(28 Dec 2014, 9:46 pm)John_R wrote There's still a couple of OK Way MPD's in Bishop Auckland on Service 18

I was talking about the OK1, not the 18.

Just to add to this comment, I think GNE did lose a lot from the OK1.

Where do I start? They had to withdraw a service - which no bus company wants to do - and lost a brand. Both pretty big things, really.

In all fairness, they didn't exactly use the 18 with the OK name, did they? They marketed it mainly with the OK1, didn't they? A little local service isn't going to get people's attention from all over the region, whilst a route between two prominent areas might.

If people hadn't been so quick to use Arriva's X1, only really because they had been in the area longer,and a form of 'trust' had been formed with the provider, and Go North East weren't the 'newbies' in the ground - it may well have survived.

The list goes on - drivers lost jobs, I believe. What would they do? Be scattered all around the region, be tranferred to Hexham for the new service? Some may have gone to work for independants, some may have transferred to nearby depots, but some would have had to give their jobs up over a 'competition'.

Fair enough it was a commerical venture, but it didn't work for Go North East, and they did lose stuff as a result.