(09 Feb 2026, 11:34 am)Arriva7446 wrote If that number 3 service in Blyth is standalone it would be good use of a single decker, but it will probably work with the Newcastle services.

If it is Standalone then this would be another route for Blyth to use if they have a bus that cant enter town and the 553 already has it allocated for the day

(09 Feb 2026, 11:07 am)tyresmoke wrote Only thing I know of is the 81 being renumbered 28. Probably timetable changes to line it up with the 28. 
As for Redcar depot one 64a will be extended every hour to Guisborough via Flatts Lane.

And a Sunday 62 service!

(09 Feb 2026, 11:07 am)tyresmoke wrote Only thing I know of is the 81 being renumbered 28. Probably timetable changes to line it up with the 28. 
As for Redcar depot one 64a will be extended every hour to Guisborough via Flatts Lane. 

Taxpayer funded?

(03 Feb 2026, 12:05 pm)robisdave4554 wrote Thanks for that reply. I'm afraid I'm something of an outsider when it comes to such things and it's good to hear from someone who has more knowledge and information. Always good to be able to pass on this information to those who think, as was what I was hearing on the 81 yesterday, that Arriva are simply out to lose services.

(09 Feb 2026, 6:45 pm)Andreos1 wrote Taxpayer funded?

Be Section 106 with all the new houses I’d imagine

Just read the Arriva response to the Pegswood councillor. Reading between the lines, I can't see anything but frequency cuts coming for the Ashington routes - "We are also working on revised timetables...even where faster resolution would be preferable in this case".

Looking at the network over the past few years, it's clear that the current staff do not know how to grow a network. There have been no frequency improvements in Northumbria that haven't been council/BSIP funded. Indeed, I can't think of a single Arriva Northumbria route which has got better (commercially, not subsidised) over the past 10 years?

My expectation is that, given Ashington have barely ran any services for the past year on the 35, X21, and X22, they'll see reduced passenger numbers and assume reduced demand - and slice the frequencies of at least some of these routes.  I'd be fairly confident that they keep the 35 every 20 minutes and slice the other two (a minimum of one of them). They don't have the intellectual capacity to realise that passenger numbers will be reduced due to services not running - and definitely don't have the capacity to realise that reducing the frequencies will put even more people off using the services.

It's a shame really, I'd have hoped the new investment and new overall leadership would have seen a change in approach - but it seems the managed decline of Arriva NE will continue.

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(09 Feb 2026, 6:45 pm)Andreos1 wrote Taxpayer funded?

Do the ANE commercial team know how to extend a route without some form of subsidy?

(09 Feb 2026, 11:07 am)tyresmoke wrote Only thing I know of is the 81 being renumbered 28. Probably timetable changes to line it up with the 28. 
As for Redcar depot one 64a will be extended every hour to Guisborough via Flatts Lane.

It's going all of the way to Lingdale every hour, with the 5A coming off.

(09 Feb 2026, 8:42 pm)Superman wrote It's going all of the way to Lingdale every hour, with the 5A coming off.

I hope this is not true as it will take ages for people from Lingdale to get to places like Ormesby, Middlesbrough, James Cook Hospital. The 5A offers the best service they've ever had to get to Middlesbrough. The X3 is only useful to get to saltburn, skelton and redcar because it takes well over an hr to get to Boro.

The 5A does it in less than an hour so I don't think this will happen. People will be very frustrated to get to middlesbrough via eston and south bank. People want a service direct to James Cook Hospital, not eston square xD. But if it does ever happen, it will be revised very quickly. Also, if its true it just shows Arriva simply don't have a clue. They're really trying to congest everything down. 

Again, I mentioned before that Arriva doing this sort of stuff is only going to get Stagecoach and other operators to point out to the authorities that Arriva ain't fit for purpose.

(09 Feb 2026, 8:54 pm)Mike_98 wrote I hope this is not true as it will take ages for people from Lingdale to get to places like Ormesby, Middlesbrough, James Cook Hospital. The 5A offers the best service they've ever had to get to Middlesbrough. The X3 is only useful to get to saltburn, skelton and redcar because it takes well over an hr to get to Boro.

The 5A does it in less than an hour so I don't think this will happen. People will be very frustrated to get to middlesbrough via eston and south bank. People want a service direct to James Cook Hospital, not eston square xD. But if it does ever happen, it will be revised very quickly. Also, if its true it just shows Arriva simply don't have a clue. They're really trying to congest everything down. 

Again, I mentioned before that Arriva doing this sort of stuff is only going to get Stagecoach and other operators to point out to the authorities that Arriva ain't fit for purpose.

I see it differently. The link to Middlesbrough is still provided. Connections to everywhere can still be made as per the 5A, only North Ormesby is really lost (arguably Eston at least has bus shelters to connect into the 63). A new link is provided during the day between Eston and Guisborough, which is always been shouted for.

Taking the bus off of the car park that is Cargo Fleet Lane is also almost certainly within the decision making process.

The draft I've seen, has a half hourly morning service from Lingdale and a half hourly evening service back, which is better than the 5A currently too.

Your last point makes absolutely no sense. Who is pointing out what and to who? Outside of a franchised bus area, bus operator decisions are accountable to nobody except themselves.

Where do you guys get all stuff about service changes from ? Are these fact and actually going happen or fiction, what people would like to see happen. And then why change something that works?   
For example. The 28/81 plan. It's one hell of a journey if its leaving Middlesbrough via its present route, trundling through the estates in Guisborough before setting of for the estates of Redcar and Marske and then back again!! Reads like a drivers delight.
A 64 trip from Middlesbrough through South Bank does,on paper look like a good idea, even the extending to Lingdale part.
It'll be interesting to see what actually happens.

(09 Feb 2026, 8:54 pm)Mike_98 wrote I hope this is not true as it will take ages for people from Lingdale to get to places like Ormesby, Middlesbrough, James Cook Hospital. The 5A offers the best service they've ever had to get to Middlesbrough. The X3 is only useful to get to saltburn, skelton and redcar because it takes well over an hr to get to Boro.

The 5A does it in less than an hour so I don't think this will happen. People will be very frustrated to get to middlesbrough via eston and south bank. People want a service direct to James Cook Hospital, not eston square xD. But if it does ever happen, it will be revised very quickly. Also, if its true it just shows Arriva simply don't have a clue. They're really trying to congest everything down. 

Again, I mentioned before that Arriva doing this sort of stuff is only going to get Stagecoach and other operators to point out to the authorities that Arriva ain't fit for purpose.

tbf, the 5A and 64A will be neglible on how long it'd take from Guisborough to Middlesbrough, be roughly 5 mins or so difference max.

Just hope they number it the 65 as saying thr 5/65 go to Guisborough is easier to understand than the 5/64A.

(09 Feb 2026, 8:54 pm)Mike_98 wrote I hope this is not true as it will take ages for people from Lingdale to get to places like Ormesby, Middlesbrough, James Cook Hospital. The 5A offers the best service they've ever had to get to Middlesbrough. The X3 is only useful to get to saltburn, skelton and redcar because it takes well over an hr to get to Boro.

The 5A does it in less than an hour so I don't think this will happen. People will be very frustrated to get to middlesbrough via eston and south bank. People want a service direct to James Cook Hospital, not eston square xD. But if it does ever happen, it will be revised very quickly. Also, if its true it just shows Arriva simply don't have a clue. They're really trying to congest everything down. 

Again, I mentioned before that Arriva doing this sort of stuff is only going to get Stagecoach and other operators to point out to the authorities that Arriva ain't fit for purpose.

It’s rather clear you have absolutely no clue how any of this works and all you’ve managed to do here is make yourself look a tad foolish. If the local authority (Connect Tees Valley) were fit for purpose themselves, their funded bus network would actually be fit for purpose rather than just a political scoring exercise.

(Yesterday, 1:39 pm)220631612 wrote It’s rather clear you have absolutely no clue how any of this works and all you’ve managed to do here is make yourself look a tad foolish. If the local authority (Connect Tees Valley) were fit for purpose themselves, their funded bus network would actually be fit for purpose rather than just a political scoring exercise.

To be fair, I don't think the wording was really great from me trying to explain the point I was trying to make. But yes, thats also true about authority. For some reason, I was thinking they (local authority) actually care about the people they serve but yeh, they don't. 

Kind of a shame the way things are at the moment, but I wouldn't think it can get any worse.