(13 Nov 2022, 8:31 pm)L469 YVK wrote But will Arriva manage to recruit drivers? Given that they lost a fair chunk from Jesmond, gonna be very hard to replace not forgetting that Blyth & Ashington also have minor shortages too on top.
Plus looking at things geographically, are there going to be many people in South East Northumberland looking to become bus drivers? And then anyone who lives further north in North Tyneside will likely be swayed by GNE (Percy Main) or Stagecoach (Walkergate / Slatyford) rather than Blyth or Ashington.
Even if the 50 series routes all got downgraded to minibuses, are Arriva going to want the hassle of them routes including issues such as the Clean Air Zone that will cost money longer term? Asides from the the 306 that interworks with the 308 and the 43/44/45 which are money makers, the move to Blyth and Ashington is effectively Northumberland centered. The 51/52/53/54/55 barely touch Northumberland other than Cramlington (52/53).
If Arriva can't find replacement drivers to fill the gaps plus the headaches of the 47 & 50's, I reckon the 47/51/52/53/54/55 would just go out to tender with Stagecoach picking up the full 685. That would automatically sort the driver numbers out for Blyth & Ashington including Blyth picking up the 306 (as now) and Ashington or Blyth picking up the 43/44/45.
Going to be interesting in March as that is when the North Tyneside network tends to be reviewed with the Nexus contracts & tenders.
Not much to add what mb134 said so I'd just be parroting.
One thing though is it'll be interesting to see what happens with Percy Main long term as they don't particularly have any work lately and I can't imagine there will be many people who want to run school buses which are the worst.
They've only really got the 1, 19, 309/310/311 and 41/41A now and they could lose the 1 in the evenings and 19 in whole if the contracts go wrong. The wages between the two aren't miles apart now either being £12.65 at Arriva vs £12.83 at GNE according to latest job adverts so that could be a positive for people picking Arriva not to mention the chore of urban work with Stagecoach which won't be some people's cup of tea. There's some drivers who are happily paid less on the minibus rota at Ashington to stay away from Newcastle.