(28 Jan 2022, 2:41 am)Drifter60 wrote I have to call out this ridiculous ticketing system too. It certainly doesn’t make Go North East look as bad, despite clear issues there too. Arriva are guilty of not sugar coating potentially flaws as well as GNE try, Adrian rightly points out there’s a list of 22 (I’m trusting his counting, cause I haven’t!) different tickets, yes some are triple tickets etc. but it’s still a mess. But GNE promote their simple three zone map based on county boundaries, in its self pretty simple, but there’s actually three county zones plus the local savers, of which there’s eight, so then that gives you 11 different types of ticket over what is geographically a smaller network area compared to Arriva. 

Quick question regarding child fares, there’s no Northumberland or Tyne & Wear child day/week tickets, are these subsided by Nexus and Northumberland County Council?

I’ll agree to extent that Arriva Northern area isn’t too bad and the zone map actually goes a long way to simplify what looked like a really confusing list of tickets - Another point of bad marketing, why doesn’t either of those Arriva articles have a graphic? A zone map attached would go a long way instead it’s had to be searched out by individuals. But the southern area overlapping zones really are a hot mess. So many “Durham” tickets! I’m not sure where to begin if I’m honest. But the overall system by Arriva is sort of similar to what GNE have, larger zones with some smaller savers, Arriva seem to have a middle man between these two types though in Teesside and County Durham.   

I also have to love the “Durham District” ticket that seemingly covers Newcastle and Gateshead but doesn’t cover Haswell, Cockfield or Stanhope!

Durham District was originally Durham and a few bits outside Durham, so mostly for people in the surrounding villages. It's grown a few times in the past few years but, obviously, still isn't as widespread as Durham County (which happens to include Darlo and also includes Sunderland, so long as you don't use it to travel between points in Sunderland, though back when I was using it, a lot of drivers weren't even aware of that so I ended up paying for a region wide, anyhow)

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"X12 (Durham Bus Station to Newcastle)"

Another one that drivers never seem to be aware of or able to find on their machines when I tell them it really is a thing.