilets have been removed from use at Nexus managed bus stations; Gateshead and South Shields spring to mind, but I believe it is also the case at Park Lane. My understanding is that at South Shields, they're not even available for bus driver use, given that there's a portable welfare room in place at Shields Bus Station. This out of the four makes the least sense, because at a time we were all told to wash our hands more frequently, Nexus decide to close off access to do that...
- Seating has been removed en-mass at some locations. Gateshead springs to mind. Again, this is excessive and far beyond reasonable controlling of risk. The seating is yet to be replaced.
- Travel Shops may have been in decline over the past couple of years, but Nexus made the decision during a pandemic to close the remaining ones, including the South Shields bus station that opened just a year previous. Again excessive, and at a point that they're probably needed more than ever, to get people back out and using public transport.

I really worry about the future under an enhanced partnership and a world of bus service improvement plans, when we have a PTE that is so backward thinking.