(13 Mar 2023, 2:06 pm)cbma06 wrote Probably more because GCT put the lowest bid in to run the contract and not DCC being desperate
Well let's face it, there's not exactly a lot of choice when it comes to operators that would be interested in running this service especially for only 3 months, literally everyone who normally goes for service work is miles away from Kelloe & Hartlepool and Arriva have ruled themselves out of the running so could well have been about the only company willing to take it on, they're helped by the loss of Nexus contracts around the same time freeing up a few buses & drivers.
It's not the first time GCT has signed up to provide an interim contract for DCC, last year they stepped in to operate the 104 in the Bishop Auckland area after Rural Link chucked the contact.
A bit more info on the arrangements, copied from Trimdon Times Facebook page:
Information regarding local bus services, many thanks to Cllr. Lucy Hovvels for the info:
===========
Dear Councillor,
You may be aware that there are changes propose to Arriva bus services in your division from 2nd April and the purpose of this email is to provide the background and information on the steps being taken to address issues raised.
Bus services in general are under great pressure at present due to rising costs, passenger numbers that are reduced from pre-pandemic levels, a shortage of drivers and uncertainty over Government’s covid recovery funding to the industry.
Services 57 and 57a between Durham and Hartlepool which although supported financially to a considerable extent by the Council are essentially operated commercially by Arriva, however, in the face of the uncertainty over Government Bus Recovery Grant funding and the seemingly intractable driver shortage Arriva have felt compelled to make some economies on this pair of routes.
Officers in IPT were not satisfied with the service that Arriva advised us they were planning to retrench to in the face of these challenges so we have in recent weeks been negotiating a more satisfactory arrangement which we will fund in its entirety.
We do have to have an eye to costs and the available funds, however, so the service we are proposing is a ‘new’ hourly service 58 Mon-Sun in place of the 57 Durham-Coxhoe-Kelloe-Quarrington Hill-Cassop-Thornley-Wheatley Hill-Wingate-Hartlepool and a new service 59 Mon-Sat every two hours between Kelloe and Hartlepool via Trimdon in place of that part of the 57A. Unfortunately to make the bus cycles work it will not be possible to serve Morley Crescent or Woodland Crescent in Kelloe so they will no longer have a bus service.
Arriva will operate the service 58 under a deminimis negotiation for 12 months and it is likely (but yet to be confirmed) that Gateshead Central will operate the 59 as am emergency contract for 3 months to allow for the funding situation to evolve. Details are to be finalised but ticket acceptance will be in place so that passengers interchanging between services will not be penalised.
Full timetables will be released shortly as soon as details are confirmed.
Stuart D Woods
Passenger Transport Services & Network Planning Team Leader
Integrated Passenger Transport
Regeneration & Local Services
Durham County Council
County Hall