(20 Jan 2020, 5:25 pm)GNE6312 wrote Though arriva has a bad reputation I disagree with that and think arriva is the best company in the North East since I've been using them more in the last month. Generally I think arriva's buses are a lot cleaner. In blyth when I get the 309 and the buses are quite messy whereas on arriva the buses are often relatively clean and arriva have some polite drivers as today for example me and my freind were going for the X8 but as we reached the traffic lights he shut his doors but lucilly my freind got their when he was stuck at the stop at a red traffic light and blocked in by cars he opened his doors for an old couple and my freind and then agreed for to wait for me getting across the road which is when the green man came on conviniently and I got on the bus. Where as in December I was running for the 309 and my freind tried to get the driver to wait for me and told the driver I was at the traffic lights and the driver told my freind he was late and "couldn't" wait and left me for 15 minutes on the rain yet when I got to blyth on the next run he was just sat reading the newspaper so he mustn't have been too late. though GNE invest arriva are clean and have mostly polite drivers they also have better looking buses e.g sapphire, MAX, Corp, Whitby P&R, frequenta & NHS (1499)

I rarely use Arriva in Newcastle so have little experience with them, but in County Durham it's the complete opposite. 

The GNE drivers are the nice and friendly ones, with the Arriva drivers being pretty miserable, assuming they can even understand/speak English (I've had quite a number of drivers on the Arriva 6 where they couldn't understand me saying Tindale Crescent, and I don't have a particularly strong accent!)
And I honestly don't think I've ever been on an Arriva bus that doesn't have litter all over it, or something spilled on the floor, or the seats ripped and with holes melted in the back.
GNE's 20 year old buses are in better condition than Arriva's 3 year old ones (Although that also has a lot to do with the places they visit!)

Having said that, Arriva do have some nice drivers as well and GNE have some truly awful ones.

One of my best GNE memories is getting swore at by one of the drivers because I was the last passenger on his shift and wanted the last stop, but he didn't want to drive there and told me it wasn't timetabled to go that far, after questioning it he showed me his timetable and it clearly showed it went to my stop so he told me to "F***ing sit down then" and when I turned back around he whispered "you fat C**t" to himself. I reported him and now every time I get on his bus he refused to even look at me.
I mean, I don't find swearing offensive (tbh, I don't find anything offensive) it was his attitude more than anything. If he had just said he needed to get back early I would have understood and left it there, but it was the fact he lied