(29 Jul 2016, 8:55 pm)South Tyne Lad wrote Unfortunately Pheonix was originally just a taxi company, And so Taxi Attitudes come into the bus industry, Which doesn't work.
Pheonix like GCT got there drivers from other company's aswell as just retrained some of the Taxi Drivers, Though I admire how GCT Invested in New Vehicle's, Which are leased.

I have also seen the driver with Headphones in, And most look like they want to jump off cliffs. 

Just a Unprofessional, Unorganised operator which has been left to operate loads of Tendered Service's.

I agree. 

Phoenix did a great job of running their services back in 2014. Service 30 was impeccable, along with the 333. Free WiFi was offered on all vehicles and the drivers were really friendly. 

At the turn of 2015, standards started to fall, I regularly witnessed 30s miss the layover at North Seaton (where I regularly got on and off the bus, for collecting parcels), and usually left North Seaton Colliery up to five minutes early. Drivers would ignore requests to stop and verbal stop requests were common. Buses were held together with duct tape, driving at high speeds along narrow country lanes with doors open and the emergency window on the roof being open. Buses were usually substituted with taxi-like minibuses and coaches.

In the final weeks of the 30, buses that ran the route stank heavily of bleach, and I was often told not to board the service at the designated bus stop/layover at North Seaton due to "insurance". 

I've often got on a 333 running over 10 minutes late too. Causing me to miss the ferry, and did the driver wait at North Shields Ferry for the ferry to return so he can leave on time? Nope.