(18 May 2018, 5:13 am)Dan wrote The local authorities also have a part to play in regular service changes - that's why Arriva and Stagecoach usually have their service changes at the same time as Go North East.

Service changes in September, each year, are inevitable, due to the fact that Nexus' Miscellaneous Works contracts are only usually offered on a one-year basis. It makes sense to tie a change in schedules together with an existing change made by a local authority, which cannot be avoided.

Since then, there have been other contract revisions:
- October 2017: Durham County Council
- January 2018: Durham County Council
- March 2018: Nexus

The majority of commercial network changes which took place at the same time were relatively minor, excluding the South Tyneside service changes in January, and came at the request of customers or the local authority. Aside from that, any minor timing changes really are to benefit customers in terms of reliability. If there is no PVR impact, any saving made won't be huge, so isn't the company penny-pinching. Traffic volumes and driving habits are constantly evolving in the North East, and it's pointless having a timetable if it's neither realistic nor achievable. Long-term roadworks often have an impact on the reliability of services (Felling Bypass, Killingworth, Norham Road Bridge, to name just a few) where operators have to change their timetables, often adding in additional resource, to provide an achievable timetable which will operate within the traffic commissioner's guidelines of 'on time'.

The re-timings to services being made to Washington's services from this weekend are mainly to allow driver reliefs to move from Concord to The Galleries. The new 10/11 minute frequency on the Connections4 is being introduced to improve reliability - although I agree it's not as easy to understand as a streamlined 10 or 12 minute frequency, it ensures that the same level of service is provided (no PVR reduction) and provides a minute or two here or there which can really help on a tight schedule. This 10/11 minute frequency was introduced to the Saltwell Park services some time ago (service 53 all day, service 54 peak times) and appears to have worked quite well?

The network has remained pretty stable this year compared to previous, in my opinion.

I agree with the changes, and I hope that soon there's a point where operators concerned arrive at a point where the timetables are perfected and don't change as much as they have in the past. The only real way I can judge if a change is working is if it remains without changes. For example with the 11. I started being interested in the affairs with the 96 that stopped at Gateshead. Then it went to Newcastle, then it got merged with something else and became the 11. There were more 11 trips then, one that terminated at Howdon, that's since disappeared, and the Gateshead side of the 11 on an evening is still as disastrous as the 96 was. It's impossible to remember the times and everybody who gets on the bus must check the Nexus timetable outside the stop (which aren't really that trustworthy).

I agree with the concept of what's going on, and the combining of routes, providing easier marked connections all along. I think it's also close to the point where commercial changes do become temporary or additional trips and become sparse. The Gateshead/Derwentside area has remained reliable and a great service for the past year (except from that pesky 11!!), especially during the evenings too, almost impeccable. Just hope there aren't (m)any plans to cut and paste sections of route around the place that have been cut and paste enough up until now.

Rambling from now on...

It's odd of me being arguing this, since none of my extended family nor friends ever take the bus anywhere due to the expense. If I calculated my commutes by car and by bus, it would end up costing the same in fuel as various tickets, but one would get me there in 30 minutes, another 2 hours or more. The bus was perfect for heading to college and back since all was well connected, but the second you want to be in a specific place at a specific time, the car becomes a lot more desirable. The weekly shop also, I've only ever seen one person do their huge shop on a regular basis then get on the bus with their 7 bags of clutter. People generally go to the shops in their car, and often straight after work, so that's then more potential customers not getting on the bus. I think there's a need of more workers services at peak times to places. Could get 2 birds with one stone by making the evening workers return drop off at shops. Stanley to Lobley Hill to Northumberland Park. Then on the return goes via ASDA and Metrocentre before continuing to Stanley and extending to Plain's Tescos. Obviously needs council support, but I think something like that would start to get people see the practicality in buses that could start more acceptance of long-term car users. Fewer connections and fewer prices without drastically extending times of trips could further sell this. Just about where the people are and where they want to generally go, I guess.

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