(01 Sep 2022, 4:40 pm)stagecoachbusdepot wrote Maybe the marketing team just need to think outside the box a bit - maybe even use a bit of common sense - and recognise that if they are cancelling upwards of 200 services in a day, then having 8 people who could collectively have covered a chunk of those services "marketing" a service is probably not a great look for a company with the current reputation of GNE for leaving people stranded/inconvenienced.

Since when was giving up classed as 'thinking outside the box'?

Maybe those 8 people don't want to be out driving buses, I know I certainly wouldn't want to!

(01 Sep 2022, 4:48 pm)Dan wrote Since when was giving up classed as 'thinking outside the box'?

Sigh. Was parking 8 buses on the quayside the only possible way to market the service?  Thinking outside the box might have involved some other, less human resource intensive ideas.   It might have required a pragmatic approach of while we might like to do this and have all eight buses lined up, we could probably manage with one, given we are inconveniencing huge volumes of customers across our network - and use the other 7/8 of the PCV holders to reduce that inconvenience.  It might have involved use of digital.  Or it might have involved direct mail as others have indicated they have found effective in the past.  Thinking outside the box would in very general terms involve looking at what is the most effective way to achieve the aim, given the context. 

While others on the forum may well criticise a lack of marketing, my personal view is that at the minute, it probably makes next to no difference for the vast majority of people.  So personally, I would have just done a soft launch (as has been done many other times) and focussed on providing the very best service possible for existing customers, by doing everything possible to minimise cancellations.  But what do I know, I'm not managing a failing company.

(01 Sep 2022, 4:59 pm)streetdeckfan wrote Maybe those 8 people don't want to be out driving buses, I know I certainly wouldn't want to!

And perhaps some of those eight can't drive buses in service - maybe their CPC cards have expired, or have another reason why they can drive a bus out of service for half an hour tops, but not do an 8 hour shift?

(01 Sep 2022, 4:24 pm)stagecoachbusdepot wrote If they're capable of driving a bus, driving one in service might have been more useful to the public.

If they're not employed to drive a bus, then it's unreasonable to ask or expect them to drive a bus day in, day out. 

There's still a business to run, and that doesn't start at the buses on the road.

(01 Sep 2022, 5:10 pm)stagecoachbusdepot wrote Sigh. Was parking 8 buses on the quayside the only possible way to market the service?  Thinking outside the box might have involved some other, less human resource intensive ideas.   It might have required a pragmatic approach of while we might like to do this and have all eight buses lined up, we could probably manage with one, given we are inconveniencing huge volumes of customers across our network - and use the other 7/8 of the PCV holders to reduce that inconvenience.  It might have involved use of digital.  Or it might have involved direct mail as others have indicated they have found effective in the past.  Thinking outside the box would in very general terms involve looking at what is the most effective way to achieve the aim, given the context. 

While others on the forum may well criticise a lack of marketing, my personal view is that at the minute, it probably makes next to no difference for the vast majority of people.  So personally, I would have just done a soft launch (as has been done many other times) and focussed on providing the very best service possible for existing customers, by doing everything possible to minimise cancellations.  But what do I know, I'm not managing a failing company.

I'd say that creating a dominating display, in a high footfall location, is a pretty effective way of marketing a bus service. Not only that, but they appear to have ensured that there were numerous stakeholders present, which again is an effective tactic, because they then talk about or discuss with their own networks. 

Digital has been used heavily for this campaign, but we don't know (or need to know tbh) how effective it has been, as we don't have access to the analytics for it. In the past, both TV and Radio commercials have been used, and direct mail drops as you say. 

I don't think what they're doing marketing-wise is bad or ineffective at all, and in fact a lot of the criticism to the team on here is completely unfair. 

I just see it as being against a backdrop of massive disruption and a lack of visible action to resolve it, which is impossible to hide away from, because it's having such a negative impact on people's lives and their livelihood. But I'm sure we'll be repeating this conversation after Arriva's event on Friday.

(01 Sep 2022, 5:17 pm)Adrian wrote If they're not employed to drive a bus, then it's unreasonable to ask or expect them to drive a bus day in, day out. 

There's still a business to run, and that doesn't start at the buses on the road.

Wait, you're saying that people who work for a bus company have jobs other than driving a bus?!?!?!?!

I imagine pretty much everyone on the engineering team is licenced to drive a bus, but if they were out driving them all day, who would be fixing them?

(01 Sep 2022, 5:29 pm)streetdeckfan wrote Wait, you're saying that people who work for a bus company have jobs other than driving a bus?!?!?!?!

I imagine pretty much everyone on the engineering team is licenced to drive a bus, but if they were out driving them all day, who would be fixing them?

I know, how dare they! 

Next time the IT team are short, it's OK because we'll just ask the marketing team to step in.

(01 Sep 2022, 5:32 pm)Adrian wrote I know, how dare they! 

Next time the IT team are short, it's OK because we'll just ask the marketing team to step in.

Or next time the Finance department are short, they'll just ask the creative team to step in. Oh, that's another GAG division...

Having publicity photos for the likes Nexus, Transport North East and the other stakeholders would be a bit pointless without the Buses themselves!

What were they supposed to do? Stand in front of a light switch to resemble something electric?

Bit of a random thought, but is it just me who dislikes the destination displays on the Yutong's? I don't know what's different with them they just look awful compared to the normal ones on all other buses.

(01 Sep 2022, 6:23 pm)Jack Gill wrote Bit of a random thought, but is it just me who dislikes the destination displays on the Yutong's? I don't know what's different with them they just look awful compared to the normal ones on all other buses.

Aren't they Mobitec screens, like the Voltra Next Stops screens are?

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(01 Sep 2022, 5:27 pm)Adrian wrote I'd say that creating a dominating display, in a high footfall location, is a pretty effective way of marketing a bus service. Not only that, but they appear to have ensured that there were numerous stakeholders present, which again is an effective tactic, because they then talk about or discuss with their own networks. 

Digital has been used heavily for this campaign, but we don't know (or need to know tbh) how effective it has been, as we don't have access to the analytics for it. In the past, both TV and Radio commercials have been used, and direct mail drops as you say. 

I don't think what they're doing marketing-wise is bad or ineffective at all, and in fact a lot of the criticism to the team on here is completely unfair. 

I just see it as being against a backdrop of massive disruption and a lack of visible action to resolve it, which is impossible to hide away from, because it's having such a negative impact on people's lives and their livelihood. But I'm sure we'll be repeating this conversation after Arriva's event on Friday.

To be fair though did they really need to take 8 buses to achieve that goal when it could've been done with 1 bus and had the same level of impact, I think for the most part this was excessive and inconvenienced the large footfall of passers by in blocking a public highway and cycle route off completely.

(01 Sep 2022, 6:23 pm)Jack Gill wrote Bit of a random thought, but is it just me who dislikes the destination displays on the Yutong's? I don't know what's different with them they just look awful compared to the normal ones on all other buses.

I don’t like the fat font for 53/54/Q3. Not sure why they have to be different to every other routes.

---

To where?

https://flic.kr/p/2nHZbkZ

(01 Sep 2022, 7:40 pm)ne14ne1 wrote I don’t like the fat font for 53/54/Q3. Not sure why they have to be different to every other routes.

---

To where?

https://flic.kr/p/2nHZbkZ

I don't mind it. One thing I will say having popped by the event today, the rear destinations today at least were flicking between two destinations, one would show 'Q3' in the bold font but then in the next it would be too thin where it looks more like it says '03' rather than 'Q3'

(01 Sep 2022, 7:29 pm)Malarkey wrote To be fair though did they really need to take 8 buses to achieve that goal when it could've been done with 1 bus and had the same level of impact, I think for the most part this was excessive and inconvenienced the large footfall of passers by in blocking a public highway and cycle route off completely.

The Quayside market blocks the same public highway and cycle route off every Sunday.

I don't think 1 bus would have achieved what they wanted from the launch event. See the discussions a couple years ago re: 'one bus in a field' and the Festival of Transport.

Instead of going to the actual launch, I lay in wait near the depot waiting for them to return. Happily I was right in chosing my spot and they all came along in numerical order barring 5806 which is having an extended stay down in Yorkshire due to issue with the flooring I believe.

Anyway photo start from 5801 - https://www.flickr.com/photos/gjm-photog...2328046210

Also the full list of registrations are....
5801 - NL72ETR
5802 - NL72ETT
5803 - NL72ETU
5804 - NL72ETV
5805 - NL72EUA
5806 - NL72EUB
5807 - NL72EUC
5808 - NL72EUD
5809 - NL72EUE

(01 Sep 2022, 7:58 pm)Adrian wrote The Quayside market blocks the same public highway and cycle route off every Sunday.

I don't think 1 bus would have achieved what they wanted from the launch event. See the discussions a couple years ago re: 'one bus in a field' and the Festival of Transport.

I can't imagine they'd have been allowed to run the event anyway if it was blocking the entire route, from the photos I've seen it was passable even on bikes.

Festival of Transport was a (rubbish) charged-for event where the sole purpose was to showcase a range of transport from years gone by so one bus in a field was something of a letdown.  I'm not sure it's that helpful to try to conflate that scenario with this event which was entirely different in purpose and scope.  This was an event presumably aiming to promote to the passing public (not spotters) the introduction of new vehicles to a bus service.  It wasn't charged for and I doubt they expected joe public to travel to the quayside specifically to see the buses.  For that purpose, I dont think many people that they would have been targeting are going to have thought "nope, not getting the message here, there's only one bus". Of course FOT was also about private owners/groups not as in this case an operator choosing to deploy resource on this. set against the backdrop of months of abysmal operations. The two scenarios are just nothing alike.

There are signposted diversions for cyclists if the Quayside path is closed to them. Pedestrians wouldn't have been impeded based on the usual football at that time of day, apart from when there were the photoshoots.

The endless moaning on this forum is getting ridiculous now. It seems whatever GNE do, people here find a reason to complain about it

I don’t know why people bother creating all the different threads, when they all the same - just people complaining

I read a lot on here but completely agree.

(02 Sep 2022, 8:30 pm)Wybus wrote The endless moaning on this forum is getting ridiculous now. It seems whatever GNE do, people here find a reason to complain about it

I don’t know why people bother creating all the different threads, when they all the same - just people complaining

I mean as tedious as some of the moaning can be, I'm not sure a post moaning about moaning, is the right way to combat moaning...

Maybe a well-constructed counter argument would be better? It is a discussion forum, after all...

(02 Sep 2022, 8:30 pm)Wybus wrote The endless moaning on this forum is getting ridiculous now. It seems whatever GNE do, people here find a reason to complain about it

I don’t know why people bother creating all the different threads, when they all the same - just people complaining

Its a reflection of attitudes in 2022, not just this forum.

(02 Sep 2022, 10:01 pm)Arcticrossy92 wrote Its a reflection of attitudes in 2022, not just this forum.

Indeed. You see it in all walks of life now, folk are a lot grumpier and have different attitudes compared to pre-Covid. Would be interesting to understand why (perhaps streetdeckfan can do some market research for us - as long as he has a good sample size!)

It does get tiring to read the same old drivel on this forum, but the important thing is to take it all with a pinch of salt and have some fun. It’s often not worth responding seriously as it’s more entertaining to poke fun and have a laugh with it.


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(02 Sep 2022, 10:10 pm)Dan wrote Indeed. You see it in all walks of life now, folk are a lot grumpier and have different attitudes compared to pre-Covid. Would be interesting to understand why (perhaps streetdeckfan can do some market research for us - as long as he has a good sample size!)

It does get tiring to read the same old drivel on this forum, but the important thing is to take it all with a pinch of salt and have some fun. It’s often not worth responding seriously as it’s more entertaining to poke fun and have a laugh with it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

As long as you're paying, my services aren't cheap!

It seems like everyone is just being negative for the sake of being negative! At least when I'm having a good moan I try and back it up with reason and facts!

Why can't we go back to all loving GNE and being accused of Arriva bashing!

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(02 Sep 2022, 10:10 pm)Dan wrote Indeed. You see it in all walks of life now, folk are a lot grumpier and have different attitudes compared to pre-Covid. Would be interesting to understand why (perhaps streetdeckfan can do some market research for us - as long as he has a good sample size!)

It does get tiring to read the same old drivel on this forum, but the important thing is to take it all with a pinch of salt and have some fun. It’s often not worth responding seriously as it’s more entertaining to poke fun and have a laugh with it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My excuse is cus im nearly 30 and im sticking to it

Tried out the new E12s today. Really good quality bus and I'd say a massive improvement on any other modern bus (maybe minus the GNE Spec E400MMC) I've travelled on recently. The improvement on seating from the E10s is a good move. The huge next stop screens look great too.

There's really nothing negative, but from a talking point, I noticed there is that there's a couple of bell-press buttons placed in a precarious position. On the back of the seats in front of the first step up, and I can see quite a few accidental knee-presses of those, which will sharp wind drivers up!

The only other thing was the USB charging points, and that we're still lacking USB-C charging. Given that the EU (I know, we're not in it!, but we'll get this by default) are moving towards USB-C being standard by 2024, it's surprising that the manufacturer hasn't had the foresight to offer them in these buses.

Both the Wallsend section and Gosforth section I travelled on seemed to be well-used into Newcastle. The Gosforth to Newcastle journey being full, despite two Arrivas and a Stagecoach being in front of it and not a notable football fan in sight.

(03 Sep 2022, 8:56 pm)Adrian wrote Tried out the new E12s today. Really good quality bus and I'd say a massive improvement on any other modern bus (maybe minus the GNE Spec E400MMC) I've travelled on recently. The improvement on seating from the E10s is a good move. The huge next stop screens look great too.

There's really nothing negative, but from a talking point, I noticed there is that there's a couple of bell-press buttons placed in a precarious position. On the back of the seats in front of the first step up, and I can see quite a few accidental knee-presses of those, which will sharp wind drivers up!

The only other thing was the USB charging points, and that we're still lacking USB-C charging. Given that the EU (I know, we're not in it!, but we'll get this by default) are moving towards USB-C being standard by 2024, it's surprising that the manufacturer hasn't had the foresight to offer them in these buses.

Both the Wallsend section and Gosforth section I travelled on seemed to be well-used into Newcastle. The Gosforth to Newcastle journey being full, despite two Arrivas and a Stagecoach being in front of it and not a notable football fan in sight.

How are the seats cushion wise? I've made my opinions clear on here before about the E400 seats, I find them to have too much cushion, with too little support. Now granted passengers aren't expected to sit there for an hour like they are on the E400s (I find the seats tolerable for short journeys).

As for the Type C charging, I think they're better off prioritising chargers that actually charge over a different plug standard. They seem to have such little current to each charger that they barely charge a phone, even the ones on the new StreetDecks and E400s. I'm not saying they need 100W USB-PD chargers to every seat (although that would be handy!), it would be nice to have a little bit more umph to them so it doesn't just maintain the level of battery.