(21 Nov 2015, 11:45 am)Michael wrote So not all of GNE's services are ran commercial this year?
Would be nice of GNE to just run at least 1 bus hourly to Heworth.... shame NEXUS have control over that.....
No - I should have been clearer in my previous post by stating 'some'. The Arriva North East 44 and 45 services to Dinnington are a prime example of a service being secured by Nexus on Boxing Day in previous years, but this year will be operated on a commercial basis (morphed into Go North East's Q3 service). I'd suggest that the demand is likely to be there given that NUFC are playing at home.
Perhaps in the future Go North East will operate the extension to Heworth commercially - there'd be nothing stopping them from doing it, but given that it's usually secured by Nexus on evenings and Sundays, I can't see there being sufficient demand to supply this service (especially if Nexus thinks that too!) Each year has seen a new commercial risk taken by Go North East: last year it was extending the 4 from Fallowfield Way to Houghton-le-Spring (via Fencehouses) once per hour, which has notably been continued this year, and this year sees Boxing Day services go to places such as Bishop Auckland, Cramlington and Sacriston, which hasn't been done in a very long time.