(17 Dec 2022, 8:03 pm)Storx wrote I'm not sure it would be in the best interests of GNE that mind.

Coast Road, 306/308 are primary routes - 309/310/311 out.
Wallsend, 22 primary route - 1 out.
Gosforth, 43/44/45 primary routes - Q3 out.
Sunderland to West Seaham / Peterlee, 22/23 primary routes - 61 out.
Durham to Bishop Auckland, 6 primary route - X21 out.
Sunderland to Pennywell, 20 primary route, 39/39A out.

GoNorthEast are generally the nuisance operator in terms of duplicating things.

I'm not saying none of those routes should exist but the sake of removing all duplication then those would have to go. In fact I can't think of any where the other 2 are the nuisance tbh other than maybe the X12 between Durham and Newcastle but again it has its purpose.

It looks that way when you look at it but if look to how Oxford done there's earlier in the year if either Oxford Bus Company or Stagecoach were losing out on a shared corridor then the latter was awarded a contract of services from the latter on another shared corridor or a non competitive corridor, not sure if that work up here as I would say our services are more complex and each operate in the same areas with a varying percentage of who's the more dominant operator.

That is why I would then say once you've removed all duplication of services then they should all be retendered and open to bidding from all operators in similar way to how they are working it out in Manchester with there "Bee Network" which be starting in September 2023. 

Only other way I could see it benefitting both Arriva and Go North East was if they did a trade of Arriva Durham (Belmont/Full X12 Ops) for Go North East (Percy Main/Q3-Riverside), that would make "Arriva the Primary Operator in North Tyneside through to Blyth" and "Go North East the Primary Operator in County Durham" and then streamline the frequency's of services from there to better suit passenger demand.