(13 Apr 2026, 4:35 pm)Dan wrote I note from tracking data that this bus departed at 17:26:28 (32 seconds early).
Which is within the TC definition of 'on time' - something you'd like to think certain people posting on here would know before making themselves look silly.
Some people on this forum would be in for an awful shock if they ever attempted to use a Stagecoach service with any regularity, who Northstar replaced on the 18. As someone who used Stagecoach for a year to commute, they are guilty of all the points raised in previous points and far, far more - including the below:
- Regularly leaving timing points more than 1E - including leaving the first stop on a route over 2 minutes early on multiple occasions. On some of these occasions I was aware the driver changed on that trip, so it was clearly a deliberate effort.
- Deliberately delaying services - waiting time at stops despite already late running for cigarette breaks (or equivalent).
- Buses with no working destination, and no paper in window.
- Heavily soiled seating on all fabric seat vehicles - the E300s and 58-plate E400s at Slatyford are particularly bad. Walkergate don't seem to be quite as horrific on this point.
- Speeding through estates frequently, to the point that staff had to go with a speed gun to see how quickly their drivers were going along one particular piece of road.
- Multiple drivers who should be nowhere near a customer facing role, and borderline shouldn't be on the road with the level of anger they had. One in particular who was aggressive to at least one passenger each time I boarded their bus - I've not seen him for a while though, so maybe Stagecoach management have finally seen sense.
- Severe late running on routes which didn't have timetables set by Nexus, and no action to change the timetables. Included within this are/were insane PM peak interworking patterns which for a while ensured certain services either didn't operate or were always 10+ minutes late.
- Customer services who frequently tried to gaslight passengers. For example, one day I arrived for an Eldon Square departure at (for example, because I can't remember exactly) 30 mins past the hour. I took a picture of the bus reversing off stand at 28 minutes past. They initially denied the service had left early, saying it had left at 31 mins past. Even when I sent them the picture with a timestamp they tried to deny it, before I asked them to look at the CCTV and they finally accepted they were in the wrong.
Yet you'd be forgiven for thinking Stagecoach are operating in Newcastle without issue given the severe criticism of SMEs sometimes on here. All of the above is with a far larger resource allocation and budget than an SME, too.