(05 Feb 2021, 7:37 pm)Dan wrote Yes, that was the presentation used at the launch of the NEbus initiative, back in August 2019, at the Life Science Centre in Newcastle. Stakeholders were invited to watch the presentation, with the three Managing Directors of Arriva, Go North East and Stagecoach all spoke, along with Andrew Scott from Stanley Travel representing SME operators.

The Durham SmartZone ticket was postponed, but is still planned to be introduced, now early this year, and the 'fare capping' trial has been introduced by Go North East (on the VOLTRA electric buses) but not adopted more widely yet. Go North East plans a further extension on another route very soon.

A lot of work went into the leaflet and route maps for Newcastle City Centre - Go North East led on their production (as Martijn is the Chair of the NEbus panel). Very time-consuming and arguably something that ought to be led by Nexus, given they control what is shown and where.


That's not a permanent downgrade though? It's been done because there were temporary service reductions last month, where the removal of one car working meant that there were gaps in the timetable. Rather than run the risk of a single-deck being full, additional double-decks were allocated to the 58, to ensure nobody was left behind. Until those service reductions came in, service 58 was running with a mixed fleet of 10-plate Versas in fleet livery (those previously used on the Q3, which are to the same specification) and the three remaining 63-plate branded Versas.

Starting next week; the OmniDekkas will be replaced gradually by Volvo B9s, which become available on return of the Volvo B9s from refurbishment.

CPT - who act as a voice for the bus and coach sector and liaison with the government - recently carried out some research, which suggested that the biggest influencing factor for bus users not using buses right now, relates to the perception that there isn't adequate social distancing measures on-board buses. If operators can do something to challenge that perception, i.e. by running some larger buses, albeit of a lower quality than the normal ones, then that is a good thing. I think Arriva have been doing similar using their surplus double-decks too.