(16 Dec 2022, 9:53 am)morritt89 wrote I definitely think he is here for the long haul and dare I say it, he has a business mentality which is required to make the business profit making again.

Unfortunately this includes redundancy for non driving and engineering staff but does a depot really need 5 managers? At Arriva, again under Nigel, there were 2 managers at Belmont and that was it.

I can see, to the detriment of the network and passenger experience more service cuts and more staff going out to tender (at least that's guaranteed income).

The 4274 contracts have been handed back to DCC but apparently GNE has bid for them again. After the drivers pairwise, they became loss making (and also Nigel doesn't like the coaches).

As a driver I genuinely feel sorry for the managers particularly those that have worked there way up from being a driver and put the hours in and gone above and beyond. As for the timing at Christmas, redundancy is never something a manager wants to do so is there a right time?

As a final part, Nigel admitted in his staff memo that GNE was going downhill and losing money before Covid but obviously Covid was the straw that broke the camels back.

In my personal opinion, to much focus has been given to branding (Sunderland District) and little on board extras rather than focusing on what's important which is a bus which gets people from A to B when they want to go and is reliable. What difference does it matter what colour a bus us? Once your on it, you can't see the outside... 

I agree. It has been a huge focus. I've said it for years - but I don't think it works. Maybe the numbers and state of the network back the claims up.
Inevitably, we get the patter that 'people talk about it, so it must be working'. Really? Cut after cut, after rebrand, after paint job. That would tend to say otherwise.

The network is the issue. That's where the hard miles need putting in and it needs redesigning.
Bizarrely, it doesn't seem to be happening. We just keep seeing the same old, over and over again. With those cuts I mentioned above being thrown in to the mix.

Those cuts to routes and staff will save some money. It might stabilise the numbers on balance sheet. Will it grow the numbers? Doubt it.

Regarding the redundancies. I reckon they're going to be saving a 6 figure sum. Not massive and certainly not enough to save the company overall. But added together with other savings, it might balance things out a little.
Then what? More cuts? More cost savings?
At some point there needs to be growth. I'm unsure when (if ever) that's going to happen.