(07 Sep 2025, 9:32 am)Rob44 wrote https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yj38qj305o

great idea but wonder where the money will come from

A mayor is seeking to limit the cost of a single bus ticket to £2.50 for longer.
The cost of a single journey on a bus in Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, and County Durham has been capped at 50p cheaper than the national rate this year.
The discount, which has been subsidised by the North East Combined Authority, is due to end on 31 December.
But North East Mayor Kim McGuinness said she wanted to keep the cheaper fares until "at least" March 2026.
"Local people have told me they value it, and it helps them save money," she said.
"At our cabinet meeting later this month, I'll be making the case to extend the £2.50 fare…using existing funding until at least March 2026 to begin with, while we work with government for clarity on bus funding in the longer term."
In June the government announced that the £3 cap on bus fares, covering most bus journeys in England, would last until at least March 2027.
There are separate bus caps in London and Manchester.
The cap, which was first introduced in January 2023, was increased to £3 from £2 at the start of this year.


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(07 Sep 2025, 9:32 am)Rob44 wrote https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yj38qj305o

great idea but wonder where the money will come from

Before giving out cash to operators to bridge the gap between artificial cost and supply, maybe she'll use a bit of thought and get an agreement with them not make any major service changes before franchising as a condition of them getting the cash! 

I doubt her or NECA are even capable of thinking of that!

(07 Sep 2025, 11:26 am)DeltaMan wrote Before giving out cash to operators to bridge the gap between artificial cost and supply, maybe she'll use a bit of thought and get an agreement with them not make any major service changes before franchising as a condition of them getting the cash! 

I doubt her or NECA are even capable of thinking of that!

The only way she can 'manipulate' the current commercial network, to either improve or maintain it, is by throwing money at operators now.

That's the unfortunate reality of what currently still is a commercial market. 

Imposing sanctions based on future opportunities is not possible, both practically and mostly likely, legally.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czdj3gd1ppzo

An interesting read followed up by Ben Gilligan asking for more money.

(15 Sep 2025, 6:30 pm)Andreos1 wrote https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czdj3gd1ppzo

An interesting read followed up by Ben Gilligan asking for more money.

Ben is not asking for money. He's being diplomatic. I know the area very very well and a lot of the settlements on the east coast have populations in double digits. 

What he's really saying is if somebody else wants to pay for more buses to serve villages with under 100 people living there, then fill your boots. 

I imagine if they did it themselves, they'd lose a lot of money, close Withernsea depot and make the drivers redundant. He can't say that though!

(15 Sep 2025, 9:04 pm)DeltaMan wrote Ben is not asking for money. He's being diplomatic. I know the area very very well and a lot of the settlements on the east coast have populations in double digits. 

What he's really saying is if somebody else wants to pay for more buses to serve villages with under 100 people living there, then fill your boots. 

I imagine if they did it themselves, they'd lose a lot of money, close Withernsea depot and make the drivers redundant. He can't say that though!

It sounds alot like he's asking for money tbf... "But, he wants long-term government funding guarantees to improve services."

(15 Sep 2025, 9:25 pm)stagecoachbusdepot wrote It sounds alot like he's asking for money tbf... "But, he wants long-term government funding guarantees to improve services."

People read that quote and think he's asking for money -He could equally be suggesting similar levels of funding as now, but for a longer period

For.example, there are local authorities that issue one year ENCTS settlements. I imagine in an area such as the East Riding, that is a critical income stream. If they only issue one year settlements, there is no way EYMS can plan for new services 24/36 months in the future.

(15 Sep 2025, 10:30 pm)DeltaMan wrote People read that quote and think he's asking for money -He could equally be suggesting similar levels of funding as now, but for a longer period

For.example, there are local authorities that issue one year ENCTS settlements. I imagine in an area such as the East Riding, that is a critical income stream. If they only issue one year settlements, there is no way EYMS can plan for new services 24/36 months in the future.

Yeah I read it as continuing longer term rather than an increase - however to me that is still asking for more money from the public purse as it has to come out of a budget, at the expense of something else, somewhere each year.  Some of the measures mentioned in the article were meant to be temporary, to support recovery post Covid.  We are way past the pandemic now, yet it's become normalised to expect continuation of public funding to prop up a commercial outfit.  We've seen it all before with likes of Kick Start funding and whatever was before that - supposedly to grow operations to be commercially sustainable, subsidy comes to it's planned end, operators cut the improvements back.  Should be either public, or private - not this worst of both worlds madness that just drives instability and decline.

There used to be far more than the 129 trundling along that bit of coast but it was council supported and that rug got pulled away and never replaced with anything useful. An Aldbrough company stepped in with an occasional bus to Bilton Asda so locals could either shop there or get to Hull but that didn’t last very long.

felt like i went back to the 80's yesterday on 29 on way to match. the driver put the bus full sign on as it was rammed. no sure where the tax payer funded extra 21's were but left loads of punters standing along durham road. then left half a dozen down buy the cemetry and park too although those poor people would have to wait 1 hour for the next one.

Funing should have been used to make this and the 28 every 30 minutes, no increase a already high frequency service.

(26 Oct 2025, 8:00 am)Rob44 wrote felt like i went back to the 80's yesterday on 29 on way to match. the driver put the bus full sign on as it was rammed.  no sure where the tax payer funded extra 21's were but left loads of punters standing along durham road.  then left half a dozen down buy the cemetry  and park too although those poor people would have to wait 1 hour for the next one.

Funing should have been used to make this and the 28 every 30 minutes, no increase a already high frequency service.

They were also full and running in their regular matchday convoy.

I should really email DCC about how to value of 'b' when trying solve the algebraic equation of what time past each hour the X10 leaves Dalton Park on a Sunday.

Asking people to use algebra to work out whether or not there's a bus due must contribute to the decline of passenger numbers using public transport across the region. It's far easier to use simple addition and subtraction when using a car.

(02 Nov 2025, 3:16 pm)MurdnunoC wrote I should really email DCC about how to value of 'b' when trying solve the algebraic equation of what time past each hour the X10 leaves Dalton Park on a Sunday.

Asking people to use algebra to work out whether or not there's a bus due must contribute to the decline of passenger numbers using public transport across the region. It's far easier to use simple addition and subtraction when using a car.

That's a really lazy way of showing the trips which terminate at Peterlee.

More buses and better timetables could put 171,000 people within 30 minutes of Newcastle - Chronicle Live https://share.google/HjO3W1BELyvJydHbm

An interesting read. Which to be honest, is preaching the obvious.
But it's nice to read.

Hundreds of old bus shelters, two busy city roads, and County Durham bus station get £15m boost - Chronicle Live https://share.google/5knxf5bxa3YE4mOP6

New bus shelters to be built.

(Today, 9:40 am)Andreos1 wrote Hundreds of old bus shelters, two busy city roads, and County Durham bus station get £15m boost - Chronicle Live https://share.google/5knxf5bxa3YE4mOP6

New bus shelters to be built.

theres 2 stone bus sops in kibblesworth and a few more in the harlow green/sainbury area... wonder if these with get changed

Nothing for the Boardway roundabout which is where all the delays are

I don't know where else to put this post but here seems comedic considering what I'm about to tell you is the complete opposite of reversing the decline of passengers.

Q3 drivers seem to believe theres some form of road closure on the Fossway in Walkerville and are all diverting and have been all day. However, not a single 22 has diverted today and have all used the full length of Fossway as normal. 

I'd love to say I'm suprised that GNE are diverting for a non-existant road closure but I don't like to lie. Omitting stops when there's no reason to omit stops is definately a good way to boost your passenger numbers up. Sigh.

Another thing, they haven't even posted about this diversion. I've seen more professionality come from my 4 year old cousin.

(11 hours ago)Rob44 wrote theres 2 stone bus sops in kibblesworth and a few more in the harlow green/sainbury area... wonder if these with get changed

In reality, stone bus stops are the last of peoples worries. As long as the bus stops, it doesnt matter what the bus stop is made out of. They're focusing on the complete wrong things. What's the point of making a bus stop fancy? The only time anyone is at a bus stop is to catch a bus. It's not an accomodation.

Stone bus stops are nice, as long as they don’t smell like urinals.

I’m doubtful that rebuilding a 21 year old bus station is going to do anything to deter the lowlifes that hang around and make a nuisance of themselves.

(4 hours ago)BusLoverMum wrote I’m doubtful that rebuilding a 21 year old bus station is going to do anything to deter the lowlifes that hang around and make a nuisance of themselves.

That caught me by surprise too.

In bus station terms, 21 years isn't that old and, to be honest, Stanley Bus Station still feels quite modern. Perhaps the money would be better spent on security and deterrence rather than a rebuild.

(6 hours ago)SN69 ZRC wrote I don't know where else to put this post but here seems comedic considering what I'm about to tell you is the complete opposite of reversing the decline of passengers.

Q3 drivers seem to believe theres some form of road closure on the Fossway in Walkerville and are all diverting and have been all day. However, not a single 22 has diverted today and have all used the full length of Fossway as normal. 

I'd love to say I'm suprised that GNE are diverting for a non-existant road closure but I don't like to lie. Omitting stops when there's no reason to omit stops is definately a good way to boost your passenger numbers up. Sigh.

Another thing, they haven't even posted about this diversion. I've seen more professionality come from my 4 year old cousin.

They were diverted due to antisocial behaviour. It did show on the app

(5 hours ago)SN69 ZRC wrote In reality, stone bus stops are the last of peoples worries. As long as the bus stops, it doesnt matter what the bus stop is made out of. They're focusing on the complete wrong things. What's the point of making a bus stop fancy? The only time anyone is at a bus stop is to catch a bus. It's not an accomodation.

Really? P!ss soaked, stone bus stops aren't the nicest of places to wait.
Particularly when there's the inevitable gap in service.

Afficianados of on-board tables and titivations, might point out the reason passengers didn't flock on board, was because of the poor infrastructure. Including p!ss soaked, stone bus stops.

It might not need to be fancy, but I'd argue a bus stop is a key piece of the jigsaw.