(18 Jul 2021, 7:41 pm)Adrian wrote It looked like Stanley Travel were running the Connector Shuttle from Concord this weekend, with a red 6 seater taxi.
I wasn't really out for buses so wasn't paying much attention, but there wasn't much to say what it was, other than it being stood at stand C repeatedly.
Was this the case, or is it purely a coincidence?
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Due to very low passenger numbers (you never get more than two on one trip, sometimes goes all day without picking up a single passenger), Stanley Travel are now running this service on behalf of Go North East, allowing Go North East’s driver resource to be better utilised.
Go North East recently took over operation of a number of Gateshead Central Taxis contracts for Nexus on evenings and Sundays, and similar to this situation for the ConnectorShuttle, agreement was reached with Nexus to revise the Gateshead Central Taxis SNS contract to run on a lower frequency and interwork with the MetroShuttle, with Go North East’s service being withdrawn. This allowed the driver resource to be re-allocated to the Washington evening local services, which Gateshead Central Taxis were unable to cover.
An 8-seat taxi was used this weekend, with signage in the window for ConnectorShuttle: https://flic.kr/p/2mbTQrj
I believe a 16-seat minibus will be used from Monday.
In an ideal world the MetroShuttle would be diverted via Concord (following the same route as service 4 from Heworth) allowing the ConnectorShuttle to be withdrawn completely…
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