Anyone know the seating capacity of the new Versa? Surely at 11.7m it's going to be around 43? Don't bendies just have 50 seats and room for 50 standees? Don't the bendies have the wheelchair ramp in the middle, so won't boarding the Versa be easier for wheelchair passengers? How many standing passengers will the Versa take?

Think its 44 sitting, dunno about standing

(04 Oct 2013, 2:45 pm)Michael wrote Im also reading the comments and to be fair their right but id rather have new buses with WIFI then a bendy any day, they moan about the bendies anyway, can't GNE win?

Some of the bendies are full to capacity with standees taking up quite a bit of the gangway - not much fun standing on a Versa trying to make use of the wifi

(04 Oct 2013, 2:28 pm)Michael wrote As we all know the Citylink are getting new buses - GNE confirmed it for everyone today, who didn't know - i.e Non Enthusiast's

http://www.simplygo.com/news/citylink-58...ming-soon/

The M1 get's new buses for it and hasn't even being mentioned yet

Think GNE should of said new buses for all its service's in 1 post

Citylink would probably have not been mentioned yet if it had not been at Bus and Coach Show. Remember the Citaro's are not branded yet and will not be until the back end of next week. They would not have put a picture on of just a blue bus

(04 Oct 2013, 3:33 pm)Liam wrote Your asking the folk of eastern Gateshead to stand? The outrage! Expect the complaints about the Versa being too small to flood in, especially if poor old Dot can't get her trolley on the bus.

Should be banned anyway.

(04 Oct 2013, 12:58 pm)Chris wrote What are the loadings like these days on the X21? 3 year old Mercs, maybe stick in a bit of wi-fi and a nice shiny brand (maybe along the lines of Citylink or Tynedale Express - definately an improvement on recent efforts) with a bit of marketing....

I assume the fact that Arriva have also recently upped their game on the express Newcastle - Durham market may be in their thinking as well?

Am I missing something on this Arriva upping their game on the X2 ? As a regular user of it whilst the Prestege's may have mostly gone, the reliability is pretty poor, the buses aren't that clean and the customer service bit is sadly lacking still

(04 Oct 2013, 2:45 pm)Michael wrote Im also reading the comments and to be fair their right but id rather have new buses with WIFI then a bendy any day, they moan about the bendies anyway, can't GNE win?

The bendies on the 58 have a bit of a nightmare negotiating some parts of Leam Lane Estate. I honestly don't know why they put them on that route in the first place, as I don't think an articulated bus is really suitable for it.

They also put the 58 announcment on Twitter too of course - 2 of the 3 comments so far have been negative.

If GNE couldn't replace the bendies with newer bendies then they should have at least had dual doored vehicles purchased. On the morning commute into Newcastle (on the Newcastle side of the route) theres often been no standing room left either - this is on a 3 doored artic.
...So I'm not exactly looking forward to alighting from a single doored versa.

I'm not impressed at all lol. I suppose the one positive will be next stop announcments, (shame it never sounds as professional as Londons ibus system though) - then again if we can't get on the bus in the first place then announcements won't win me around.



I'd like to know why the Newcastle stops aren't included in the text along the bus windows - the Gatehead side seems to be more important to them yet again.

(04 Oct 2013, 6:38 pm)big mac wrote The bendies on the 58 have a bit of a nightmare negotiating some parts of Leam Lane Estate. I honestly don't know why they put them on that route in the first place, as I don't think an articulated bus is really suitable for it.

They're definitely not suitable! One crashed in to a set of traffic lights at Windy Nook junction a few months ago. However, I struggle to see how the Versas will cope and why they didn't choose double-deck vehicles instead.

Am I right in thinking these will be used on the 58X also?

(04 Oct 2013, 6:56 pm)BJ10VUS wrote They're definitely not suitable! One crashed in to a set of traffic lights at Windy Nook junction a few months ago. However, I struggle to see how the Versas will cope and why they didn't choose double-deck vehicles instead.

This is exactly my view point. The previous Diamond Citaros on it were 40 seats and 28 standees, they were upgraded to bendies because of capacity, which is still an issue at peak times. The new Versa are 44 seats and 23 standees. And in an age of increasing bus usage with the encouragement of ditching the car - yup, it is a backwards step. The long chassis length with the front to rear axle distance isn't great for its turning circle either. Wish I was a fly on the bus wall.

(04 Oct 2013, 7:18 pm)mattdw92 wrote This is exactly my view point. The previous Diamond Citaros on it were 40 seats and 28 standees, they were upgraded to bendies because of capacity, which is still an issue at peak times. The new Versa are 44 seats and 23 standees. And in an age of increasing bus usage with the encouragement of ditching the car - yup, it is a backwards step. The long chassis length with the front to rear axle distance isn't great for its turning circle either. Wish I was a fly on the bus wall.

It does beggar belief that they took the Citaros off to increase capacity and are now going small(er? - I always think the Versa looks cramped compared to a Citaro) again. Hate it when companies pay no attention to capacity issues - or pay attention then presumably think 'fuck it, lets cram them in again'!

I live on the 58 route and think the Versa is a bad choice, a decker would be a far better choice. The times Ive hsd a Olympian or B7 its always been busy upstairs and the bendies are often full of standees.

(04 Oct 2013, 7:33 pm)lesybear2002 wrote I live on the 58 route and think the Versa is a bad choice, a decker would be a far better choice. The times Ive hsd a Olympian or B7 its always been busy upstairs and the bendies are often full of standees.

The problem is the route. I think if it was a straighter route, bendies would be a good idea, but it's not suitable for Leam Lane and Whitehills. It's a nightmare when two pull up in Felling Square too, not helped by cars parked on double yellows.

You have to remember ETM data would have been used as well to check passenger loadings. If GNE did not think the Versa would not work...they would not have bought them.

This Bendy v Versa debate reminds me a lot of when the Marshall Darts and Wright Handybus's were brought in 20 years ago to take over from Nationals/Lynx'es in Washington/Sunderland and Delta's/Lance's around Gateshead.
Look what happened there?

I genuinely don't get it.

I have said since the begining that the Bendy's weren't suited around Leam Lane, but the Versa's aren't suited for the 58.

Capacity issues are a problem at times on the 58 as it stands, so what the hell is going to happen on a smaller bus?

At times, I seriously wonder what goes on at GNE towers (I'm being carefully I don't go down the route Mr Malarkey went down here) - especially with the recent events specific to the 1 and now the 58.

We could debate till we're blue in the face, time will tell! But I will be placing a timer on how long they will last, similarly as I did with the bendies.....

Sooner rather than later I hope

(04 Oct 2013, 7:42 pm)citaro5284 wrote You have to remember ETM data would have been used as well to check passenger loadings. If GNE did not think the Versa would not work...they would not have bought them.

Problem is they probably did similar monitoring when they concluded the Omnicities were suitable for the 21/22... GNE's track record doesn't exactly full you with confidence!

(04 Oct 2013, 8:47 pm)stagecoachbusdepot wrote Problem is they probably did similar monitoring when they concluded the Omnicities were suitable for the 21/22... GNE's track record doesn't exactly full you with confidence!

What year was that? Because, I'm not sure they got rid of the Wayfarers until around the June changes in 2010.

(04 Oct 2013, 8:55 pm)BJ10VUS wrote What year was that? Because, I'm not sure they got rid of the Wayfarers until around the June changes in 2010.

Omnicity Angels were 2007. Probably less technical tests and the demand back then wasn't there, so down grading from decker was plausible.

(04 Oct 2013, 9:01 pm)mattdw92 wrote Omnicity Angels were 2007. Probably less technical tests and the demand back then wasn't there, so down grading from decker was plausible.

It was an unmitigated disaster, which meant the Tridents were pulled off the Coaster and repainted to rescue things, which still didn't really work so they had a stroke of genius and bought the Vykings that were hardly a raging success. I'm sure at the time that the Omnis were getting pulled off the late Peter Huntley freely admitted they should never have been purchased for the route...

And back even in 2007, the loading data would have been available to GNE if they had wanted to look at it - maybe not as easily accessible, but they clearly would have had a means of monitoring loadings.

There was a knackered Prince Bishops Solar parked up in one of the laybys on the Wessington Way at about 10.30pm. Just after the retail park on the way to Sunderland.

What a shit time to breakdown, haha

(04 Oct 2013, 10:26 pm)Michael wrote What a shit time to breakdown, haha

Looks like its staying there the night. I don't even know why it would have been around there.

(04 Oct 2013, 10:29 pm)aureolin wrote Looks like its staying there the night. I don't even know why it would have been around there.

running back to the Depot after working off route on the 56 or something perhaps.

(04 Oct 2013, 10:57 pm)Adam Malarkey wrote running back to the Depot after working off route on the 56 or something perhaps.

Was on the west bound carriageway. That's why I didn't understand why it would have got there.

Driver having a nap maybe, it does seem odd that it was parked on the west bound side of the road

(04 Oct 2013, 9:15 pm)stagecoachbusdepot wrote And back even in 2007, the loading data would have been available to GNE if they had wanted to look at it - maybe not as easily accessible, but they clearly would have had a means of monitoring loadings.

Even without fancy ticket machines, loadings can be analysed.

Nowt better than the human eye or interviewing drivers.

I wonder if decisions were made by the failure of drivers to 'press the button' in relation to day or month tickets? Particularly a Day Rover or Network Travelticket.
Even with a dodgy buzzfare machine, drivers would just wave a passenger on.

It doesn't seem to happen so much now - but I could go for ages without seeing my ticket or other passengers tickets, registered on the machine on boarding.

(05 Oct 2013, 8:18 am)Andreos1 wrote Even without fancy ticket machines, loadings can be analysed.

Nowt better than the human eye or interviewing drivers.

I wonder if decisions were made by the failure of drivers to 'press the button' in relation to day or month tickets? Particularly a Day Rover or Network Travelticket.
Even with a dodgy buzzfare machine, drivers would just wave a passenger on.

It doesn't seem to happen so much now - but I could go for ages without seeing my ticket or other passengers tickets, registered on the machine on boarding.

I've noticed a few drivers doing that. - A lot of them never 'press the button'' in relation to Nexus CAT's either.

The thing is the 58 is at its busiest at peak times so mornings between 8-9 then at nights between 4 and 6, just because the bus is going to be packed at these times doesn't justify gne buying double deckers for the service, the versas will be great during the day because its still a well used service, but its not so well used that it would need deckers or bigger single deckers, you look back at when they used citaros they were only ever jam packed at peak times