"SimpliCity" is a brand with no meaning if you ask me. In its current form, allocations are not particularly simplistic at all. To add insult to injury, when new vehicles arrive things will change again - even more confusion to the customer!
The 36 competed with some Stagecoach in Sunderland services, so the simplistic fare structures and price guarantees (refund if the customer finds a cheaper fare available) were appropriate then. The 42 doesn't trod on any other operator's territory (excluding Arriva's 23/24 service on the Stockton Rd/Ryhope Rd corridor, it's GNE's turf really), so why have the price guarantee on the 42? It's pointless in my opinion.
I liked that the services under the "SimpliCity" brand operated every 10/12 minutes, so the line of "Simply turn up and go" was appropriate... I feel, however, changes do need to be made to this brand; if changes were made, I don't think this sort of frequency could be retained. However, I feel that the brand is not strong enough just to hold the 42, so what's of more concern - retaining that line or allowing a brand to stand more chance of working? In its current form, "SimpliCity" has no meaning, so what's the point in it?
Town orientated services such as the 36/36A, 38/38A, 39 and 42 are all great contenders to be held within the "SimpliCity" brand, and "SimpliCity" could act something like "Venture" or "East Durham" if they were held within that brand. In my eyes, as the brand has no meaning (to my knowledge anyway), it could act as a generic brand to hold these town-orientated services and it would be appropriate. The brand isn't particularly appropriate for anything else - is it?
That said, realistically I doubt this will happen. I don't think the 39 in its current form is going to last... Sunderland to Doxford Park the extra runs are almost guaranteed to be empty, and the drivers I've spoken to about the service changes have essentially said it's a duty where you can skive ('10 minutes waiting time at Doxxy Park, quick run back, '10 minutes waiting time at Sunderland' rings a bell), but that alone at present provides a PVR of 8. Add on top of that a further 2 for the 38, 5 for 42 and 4 (?) for the 36/36A... It's not going to happen. An overall PVR of 19, the vehicles aren't there for GNE to have it as a generic brand for Sunderland town services - and are services such as the 38/38A really worthy of such an upgrade?
I've tried to think of a workaround for the problem of not having enough vehicles in order to make it work, but I really can't think of anything that is feasible. One idea I had was, because the "Fab Fifty Six" brand is rumoured to be receiving new vehicles in the future, that these vehicles could be used on this revised "SimpliCity" brand. There are 16 in total, so if service changes to the 39 were to be reverted back to their original 20 minute frequency, it would work PVR-wise. Although upgrading/retaining the same Euro status as before for some services, the 42 would be downgraded from Euro 5 - something which makes me feel it just wouldn't happen. GNE are looking to upgrade services rather than downgrade.
Assuming they haven't already departed the fleet if/when the 56 gets a vehicle upgrade, the above suggestions would allow several SPDs to be withdrawn and would perhaps release a few "Northern" branded B10BLEs to other services/depots.
RE: Go North East Service Suggestions