0804 5A Newton Aycliffe, Williamfield Way - Bishop Auckland Bus Station (ANE 1425)
First bus was not my usual Saturday haunt of the 08:05 7 to Durham Bus Station, today instead I started on the 5A with 1425 turning up for my journey this morning. This example especially seems to badly idle when stationary and unfortunately it was fairly spot on time wise for the whole journey so waiting time had to be observed which was annoying. Not a particularly thrilling journey as I've done this journey hundreds of times. Before long I was in Bishop Auckland.
0845 109 Bishop Auckland Bus Station - Willington, High Street (SB Travel: SB10BUS)
First time I've sampled SB Travel although JSB Travel used to do the Newton Aycliffe Town Services and I wasn't so impressed when they took over the 116 from Central Coaches as they would frequently not bother and I actually mean "not bother" running round my part of the town, even though they were supposed to! Turned up more or less on-time, SB Travel do not appear to have a uniform so the drivers seem to be free to wear whatever they want with this driver just wearing a T-shirt. This was a long length Solo SR and I don't think many of this type were ever made, so it is a bit unique. For the whole of this journey there was only me and a woman with a small child which I think may have possibly been the wife of the driver as they were already on-board when I jumped on at the first stop on it's first journey of the day. Nice smooth quiet journey and arrived in Willington in no-time.
0919 46 Willington, High Street - Durham Bus Station (ANE 1327)
Seem as no-one appears to have listened to me say this earlier, today the 46 (and the 48) were allocated the Enviro 200's normally allocated to service 64, this was as the result of a diversion where Pulsar's were deemed to be a bit big to fit round the diversion route, so this was the allocation for these services today. Thought 1327 performed quite well on this route and this odd working had the added benefit of free WiFi as well which was a bonus, charging points as well although I didn't use them. Despite the not so comfortable seats, I quite enjoyed this journey and before I knew it I arrived in Durham.
1008 64 Durham, North Road - Abbey Sports Centre (ANE 7444)
As the Lowlander's weren't out on the 46 today, I chanced the 64 for one, tried on the 09:58 journey but the spare Sapphire StreetLite 1595 was allocated, so I rejected it and waited for the next journey and my patience was rewarded in the form of 7444, in typical fashion I made for the backseats upstairs and thankfully no-one was sat upstairs when I boarded and that's how it remained for the whole journey. I do actually quite like the noise these produce and I am going to be sad when they leave the fleet very soon, especially as I've had them since they were new. As we were approaching to where the Salutation Inn is/was I spotted Lolyne 3869 on the 50, so I decided I'd catch that at the Arnison Centre...
1032 50 Arnison Centre, Mercia Retail Park - South Shields, Keppel Street (GNE 3869)
I quite fancied riding a double decker on the 50, especially a Lolyne, so when I saw 3869 pass me on the 64 I made sure to catch it especially as there seems to be less double deckers on there than there used to be, I decided to take the front seat upstairs on the nearside which was a bit of a squeeze. I had the fear it would get swapped for something else at Chester-le-Street but was over the moon when I saw nothing waiting on the stand meaning I could do the rest of the route on this! I quite enjoyed my trip on this as I quite like the Lolyne's and they are likely to be leaving the fleet very soon, so every ride may be my last. So fairly good views and some pretty awful views as well!
1229 27 South Shields, Fowler Street - Jarrow Bus Station (GNE 5317)
Decided to have a wander around That's Entertainment and a stop off in Greggs where I ended up in the queue in front of a chav couple moaning about how they charge for sitting in (swearing removed). Anyway, my next trip was Crusader 5317 which I must say I didn't enjoy, I didn't like the sound it was making especially under braking, so after seeing a Volvo B10BLE/Wright Renown pass on a 27 which was a couple trips behind, I bailed at Jarra.
1250 9 Jarrow Bus Station - Sunderland, Park Lane Interchange (GNE 4907)
After jumping off 5317 I saw this appear, so I decided to catch this to Sunderland, quite enjoyed my ride on this, it sounded great. It wasn't too busy although I had some children sat opposite who made a bit of noise but wasn't too bad. Got off at Park Lane and did a bit spotting but nothing interesting appeared, so I then made my way for my next journey.
1400 56 Sunderland, Park Lane Interchange - Concord Bus Station (GNE 6093)
A woman was asking the driver where the X36 stopped as she asked someone else where it stopped and she was told it was on the 56 stand, it then pulled in behind and the driver just laughed when she left. I took the seat at the front upstairs on the nearside and connected to the WiFi as I have ran out of mobile data so this is my only way of checking my social media sources until Tuesday when I get next months allowance. Two young kids sat opposite me and their dad or granddad sat behind me, annoyingly after they boarded the two kids started acting up so the dad/granddad kept getting up pulling my seat back in the process and at one point he started shouting at them, I honestly didn't know where to look or what to do, thankfully they started to behave after that.
1458 82 Concord Bus Station - Heworth Interchange (GNE 6032)
My original intention was to get the X88 to the Metrocentre but that went out the window when I saw that 3943 had broke down on the previous trip, it left once with a fitter then came back but left again still blinded up for the X88! As it didn't look like there would be anything heading to the Metrocentre on a X88 anytime soon, I opted for 6032 (not 6023 which I noted it as in my notes) on the 82 as I hadn't been on a President. This was actually not too bad, seem to be pretty nippy and was nice and warm on-board.
1519 58 Heworth Interchange - Newcastle, Blackett Street (GNE 5384)
Heworth did pose a problem as I already rode most of the types of buses that pass through Heworth, so to stick to rules I had to opt for a Optare Versa, in the form of Citylink 5384. Wasn't so impressed with the Versa, it didn't sound particularly good and felt a little rough in places. I read the timetable line map at Heworth which said the journey time to Newcastle Monument was 31 minutes but I later discovered it was the Nexus line map of lies as it actually took around 40 minutes to reach Newcastle, thanks Nexus! Saw Pronto branded 6024 pass me in Gateshead Interchange so I made sure to get in place for a photo when we eventually got to Newcastle!
1702 X36 Newcastle, Market Street - Sunderland, Park Lane Interchange (GNE 4943)
Due to a large number of buses picking up in the same place the X36 had to stop in the middle of the road and block the traffic to pick us up. I sat at the back which was a mistake as the seats at the back aren't that comfortable I think. This was a pretty quiet journey really in terms of numbers and I actually quite like the X36 route, it's actually a decent route I think. The point I realised that I was in Sunderland was when I saw a woman walking the street in her pyjamas, the only other place it could have been was Skerne Park in Darlington.
1820 X21/21 Sunderland, Park Lane Interchange - Newton Aycliffe Tesco (ANE 4811)
Hung round waiting for the X21 to turn up, saw a Wear Tees Xpress Citaro on the 36, not much else happened during this time. I sat at the back on this journey. This actually carried a fair few passengers on the X21, one passenger boarded thinking the service went through New Seaham but was less than impressed when the bus headed for the A19, he moaned on at the driver until the next stop which was a good 10 minutes later, apparently he is going to complain etc. It's not Arriva's fault you got on the wrong bus! It's not as if the destination says "express via the A19" oh wait, it does... I did laugh when we went past the Go North East X7 to Station Town which had broken down on the A19, so they must have been there around 30 minutes by the point we passed it, feel sorry for them in a way. Was pretty dead after Peterlee, for much of the 21 journey I was the only passenger on-board. WiFi worked well... for the first 15 minutes where it then refused to work for the remainder of the 90 minute journey, was not amused! I alighted at Tesco in Newton Aycliffe where I had a wander round until my next bus.
2010 5A Newton Aycliffe Tesco - Newton Aycliffe, Williamfield Way (ANE 2857)
I know what some of you are thinking, you already rode a Solo!!! That was a Solo SR. this was just a plain old Solo which was also smaller then the SB Travel Solo SR I had earlier in the day, unlike some I don't live on the opinion of a Solo is just a Solo, they are not all the same, although this was just a short hop as I didn't fancy walking home in the dark. One thing that I found time to annoy me on this journey was someone opened the window, It was freezing!!!
So I managed to stick to the objective of only riding each type once. Was an enjoyable day out today, although I am pretty shattered now. Thanks for reading, this took forever for me to type.