(13 Jan 2022, 10:01 am)Storx wrote This might seem a selfish point of view but I really don't understand why Northumberland County Council are forking out for this when it barely benefits them bar a few minibuses running around in the hills affecting no-one. Any money from Northumberland should be going towards Arriva (regardless to opinion) and their express work which actually impacts the majority of the county.
It should be North Tyneside / Newcastle who's forking out the money considering the number of them purely on the Coast Road. Complete waste of our tax money which could be spent elsewhere ie subsidising more services up Rothbury way etc.
*I'm not counting the 309 it's in Northumberland for the best part of 15 minutes of the route and is dead half the time.
If any Northumberland money should be going towards Arriva, it makes you wonder why they didn't have the foresight to develop a joint bid with Transport North East? There was nothing the ZEBRA guidance to state that LTAs could only work with a single operator.
Whilst there's no denying that it is a significant investment from the exchequer, there's also a significant amount of private funding involved... the business case states: "The delivery partners of this project, in particular, the bus operators, will provide £21,860,882 in match funding of the capital costs for buses and infrastructure. This represents 54% of the overall project cost." The delivery partners, from what I read, being Go North East, Northumberland County Council and Durham County Council:
1) Go North East – Delivery of 49 zero emission buses and associated infrastructure operating out of Consett, Riverside and Percy Main depots.
2) Northumberland County Council – Appointment of a delivery partner and associated onward delivery of 10 zero emission buses and infrastructure on routes from Hexham; and
3) Durham County Council Appointment of a delivery partner and associated onward delivery of 14 zero emission buses and infrastructure to operate on Durham’s two Park and Ride routes.
So the ZEBs used on the Hexham services, and the ones used on the Durham Park & Ride, look to be owned by the respective councils. Possibly with a leasing arrangement as part of the contract?
(13 Jan 2022, 10:08 am)Michael wrote I'm glad its gonna get approved to bid for, should be interesting few months now.
Really surprised to see the Volvo 7900e on the list for the park and ride, thought they would of stuck to one make.
Has it been confirmed what deckers what will be used on the routes?
Edit:
Just noticed this on the document which was shared by Adrian
Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV)
The North East Zero Emission Vehicle policy is being finalised and will be submitted to the March meeting of this Committee for approval.
Is this for the ZERBA or for all their buses going forward being electric?
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Looks like the Durham Cathedral routes and the Chester locals have been added to the list of routes for electric buses.
I think if it was a solely commercial decision, you might get them sticking to one manufacturer, but it looks like these buses will be owned by DCC rather than an operator, and in any case the tender process for the Durham P&R contract is still to take place. I don't know what influence the incoming service provider may have in the choice of new vehicles.
Re: Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Policy. This is part of the North East Transport Plan (not to be confused with the Enhanced Partnership BSIP), and isn't solely focused at buses: https://www.transportnortheast.gov.uk/wp...t-Plan.pdf