(30 Mar 2022, 1:36 pm)Adrian wrote It's daft that Ferry/Metro tickets aren't accepted on the 317. Have Nexus offered any explanation for this? I can't see what difference it makes to them, when I presume they're fully funding the 317 anyway?
Both the 19 and 317 are Nexus-secured contracts on a minimum subsidy basis, which means Go North East are taking the risk on revenue on-board the 19, and Stagecoach on the 317.
This means the operators won't accept Metro/Ferry tickets without coming to a financial agreement with Nexus, which Go North East has clearly done as the 19 was a replacement for the 333.
(30 Mar 2022, 8:35 pm)Thomas12 wrote I agree but you'd think Nexus would have some control over fares - they set a £2.10 max fare on GCT's secured services, not sure why they can't for others.
On another note, seems like the reduction in PVR has helped GCT out massively, never noticed any cancelled journeys this week (to be fair there weren't that many before). All of their routes seem to be tracking now - for some reason before the changes the 41A never tracked.
Bus operators set their own fares on minimum subsidy contracts as they keep the revenue.
Stagecoach have set their own fares on the 317 which is why they are higher than a standard minimum cost Nexus-secured service, or indeed higher than the Go North East commercial service previous to the current offering.
(30 Mar 2022, 9:59 pm)omnicity4659 wrote Cramlington-Seaton Delaval Avenue Head in 11 minutes is often impossible in the car, never mind a bus stopping to pick people up...
Seems like this is an issue that needs to be reported to Nexus, if you haven't already.
They set the timetable, and if it's not realistic nor achievable then I'd imagine the operator will be wanting it to be right just as much as customers.
(31 Mar 2022, 9:44 am)busmanT wrote Arriva and Stagecoach the clear winners on North Tyneside, especially Stagecoach with the 10/11, 22 & now 317 running.
Of course, a lot of Stagecoach's mileage - certainly in the 10/11 and 317 - is not commercial either!
(31 Mar 2022, 1:20 pm)omnicity4659 wrote I'm told that GNE has a woefully low maintenance budget, so they can't afford to carry out preventative maintenance and instead have to spend it all reacting to the huge numbers of faults and breakdowns with an engineering team that is getting more stretched and overworked by the day...
Alpha trucks are going from one GNE bus to the next whilst those on Planet Bensham figure out where next to spaff money.
I think this is a hugely unsubstantiated claim. Nobody with knowledge of the maintenance budget figures at Go North East would be someone who would tell you what these are.