Seen this been mentioned in a few places now. Anyone know what's going on as it's as bad as it's ever been?

Some of the cancellations on certain routes is an absolute disgrace, the 34 in particular (see below).

Not exactly the way to get people using the buses with price increases just coming in to boot.

(Yesterday, 11:32 am)Storx wrote Seen this been mentioned in a few places now. Anyone know what's going on as it's as bad as it's ever been?

Some of the cancellations on certain routes is an absolute disgrace, the 34 in particular (see below).

Not exactly the way to get people using the buses with price increases just coming in to boot.

Shocking

No the wonder people avoid the buses.... high prices, rubbish service.

Edit:

The more the scroll down, the worse the service gets, loads more cancelled services....

Two buses instead of three on the 34 for the past two days. There has been an ongoing problem since last September where the 34 has a gap in service from 14:00 to 16:30 due to a bus being removed from the 34 to operate Park View School services.
On Tuesday 6304 was taken off the 34 to operate School Services and yesterday the same happened with 6187.
As a customer of the 34 I find the service unacceptable and I will be reporting it to the Traffic Commissioners office.

Yes there's a post on Chester Le St local group

A driver has claimed there are 17 drivers with no available vehicles for them to drive.

I don't understand why GNE have withdrawn so many vehicles recently, even if they were old, if it's left them with not enough to actually run a full service.

(Yesterday, 1:40 pm)Ambassador wrote Yes there's a post on Chester Le St local group

A driver has claimed there are 17 drivers with no available vehicles for them to drive.

Had a feeling it was vehicle related hence the minibuses on inappropriate work. 

God knows what's going on with the engineering there as a very quick count on BusTimes, caveats allowed, there's 24 buses off the road today.

Crazy numbers by any metric. If this was an independent that would be their whole fleet nearly.

It’s sheer incompetence isn’t it?

Current ED only started in June last year too and had worked at First

"Simon’s commitment to customer-centric service and fostering a motivating team environment was further underscored by his accolade as Engineer of the Year at the Route One Awards in 2022."

https://newsroom.gonortheast.co.uk/news/...tor-485247

(Yesterday, 4:55 pm)Ambassador wrote It’s sheer incompetence isn’t it?

Yeah definitely, just looking through tracking Riverside seems to be in a similar dire state. It's just not as noticeable as there's not as much yet but there's definitely noticeable boards where a bus has been pulled today and it's never been replaced

https://bustimes.org/vehicles/gnel-6075?date=2025-01-09 - This one just to pick one out, the 17:14 to Hexham doesn't appear to be running now.

There was no 21 through Gateshead for half an hour heading south after a breakdown then 3 appeared to run in a row. 2 to CLS and 1 to Brandon.

Brandon one ran bus full all the way to angel

(Yesterday, 4:55 pm)Ambassador wrote It’s sheer incompetence isn’t it?

(Yesterday, 6:23 pm)Storx wrote Yeah definitely, just looking through tracking Riverside seems to be in a similar dire state. It's just not as noticeable as there's not as much yet but there's definitely noticeable boards where a bus has been pulled today and it's never been replaced

https://bustimes.org/vehicles/gnel-6075?date=2025-01-09 - This one just to pick one out, the 17:14 to Hexham doesn't appear to be running now.

6962 was also pulled from the 58 to keep a H running, as 8803 was nearly out of electricity by 16:00...

(Yesterday, 1:59 pm)Storx wrote Had a feeling it was vehicle related hence the minibuses on inappropriate work. 

God knows what's going on with the engineering there as a very quick count on BusTimes, caveats allowed, there's 24 buses off the road today.

Crazy numbers by any metric. If this was an independent that would be their whole fleet nearly.

Is tgat just Washy or the whole company?

(Yesterday, 6:27 pm)PH - BQA wrote 6962 was also pulled from the 58 to keep a H running, as 8803 was nearly out of electricity by 16:00...

Seems like the other one didn't last much longer either and that one didn't get replaced until well after the peak.

(Yesterday, 7:17 pm)F114TML wrote Is tgat just Washy or the whole company?

Just Washington.

(Yesterday, 1:40 pm)Ambassador wrote Yes there's a post on Chester Le St local group

A driver has claimed there are 17 drivers with no available vehicles for them to drive.

Withdrawing Versas, Omnidekkas & all the hybrids (some still sitting at Consett) - Because they were 'unreliable'.

Madness.

Yep, they're withdrawing the berries. Not to mention that they were old but upgraded the Omnicity's to Euro 6 to scrap them off. I heard loads about Consett cancellations have been bad too.

A few Deptford early morning services haven't run recently either.

(Yesterday, 6:23 pm)Storx wrote Yeah definitely, just looking through tracking Riverside seems to be in a similar dire state. It's just not as noticeable as there's not as much yet but there's definitely noticeable boards where a bus has been pulled today and it's never been replaced

https://bustimes.org/vehicles/gnel-6075?date=2025-01-09 - This one just to pick one out, the 17:14 to Hexham doesn't appear to be running now.

On the Riverside note.....GNE need to understand that Whickham, Dunston and Sunniside do not need 3bph when still at double the capacity pre Nov 2019 (Omnicities half hourly). There lies the problem when GNE could be improving links to Gateshead and reducing the need for low height deckers which could be put to better use elsewhere on the likes of the X10 (more vehicle choice rather than same 4x getting battered) & X21 (no denying StreetDecks & B5TL have been unsuitable).

They're not perfect, but there's a reason why Arriva Northumbria use E400MMC on the routes they do, and they mustn't be that bad if Arriva Northumbria had a further 19x ordered back in 2022 as well as outings on the X93/X94!

Not saying that shifting StreetDecks / B5TLs (with X20 temp getting ex London stockl to Consett will solve anything as it would only move the problem. But would be a hell of a less impactful having breakdowns on more frequent services with nearby depots en-route and common shared stopping points / corridors, as opposed to a recovery and lost mileage as far as W.Auckland & M.Boro!

(Yesterday, 8:09 pm)WestDurhamSwift wrote Withdrawing Versas, Omnidekkas & all the hybrids (some still sitting at Consett) - Because they were 'unreliable'.

Madness.

(Yesterday, 9:19 pm)nova347 wrote Yep, they're withdrawing the berries. Not to mention that they were old but upgraded the Omnicity's to Euro 6 to scrap them off. I heard loads about Consett cancellations have been bad too. 

A few Deptford early morning services haven't run recently either.

In fairness, can't really blame the withdrawal of vehicles, they should have been really. No-one is going to have enough buses to cover 20+ buses off the road at a depot - that's the real problem.

Riverside isn't much better with their Streetdeck's but it appears the E400's and B9's are starting to play up a bit now there aswell now. Usual cavaets aside with BusTimes there appears to be 28 buses which have been pulled off service or not ran at all today aswell there. That's 50 buses between two depots, crazy numbers.

There's something very wrong with the maintenance, whether it's lack of staff, budgets cuts or a combination of both then who knows.

(Yesterday, 7:36 pm)Storx wrote Seems like the other one didn't last much longer either and that one didn't get replaced until well after the peak.

Which is shockingly poor for a contracted NHS service, 2 full round trips missed (in the evening peak, on a workers service...) just as a result of that one being missing. 8803 going off resulted in one full round trip being missed too. 

If the Yutongs can't last a full day on the service, and are being replaced in a panic in the evening peak, why are they being allocated at all? It's evidently not the first day this week where they have ran out of battery, deckers have been swapped on every single day so far.

(Yesterday, 9:38 pm)PH - BQA wrote If the Yutongs can't last a full day on the service, and are being replaced in a panic in the evening peak, why are they being allocated at all? It's evidently not the first day this week where they have ran out of battery, deckers have been swapped on every single day so far.

It's a strange one mind but I do agree.

Btw there seems to be something very wrong with the Yutongs across the board, seems that the vast majority of them have been pulled tonight for some reason including all of them on the 53/54. Wonder if there's issues with the chargers? It wouldn't be a surprise as everything else seems to be broken lately. I was going to say cold weather but they're all out in Inverness so that puts that out the equation.

There has been an exodus of skilled workers across the Engineering faculties of all Go North East depots within the last couple of years. I also note they seem to be fighting for their lives once more in these recent video adverts encouraging applications, even showcasing male postholders for a change. Perhaps things have finally come to a head in this respect.

Perhaps nearby Chester depot could help out….

Oh wait

I know most of the Omnidekkas have departed from the company, though the long wheelbased ones I'm sure are still stored at the minute they could try and reactivate them. Also suprised to learn the Voyager branded examples are off to Dartline without replacement.

(Yesterday, 7:36 pm)Storx wrote Seems like the other one didn't last much longer either and that one didn't get replaced until well after the peak.


Just Washington.

Consett is not much better

There were times yesterday where there wasn't a single bus running on the 84 or the 85 (not both at the same time). These are the only services that serve large parts of the route, and ironically, what Go North East are suggesting people rely on for connections when they axe the 2A!

This is an appalling level of service, and I notice a week in and they still haven't posted a more general service update. They're simply marking (some of) them as cancelled in the app. People generally don't check the time of their next bus until they need it, and at that point it's too late. Whereas a more general service update would display across the whole app.

Why is basic communication so difficult?

Going off Bus Times (not foolproof) VOR situation appears similar to yesterday, 20 vehicles unavailable at start of service and a further two pulled off early on.
Availability varies massively by vehicle type.
All Solos and the Sprinter are in use.
All 5 Cummins engines Streetlites are in use.
10 Streetdecks are off at the moment out of 22 (includes 2 that went out and were pulled back to depot)
1 of 6 B9TL off, 1 of 6 Versa off.
6 of 9 Daimler engined Streetlites are off
4 of 11 Citaro are off

This reminds me of the very serious, public rebutal GNE issued after a very heavy storm disrupted Stanley depot services. 

They didn't name or shame the supplier/manufacturer but apparently they couldn't get spares up to Stanley and GNE told them publicly (and probably privately) they wouldn't use them again.

(Yesterday, 10:34 pm)R852 PRG wrote There has been an exodus of skilled workers across the Engineering faculties of all Go North East depots within the last couple of years. I also note they seem to be fighting for their lives once more in these recent video adverts encouraging applications, even showcasing male postholders for a change. Perhaps things have finally come to a head in this respect.

This is the biggest problem. I don't think the engineers were happy after the industrial action, and a bunch of their best people have left. This is why things are so bad. Why would they stay when their skills are better compensated elsewhere?

Surely there's a contigency? Hire vehicles in from a competent operator or someone like Ensign?

(5 hours ago)deanmachine wrote This is the biggest problem. I don't think the engineers were happy after the industrial action, and a bunch of their best people have left. This is why things are so bad. Why would they stay when their skills are better compensated elsewhere?

I noticed they're advertising for a whole host engineering positions at the moment:

• Vehicle Electrician - £26.42p/h
  
• Chargehand Technicians - £27.67p/h
  
• Coachbuilders - £26.42p/h
  
• Master Technicians - £28.29p/h
  
• PCV/HGV Technicians - £26.42p/h
  

Looking at the salaries posted, and based on what you've written, it seems very odd! They're listing salary of 'up to' £26.42 for their Coachbuilder and PCV/HGV Technician roles, for example, which would equate to a £55k salary based on a 40 hour week (they say shifts will be 5 days over 7).

If that is anywhere near being accurate, then they're paying £13k-£20k more than Stagecoach? https://www.stagecoachbus.com/careers/jo...ng-3-24135
Arriva have a similar role at £18.95p/h: https://www.arrivabusjobs.co.uk/job-desc...d=JR028518

So if we're looking at an average of around £40k for the role, why wouldn't those with the skillset be flocking to GNE en-mass for paying well above the median? 

I wonder if this goes back to a topic done to death on here in the past: misleading pay/salaries being posted by this company on their job adverts. I assume the figure they're quoting will be some kind of enhancement for working a bank holiday or something like that, and in no way reflective of the usual hourly rate, hence the use of 'up to'

(Yesterday, 10:09 pm)Storx wrote It's a strange one mind but I do agree.

Btw there seems to be something very wrong with the Yutongs across the board, seems that the vast majority of them have been pulled tonight for some reason including all of them on the 53/54. Wonder if there's issues with the chargers? It wouldn't be a surprise as everything else seems to be broken lately. I was going to say cold weather but they're all out in Inverness so that puts that out the equation.

8804 didn’t even make it to 4pm today, being pulled after the 1500 to the Freeman. It wasn’t replaced until 1620, again GNE missing 2 full round trips on a NHS workers contract due to no vehicle.