(14 Feb 2020, 4:18 pm)Rob44 wrote They said to attract more passengers bus fares needed to be significantly cheaper than taxis or driving.

Nail on head

(14 Feb 2020, 5:35 pm)Andreos1 wrote Passengers keep getting told that fares are attractive and value for money. 
Passengers keep telling operators they're not.
Passenger numbers keep on dropping

Passengers keep getting told that to get anywhere, they need to adapt to suit the whims of the operator. 
Passengers keep telling the operators they want a bus that suits them, not the whims of the operator. 
Passenger numbers keep on dropping.

Something has to give. Surely?

At what point do operators turn around and acknowledge that a lot of what they're doing (not everything - some of it is good), isn't benefiting passengers and that is one of the reasons numbers are dropping?

At what point do they then do something about it and make changes which benefit passengers and doesn't contain the sort of spin Downing St would be proud of?

Self congratulary back patting can only go so far.

(14 Feb 2020, 11:15 am)Storx wrote I weirdly have to totally disagree with this from north of the Tyne in N Tyneside and SE Northumberland point of view. GNE is by far by a country mile the worst. Summary of it from around here's point view.

Arriva
306 extension to Whitley Bay
*Pointless, could just go to Tynemouth to improve reliability. Marden could be served by extended 51A Mon-Sat.

New Blyth peak expresses
* Should these not be running all day? X8 needs split in Cramlington on that note, takes far too long to Newcastle for people in Bebside & Cowpen. 

Experimented with later buses on X10/X11 (didn't work)
* Could've easily created a 43E out of this to make it viable but just came up with excuses when I contacted them. They later did the same with the 308

Not many new buses recently bar the few for X21/X22 but nothing downgraded.
* No new buses since, Blyth fleet needs replacing soon and Jesmond is a joke!

No big cuts to services in past 5 

Stagecoach (Not really their area).
Extended 22 and 1 to Cobalt
* Fair enough
Seaside bus in North Tyneside
* Fair enough

GoNorthEast
Extended the 1 to Metro Centre via the world but cut Kibblesworth in the process.
* Only ran during evenings

Extended 11 to Newcastle (didn't work).
* Was an oddball as was the 57, better just having a streamlined 1 & 1A service.

Cut 309/10 to every 20 minutes.
* Makes sense particularly outside of peaks and won't be long before Arriva follow suit. GNE still run the 309 slightly more frequently to and from Cobalt during peaks as well as X39.

Cut 9 from Sunderland to South Shields (5) which then got cut altogether.
* Fair enough

Scrapped across town links with 58.
* Most prefer Haymarket and as mentioned before, new 311 coordinates better with 309 & 310 as well as extra capacity.

No new buses but Cobalt's refurbished.
* And to a high standard compared to the makeshift replacements the 308 got in exchange for the Hybrids.

Indigo / Little Coasters downgraded buses.
40/41/42/42A is about to get butchered - again.
11/19/40/41/42/42A only day time services since they've lost the night subsidies.
* Fair enough

309 last bus getting earlier and earlier.
* 2145 extended to Blyth in 2016
* Mon-Sat 1925 extended to Blyth in 2016
* New 1905 journey on Saturdays formed in 2016
* 2245 now runs on Sundays too
* Improved 20 min service between Newcastle and Battle Hill during evenings
* 2255 Blyth to New York re-introduced Mon-Sat and 2155 Sun & BH
* Extra evening running time & layover to improve reliability

No mentionable improvements to services at all. Literally I can't think of one enhancement to timetables.

I guess it just depends on where you live on what people think. The Northumbria Arriva has always been more proactive that the Durham / Tees division though. I could imagine people in certain parts of Sunderland not having glowing reviews or either GNE or Stagecoach depending on the area.

L483YVK wroteArriva
306 extension to Whitley Bay
*Pointless, could just go to Tynemouth to improve reliability. Marden could be served by extended 51A Mon-Sat.
** It's still an enhancement, more places example from Blyth / Cramlington who want to travel through have an option on day tickets.

New Blyth peak expresses
* Should these not be running all day? X8 needs split in Cramlington on that note, takes far too long to Newcastle for people in Bebside & Cowpen. 
** Maybe but it's still an improvement them existing they didn't exist before hand.

Experimented with later buses on X10/X11 (didn't work)
* Could've easily created a 43E out of this to make it viable but just came up with excuses when I contacted them. They later did the same with the 308
** It was more the inward journey that was the problem, it carried fresh air.

Not many new buses recently bar the few for X21/X22 but nothing downgraded.
* No new buses since, Blyth fleet needs replacing soon and Jesmond is a joke!
** They maybe old but GNE's Percy Main's depot aren't particularly much newer on the main which does North Tyneside. 

No big cuts to services in past 5 

Stagecoach (Not really their area).
Extended 22 and 1 to Cobalt
* Fair enough
Seaside bus in North Tyneside
* Fair enough

GoNorthEast
Extended the 1 to Metro Centre via the world but cut Kibblesworth in the process.
* Only ran during evenings
** My mistake there.

Extended 11 to Newcastle (didn't work).
* Was an oddball as was the 57, better just having a streamlined 1 & 1A service.

Cut 309/10 to every 20 minutes.
* Makes sense particularly outside of peaks and won't be long before Arriva follow suit. GNE still run the 309 slightly more frequently to and from Cobalt during peaks as well as X39.
** It's a cut to North Tyneside / SE Northumberland. Someone in South Beach or Verne Road doesn't care about the X39 not to mention the buses they lost to actually for these services in the past (The Centurion). Monkseaton doesn't have a bus to Newcastle at all now but that's out the 5 year window I said. Looking back earlier it's even worse.

Cut 9 from Sunderland to South Shields (5) which then got cut altogether.
* Fair enough

Scrapped across town links with 58.
* Most prefer Haymarket and as mentioned before, new 311 coordinates better with 309 & 310 as well as extra capacity.
** Haymarket true, it's still a link lost.

No new buses but Cobalt's refurbished.
* And to a high standard compared to the makeshift replacements the 308 got in exchange for the Hybrids.

Indigo / Little Coasters downgraded buses.
40/41/42/42A is about to get butchered - again.
11/19/40/41/42/42A only day time services since they've lost the night subsidies.
* Fair enough

309 last bus getting earlier and earlier.
* 2145 extended to Blyth in 2016
* Mon-Sat 1925 extended to Blyth in 2016
* New 1905 journey on Saturdays formed in 2016
* 2245 now runs on Sundays too
* Improved 20 min service between Newcastle and Battle Hill during evenings
* 2255 Blyth to New York re-introduced Mon-Sat and 2155 Sun & BH
* Extra evening running time & layover to improve reliability

(14 Feb 2020, 8:29 pm)Storx wrote Commented above with ** remember these are from a North Tyneside / SE Northumberland perspective so having 25 buses or 4 buses going along the Coast Road won't affect them. I wasn't attacking GNE there it's just genuinely what's happened in the area whereas you've got a major bias towards GNE.

GNE might be good in Consett, Hexham and Gateshead but in Sunderland and North Tyneside they've been butchering away at services for awhile now with little improvements on the main.

(14 Feb 2020, 8:43 pm)L469 YVK wrote I get your point. Yes the vehicles aren't exactly new on the likes of the Coaster but if you look at Arriva, you have 59 & 61 plate VDL Geminis running Blyth's "goldmine" routes (X10/ X11/308) plus any other ex London / Yorkshire cast-offs that pop up from time.

(14 Feb 2020, 8:43 pm)L469 YVK wrote GNE have 8 & 9 year old B9TLs on the X1 (due to be replaced) and 7 year old B9TLs on the TVT (due to be refurbished) but in their defence, these are heavy duty vehicles and more durable than the likes of the VDL Gemini (would also say E400s too but they have come on massively over the years)

(14 Feb 2020, 8:43 pm)L469 YVK wrote The Coaster is a very funny route as although it needs capacity from time to time (Metro off, Mouth of Tyne, Nice Weatheretc), it doesn't need it all the time and at least GNE are investing in these service with engine modifications.  The Coaster also now has to compete with a very attractive 22 service betwen Churchill / Rosehill and Newcastle.

In terms of the 309 & 310, whilst a 15 minute frequency was 'nice', a 20 minute frequency is still relatively frequent and although GNE may lose out on some discretionary travellers, at least they'll only have the cost of running 21 vehicles (Cobalts & 57) on the road (rather than 25) when things are a tad on the quiet side.

(14 Feb 2020, 5:56 pm)tvd wrote I was one of Arriva's best customers up till a few years ago when they cut evening buses which I needed to get home from work.  I bought a weekly ticket , £28 or thereabouts, and I contacted Arriva to tell them I'd have to make alternative travel arrangements if they made the cuts to the service.  They actually said to me that they hadn't thought that people in my situation would not make the journey in by bus earlier in the day if they couldnt get home by bus!

I suggested having a slightly shorter route, having just a couple of journeys, using smaller buses on a night...but nothing.  It was a case of if the council stop the subsidy, the buses are gone.  End of story.

So I had to make other arrangements and although I have days out on the bus now and again, Arriva have basically lost out on all those £28 weekly tickets ever since.  Other people must have been in similar situations too, but I'm a bus enthusiast who'd like to use them as much as possible:  how do they or the industry genuinely think they will attract new passengers, when they struggle to hold onto the ones they've got?

(13 Feb 2020, 10:34 am)scanialover wrote A question? Has service 63 always operated the same route, Redcar to Middlesbrough? My recollection, and certainly photos that I've seen, tell me that this route has been operated by double deck vehicles and if I'm correct here, how did they manage the low bridge between Ormesby and Stewart's Park (Martin)?

And talking of service 63 why not offer the option of faster 'X' journeies? Two trips out of 6 per hour that already operate might just increase profitability?

(14 Feb 2020, 3:18 pm)Dyllan7817 wrote Is it true that redcar tesma Avenue 4705 is at Belmont

(15 Feb 2020, 12:41 pm)Ryland wrote Could be there for a mot doubt they transfer them out of redcar as staff would need training

(15 Feb 2020, 8:06 pm)S830OFT wrote 4516 apparently has gone to Yorkshire Tiger.

(16 Feb 2020, 10:41 pm)micketh wrote Thanks. I don’t know why Go East Yorkshire don’t compete with them on this service out of Scarborough.

(16 Feb 2020, 11:35 pm)TEN 6083 wrote Arriva North East: 1499 / NK12 FLL by Lee  Calder, on Flickr

Arriva 1499 / NK12 FLL by kieron mathews, on Flickr


Here’s 1499 with a much improved version of the NHS livery on the first photo compared to the previous version on the second photo


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

(16 Feb 2020, 10:41 pm)micketh wrote Thanks. I don’t know why Go East Yorkshire don’t compete with them on this service out of Scarborough.

(15 Feb 2020, 10:00 am)Cock Robin wrote The route has changed at the Redcar end but they've always gone under that bridge. Think some at least of the current deckers can get under but they tend to play safe and avoid it. A E400 did a 63 once when Redcar had them.