(20 May 2021, 11:23 am)Chris 1 wrote Do Gateshead Central operate anything commercially? I'm not sure they've ever taken a stab at operating anything commercially. Their whole MO seems to me to be contracted services with the guaranteed income. Presumably with costs nailed firmly down judging by comments elsewhere about vehicle/driver/ticket machine shortages. Attempting to muscle in commercially certainly wouldn't be cheap. Unlikely to happen imo.
They do, albeit just a few journeys which are effectively light runs. The 939A and 99A, for example, are not secured by Nexus. Gateshead Central Taxis run these (empty) commercially, on the basis they'd run that way anyway.
In other news, Nexus put out a tender to provide extra journeys on service 333 this summer. The contract sees journeys provided on Sundays and Bank Holidays from 30 May to 30 August, with a minimum requirement for a capacity of 60 (including standees) and emissions no lower than Euro 5. Despite not having any vehicles in their fleet of this specification, Gateshead Central Taxis won this contract. I would imagine it'll likely be sub-contracted to L&B Travel, using Rural Link's ex-GNE Scania L94.
Revised timetable here: https://www.nexus.org.uk/sites/default/f...300521.pdf