(26 Nov 2025, 7:50 pm)Superman wrote 25 of the E400's will to go Ashington & Blyth, but I understand that the 17 plate E400s are going to Yorkshire.
The last 6 will go to Redcar, replacing the B9's.
Ive been told that GNE have served notice on the Qualifying Agreement and it will therefore cease from March next year.
25 in doesn't seem enough if 12 of the newest ones are going to Yorkshire. That leaves the 14/64 plates which can't handle anything more than a 35, and the 72-plates which have constant electrical issues. Nothing to replace the crippled Pulsars either (1390-3, 1462, 1497, 1537-43) which are breaking on a daily basis. So that's a net negative overall.
In terms of the Coast Road, you'd have to assume GNE have served notice because of how bad the Arriva operation is. Constantly dropping services, leaving hour gaps in 308s, using Pulsars on peak runs from town, and not regulating anything.
Still yet to see any positivity from this new management that was meant to be fixing everything.
I hear the councillor for Pegswood is finally meeting with Arriva (after being ignored for months) to discuss the state of the 35. That'll be a fun conversation. "We've massively increased how many services we're running, but have got no suitable buses to run them, so we drop about 6 X21/22 boards a day to allow us to run the X30 which carries fresh air".