(27 Dec 2013, 10:44 am)Davey Bowyer wrote GNE are streets ahead of Arriva. I remember one morning when I was getting Arriva's 43 and due to the fact that Arriva only have mobile phones, the driver couldn't report the problem until he got to Haymarket and that run ended up being cancelled leaving us passengers waiting for another 15 minutes. Now if GNE were running that service, the driver could have easily managed to contact the depot via the radio for another bus to be sent to Haymarket before he got there. Also, the ticketing is miles ahead of Arriva and far more easier to use. Mind you though folks, one thing that gets on my nerves is people who don't turn up for their bus on time, the driver drives off and people have the audacity to complain about it! It's their responsibility to get there on time and when they make it by the skin of their teeth, they faff around with £20 notes just for a short hop down the road. GNE aren't perfect in any sense but they do at least try.
The simple reason why Arriva don't use a radio system is due to the nature of the routes. They trialled it on quite a few buses, but because of the rural nature of most routes, the radios failed to work on the majority of services. The 43 in Durham, the radio only worked between Durham-Ushaw Moor, but not through to Esh Winning, so it only worked for around half the route.