Services up for tender in July are

9/25/25A/10/11/12/24/26/29/90/92/R3/R4/R6/50/51/52AM/51/52PM/96/99/319/515/558/568/643/939/R5/67/69

Some of the odd ones here as to the website the following are

51/52 seem to be two different tenders for an AM & PM

The 939 is mentioned twice

Im not entirely sure which 12 they are on about. I thought it was the 12 in South Shields but thats in may as its grouped with the 13

The 67/69 dont share a contract but im not sure its always been the case or not

No 644 so im assuming thats commercially ran by GNE

Also im not sure which part of the 9 is nexus as it interworks with the 8

(16 Mar 2026, 10:08 pm)Nerd4321 wrote Services up for tender in July are

9/25/25A/10/11/12/24/26/29/90/92/R3/R4/R6/50/51/52AM/51/52PM/96/99/319/515/558/568/643/939/R5/67/69

Some of the odd ones here as to the website the following are

51/52 seem to be two different tenders for an AM & PM

The 939 is mentioned twice

Im not entirely sure which 12 they are on about. I thought it was the 12 in Winlaton 12 but thats in may as its grouped with the 13

The 67/69 dont share a contract but im not sure its always been the case or not

No 644 so im assuming thats commercially ran by GNE

Also im not sure which part of the 9 is nexus as it interworks with the 8

939 has 2 separate tenders, there are indeed 2 separate tenders for the 51/52 (the morning ones have been tendered for much longer) The 12 is the South Shields 12, the 644 is commercial you are correct, and the 9 is tendered on an evening iirc.

With the 700/701 now needing to be transferred to GNE after City Transport dropped the contract. And having sneakily dropped the frequency to 20 mins sometime in 2026.

While they're at it why couldn't they just combine the 700/701 from being a combined PVR = 3, to a simple 700 PVR = 3. 

Simple loop of Park Lane - City Campus - Royal Hospital - City Campus - Wheatsheaf - Seaburn - St Peters - Park Lane. 

This would:

• get rid of the horrific 45 mins freq on the 700 currently, and keep the current 701
  
• make the service usable with decent layover spread across the route.
  
• introduce links lost from the 18 to Royal Hospital making it actually a connections service
  
• and provide the same PVR with easier to understand service. 
  
• With it being about an hour for the same bus to restart it's loop from Park Lane means easy for evenings/Saturdays when no uni for frequency to be dropped to 30/60mins when required without need to or route.
  

I know this would mean slightly longer journey times to each main destination i.e going around hospital before Seaburn and Seaburn before st peters but with an enhanced freq and better punctuality people won't mind. Also this service shouldn't compete with the commercial services anyways. Just simply the Sunderland Connect to get you to university, town, seaburn or the hospital.

I wonder what happens to the 700/701 in the long term if Sunderland University decide to close St Peters Campus?

Is the main aim for students getting them between the two different sites (as well as some of the halls of residence) or is more of a general public service? Will the university continue financially supporting the service?

I agree with the comments above about links from Roker and Seaburn to the hospital (and to some extent, the new eye hospital). The infrastructure is already in place so if the university does close/move then keeping the links over the North Side of the river for whatever gets developed on the site would be a good idea? Let's not forget the stops that got installed near the National Glass Centre too for the short lived 702 (although when I was at GNE, I never picked anyone up there).

(21 Apr 2026, 3:09 pm)logidoodah wrote With the 700/701 now needing to be transferred to GNE after City Transport dropped the contract. And having sneakily dropped the frequency to 20 mins sometime in 2026.

While they're at it why couldn't they just combine the 700/701 from being a combined PVR = 3, to a simple 700 PVR = 3. 

Simple loop of Park Lane - City Campus - Royal Hospital - City Campus - Wheatsheaf - Seaburn - St Peters - Park Lane. 

This would:

• get rid of the horrific 45 mins freq on the 700 currently, and keep the current 701
  
• make the service usable with decent layover spread across the route.
  
• introduce links lost from the 18 to Royal Hospital making it actually a connections service
  
• and provide the same PVR with easier to understand service. 
  
• With it being about an hour for the same bus to restart it's loop from Park Lane means easy for evenings/Saturdays when no uni for frequency to be dropped to 30/60mins when required without need to or route.
  

I know this would mean slightly longer journey times to each main destination i.e going around hospital before Seaburn and Seaburn before st peters but with an enhanced freq and better punctuality people won't mind. Also this service shouldn't compete with the commercial services anyways. Just simply the Sunderland Connect to get you to university, town, seaburn or the hospital.

imo the 700 should be just withdrawn, with some form of 18 restored again but as a full loop, not the mess of a horse shoe it ended up with. The point of the 701 is to link the two campus' though, you can't send people on a detour via Seaburn first. 

Like I'd say something like, ideally every 30 minutes:


With the 99 being withdrawn with it.

It's be a bit of a risk of tax payers money, but the links on that network is currently utterly dire without doubling back via Sunderland which no-one sane is doing. Seaburn has had a massive resurgence in recent years, there's a hospital on the route, there's tonnes of destinations etc (green dots) and the 18 is badly needed anyway. Be nice to try and create something which might actually work rather than the same old crap over and over again.

The 558 then curtailed at Seaburn, with the 568 extending to Monkton Business Park, all day (they interwork).

(21 Apr 2026, 3:09 pm)logidoodah wrote With the 700/701 now needing to be transferred to GNE after City Transport dropped the contract. And having sneakily dropped the frequency to 20 mins sometime in 2026.

While they're at it why couldn't they just combine the 700/701 from being a combined PVR = 3, to a simple 700 PVR = 3. 

Simple loop of Park Lane - City Campus - Royal Hospital - City Campus - Wheatsheaf - Seaburn - St Peters - Park Lane. 

This would:

• get rid of the horrific 45 mins freq on the 700 currently, and keep the current 701
  
• make the service usable with decent layover spread across the route.
  
• introduce links lost from the 18 to Royal Hospital making it actually a connections service
  
• and provide the same PVR with easier to understand service. 
  
• With it being about an hour for the same bus to restart it's loop from Park Lane means easy for evenings/Saturdays when no uni for frequency to be dropped to 30/60mins when required without need to or route.
  

I know this would mean slightly longer journey times to each main destination i.e going around hospital before Seaburn and Seaburn before st peters but with an enhanced freq and better punctuality people won't mind. Also this service shouldn't compete with the commercial services anyways. Just simply the Sunderland Connect to get you to university, town, seaburn or the hospital.
The current arrangement is fine it satisfies both the residents in seaburn and students.

The problem is the majority of students wish to take the current 701. They want a short journey from the likes of clanny/city hall/city campus straight to st peters as opposed to having to ride around seaburn.
The 20 min frequency has been a life saver as 30 min round trips are completely impossible due to traffic/volume of passengers.

(21 Apr 2026, 3:40 pm)morritt89 wrote I wonder what happens to the 700/701  in the long term if Sunderland University decide to close St Peters Campus?

Is the main aim for students getting them between the two different sites (as well as some of the halls of residence) or is more of a general public service? Will the university continue financially supporting the service?

I agree with the comments above about links from Roker and Seaburn to the hospital (and to some extent, the new eye hospital). The infrastructure is already in place so if the university does close/move then keeping the links over the North Side of the river for whatever gets developed on the site would be a good idea? Let's not forget the stops that got installed near the National Glass Centre too for the short lived 702 (although when I was at GNE, I never picked anyone up there).

They’ve only relatively recently completed it, haven’t they? The first building was only opened about 30 years ago, so it would seem odd if they abandoned it in favour of their older, probably RAAC and asbestos filled buildings.

Wow the July tenders are insane this year

They are as follows (standstill ends 18th May. Contracts signed earlier date by 5th June)

Gateshead Central Taxis, 29/90/92/R3/R4/R5/R6/37/319

L&G Coaches, 99/939

Go North East 51/52PM/67/69

Northstar 9/25/25A/10/11/12/24/26/49/49A/50/51/52AM/96/515/558/568/643

All in standstill which ends 18th May and earliest date which they will be signed is 5th June. Quite a big pick from Northstar and L&G winning stuff as well.

Yeah also Stagecoach won absolutely nothing in the tender

(Yesterday, 11:14 pm)Nerd4321 wrote Wow the July tenders are insane this year

They are as follows (standstill ends 18th May. Contracts signed earlier date by 5th June)

Gateshead Central Taxis, 29/90/92/R3/R4/R5/R6/37/319

L&G Coaches, 99/939

Go North East 51/52PM/67/69

Northstar 9/25/25A/10/11/12/24/26/49/49A/50/51/52AM/96/515/558/568/643

All in standstill which ends 18th May and earliest date which they will be signed is 5th June. Quite a big pick from Northstar and L&G winning stuff as well.

Yeah also Stagecoach won absolutely nothing in the tender

Oh wow, thats mad how many Northstar have won (if they take them all).

(Yesterday, 11:14 pm)Nerd4321 wrote Wow the July tenders are insane this year

They are as follows (standstill ends 18th May. Contracts signed earlier date by 5th June)

Gateshead Central Taxis, 29/90/92/R3/R4/R5/R6/37/319

L&G Coaches, 99/939

Go North East 51/52PM/67/69

Northstar 9/25/25A/10/11/12/24/26/49/49A/50/51/52AM/96/515/558/568/643

All in standstill which ends 18th May and earliest date which they will be signed is 5th June. Quite a big pick from Northstar and L&G winning stuff as well.

Yeah also Stagecoach won absolutely nothing in the tender

Go North East will undoubtedly register a lot of that commercially before the standstill ends.

(10 hours ago)220631612 wrote Go North East will undoubtedly register a lot of that commercially before the standstill ends.

Oh aye, 100% will cut the PM/Sunday times then give it up after a couple of years again.....

Very unusual to see so many contracts change hands. Let's hope Nexus hasn't cocked up the procurement process.

(Commenting assuming the info about the tender awards is accurate.)
Tender pricing will have required a diificult judgement about fuel prices in the coming year. Maybe Dan was more prepared to gamble about an early settlement in the Gulf of Hormuz than the other operators? If so, it is a pretty exposed position; and some risk for Nexus, too.
Also, does Northstar have the capacity to take on that scale of work? (Not just O licence discs, but in terms of management resources and maintenance facilities/ staffing.)
So on both counts I will be surprised (and a bit worried for Dan) if he takes up all the contracts.

Risky not having an established operator like SNE involved. They should operate the 99 for starters.

(6 hours ago)Economic505 wrote Risky not having an established operator like SNE involved. They should operate the 99 for starters.

Whats wrong with L&G

(5 hours ago)Nerd4321 wrote Whats wrong with L&G

Small, at risk of fuel price hikes. This is not the time to repeat a City Transport type fiasco.

(6 hours ago)Busadvocate wrote (Commenting assuming the info about the tender awards is accurate.)
Tender pricing will have required a diificult judgement about fuel prices in the coming year. Maybe Dan was more prepared to gamble about an early settlement in the Gulf of Hormuz than the other operators? If so, it is a pretty exposed position; and some risk for Nexus, too.
Also, does Northstar have the capacity to take on that scale of work? (Not just O licence discs, but in terms of management resources and maintenance facilities/ staffing.)
So on both counts I will be surprised (and a bit worried for Dan) if he takes up all the contracts.

There's not much there for Northstar, most of them are just a few boards in the early morning / late evening unless they've changed recently. 

Just looks like there's tonnes as there's so many routes.

Ah, that's different - so long as it does genuinely fit before/ after other work. I thought the case of initially doing one of the buses on 18 off the 792 was a bit disreputable. (Unless for some reason Nexus agreed to a shortterm bodge, say due to the quite short timeline from award to start of contract?)

(6 hours ago)Busadvocate wrote (Commenting assuming the info about the tender awards is accurate.)
Tender pricing will have required a diificult judgement about fuel prices in the coming year. Maybe Dan was more prepared to gamble about an early settlement in the Gulf of Hormuz than the other operators? If so, it is a pretty exposed position; and some risk for Nexus, too.
Also, does Northstar have the capacity to take on that scale of work? (Not just O licence discs, but in terms of management resources and maintenance facilities/ staffing.)
So on both counts I will be surprised (and a bit worried for Dan) if he takes up all the contracts.

I mean given that it's common knowledge at the time of the bid, I'm presuming the bidders will have factored this in. I like to think most don't run their business like the bendy bus guy.

The biggest concern is for the poor sods who are going to try and sit watching all these buses on bustimes at once.

(5 hours ago)Economic505 wrote Small, at risk of fuel price hikes. This is not the time to repeat a City Transport type fiasco.

How can you compare L&G who run a small fleet with City Transport that use fuel thirst bendy buses and decides not to pay his staff or decide to spend his time doing tram & Rail Replacement instead of actually caring about a bus service that he used to run 6 days a week 

Also L&G will more then likely have incorporated the service into there school work & workers service. So quick to judge a company who run school routes in South Tyneside

Yeah the 99 and 939 generally fit well around school work. Could very easuily have a board that does 939 > sch > 99 > sch > 939 (indeed, that's what Stagecoach did) if you fit the right school runs in

(5 hours ago)Economic505 wrote Small, at risk of fuel price hikes. This is not the time to repeat a City Transport type fiasco.

Just cos City wet the bed when it came to the Sunderland Connect contract, which is a whole other beast compared to the other Nexus contracts due to the hours and specifications required, it doesn't mean the same would happen with L&G or Northstar, neither of which have handed back the contracts they currently run for Nexus (or the likes of Hodgsons and Weardale for Durham County Council contracts).

L&G look to have kept things small and simple, the 99 operates between school contracts which L&G already run and the 939 operates before and after the school contracts, so it's entirely possible that they won't even need to aquire any more buses to run these services.

City seemed to get the Sunderland Connect more to prove a point that independents could run a big contract service like that, unfortunately to do so their bid didn't factor in any possibility of any rises of fuel or other operational costs and can't imagine the occasional fines from Nexus for non compliant buses helped either, so if anything, damaged the notion which they set out to do/prove.

(4 hours ago)Busadvocate wrote Ah, that's different - so long as it does genuinely fit before/ after other work. I thought the case of initially doing one of the buses on 18 off the 792 was a bit disreputable. (Unless for some reason Nexus agreed to a shortterm bodge, say due to the quite short timeline from award to start of contract?)

I don't know what the 10/11 is with Stagecoach as they've always had it.

But there's only the the 515/558/568/643 which should be a PVR 4 which run all day, plus the 5 buses currently on the 18/79/520 and that's the lot depending on what the 10/11 in Jarrow is.

The PVR on an Sunday and beyond 6/7pm is 1 on the 18 as nothing else runs. Plenty buses to do other stuff in the early morning / evening / Sunday's really. It's a good use of resources imo.

(I might have missed something)

(2 hours ago)Storx wrote I don't know what the 10/11 is with Stagecoach as they've always had it.

Probably evenings and sundays.

(2 hours ago)F114TML wrote Probably evenings and sundays.

Aye probably, surprised they go out to tender tbh rather than just direct awarding them. Seems a bit counter productive having different operators in the evening to the rest of the day and is just a bit of an inconvenience.

No doubt some routes will miraculously be sustainable now mind, again...