Anyone know if GNE have any extra services on 78/8 etc for Ed Sherran concert? 


As I know SC Sunderland have put their guide out

I honestly don't get why half the forum has been acting so pessimistic about GNE lately. Surely any bus company would know not to do this "we're reducing the services today because the day ends with a y" nonsense that you seem to be implying GNE is doing.

In any case, GNE wouldn't have *anywhere near* enough Solos in their fleet to allocate them to every single route, even if the completely ludicrous assumption that there'd be no services within a 10 mile radius of the gig turns out to be true, which it almost certainly won't.

(27 May 2022, 9:53 pm)wibblejunior wrote I honestly don't get why half the forum has been acting so pessimistic about GNE lately. Surely any bus company would know not to do this "we're reducing the services today because the day ends with a y" nonsense that you seem to be implying GNE is doing.

In any case, GNE wouldn't have *anywhere near* enough Solos in their fleet to allocate them to every single route, even if the completely ludicrous assumption that there'd be no services within a 10 mile radius of the gig turns out to be true, which it almost certainly won't.

It's a joke, jibbing at the fact the fact they cancelled a bunch of services last week and blamed it on the football.

(27 May 2022, 6:55 pm)Unber43 wrote Anyone know if GNE have any extra services on 78/8 etc for Ed Sherran concert? 


As I know SC Sunderland have put their guide out

Doubt it, can't imagine there being that much extra demand locally especially from the unique sections of the 8 and 78. Most people are out of towners who will use the Metro, stop in Sunderland or use a taxi since last buses usually aren't late enough for a gig anyway.

(27 May 2022, 9:53 pm)wibblejunior wrote I honestly don't get why half the forum has been acting so pessimistic about GNE lately. Surely any bus company would know not to do this "we're reducing the services today because the day ends with a y" nonsense that you seem to be implying GNE is doing.

In any case, GNE wouldn't have *anywhere near* enough Solos in their fleet to allocate them to every single route, even if the completely ludicrous assumption that there'd be no services within a 10 mile radius of the gig turns out to be true, which it almost certainly won't.

Between the Go North East bashing and the Best Impressions bashing, it’s all the forum has seen this week.

There is certainly justification for some of the criticism, don’t get me wrong, but a lot of the comments over the last week have been completely nonsensical to have another jab at GNE and it’s just a case of folk jumping on the bandwagon.


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(28 May 2022, 4:56 am)Dan wrote Between the Go North East bashing and the Best Impressions bashing, it’s all the forum has seen this week.

There is certainly justification for some of the criticism, don’t get me wrong, but a lot of the comments over the last week have been completely nonsensical to have another jab at GNE and it’s just a case of folk jumping on the bandwagon.


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Totally agree, fed up with it.

(28 May 2022, 4:56 am)Dan wrote Between the Go North East bashing and the Best Impressions bashing, it’s all the forum has seen this week.

There is certainly justification for some of the criticism, don’t get me wrong, but a lot of the comments over the last week have been completely nonsensical to have another jab at GNE and it’s just a case of folk jumping on the bandwagon.


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Bashing Best Impressions for bashing others?

Ray seems to be more than happy to be overly critical of others, so I'm sure he'd welcome the criticism in return. I don't mind a lot of his work, but I really dislike how he goes about it publicly. 

I haven't even bothered to skim read most of the changes thread, as I do agree that its turning more into slating a company (and almost insinuating that this is being done for fun) than constructively debating the changes and the impact they'll have on people.

(28 May 2022, 11:46 am)RMF1254 wrote Totally agree, fed up with it.

You could offer points and views which engage in discussion and offer an alternative view.

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(28 May 2022, 2:26 pm)Adrian wrote Bashing Best Impressions for bashing others?

Ray seems to be more than happy to be overly critical of others, so I'm sure he'd welcome the criticism in return. I don't mind a lot of his work, but I really dislike how he goes about it publicly. 

I haven't even bothered to skim read most of the changes thread, as I do agree that its turning more into slating a company (and almost insinuating that this is being done for fun) than constructively debating the changes and the impact they'll have on people.

I think there's been a lot of constructive debate in there.
There's also been jesting and jabbing in the direction of GNE. But to be fair, after some of their PR recently, I think it's only fair that it's pulled up.

(28 May 2022, 3:51 pm)Andreos1 wrote You could offer points and views which engage in discussion and offer an alternative view.

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I think there's been a lot of constructive debate in there.
There's also been jesting and jabbing in the direction of GNE. But to be fair, after some of their PR recently, I think it's only fair that it's pulled up.

It wasn't too long ago we were all being accused of constantly bashing Arriva and being GNE fanboys!

(28 May 2022, 5:20 pm)streetdeckfan wrote It wasn't too long ago we were all being accused of constantly bashing Arriva and being GNE fanboys!

Where's Clifton Hignett when you need him? He'd have something to say about it all.

I suppose the reason why it can sometimes *seem* that GNE get critiqued more than others, is because they are arguably the most PR-fluent of the North East bus operators, Stagecoach and Arriva don’t offer too much extra in the way of corporate communications and PR material. Comparing the ‘news’ section of each, Arriva and Stagecoach stick to just service updates, timetable changes and the like. For Arriva there’s one article about Jubilee events and another about Kids going free whereas GNE have ticket offers within their news section, they hosted an open day, have also backed LGBT pride and International Woman’s Day plus they have at least two jubilee articles and have branded a bus for such occasion too. So it’s hardly surprising that GNE comes under the spotlight more, as PR/comms is a two way street - you put yourself out there you put yourself out there for criticism too. The same can be said for slogans such as #BetterThanEver “Fit for the Future”, Arriva and Stagecoach avoid this sort of PR speak, to an extent.

Back to the topic of this thread - GNE do seem a bit late to the party on this one. Back in 2019, when Spice Girls came to Sunderland, they seemingly had an article up a month earlier with a travel guide - I suspect they may have held back in case of timetable or last minute changes this year, but it’s rather late as you’d expect people to have made travel arrangements with less than a week to go.

https://newsroom.gonortheast.co.uk/news/...ide-367536

Mind let’s hope a bit more attention to detail in such travel guide this years - I notice in 2019, they had advised people of the last bus to Consett on the 78 was at 10:10pm. Considering that was 10:10pm departure from Park Lane, a 10 to 15 minute walk from the Stadium of Light - they may as well have said there is no service to Consett as the show went on til 10:30 I believe, so you’d be lucky to make it to Park Lane for 10:45.

Seems to be quite large delays around the Sunderland network from the Ed Sheerans concert.

35A running 1 hour late
56 1 hour late / 30 mins late 
60 30 mins late

A few SC last buses passed me towards North estates and South Shields over an hour late. But fair play they were running still and I imagine there were the last ones as it was around midnight.

(04 Jun 2022, 12:04 am)Unber43 wrote Seems to be quite large delays around the Sunderland network from the Ed Sheerans concert.

35A running 1 hour late
56 1 hour late / 30 mins late 
60 30 mins late

When he played Cardiff the other week, he brought the motorways and several other major roads around north Bristol to a standstill!

Have any delays (not including any weather related events like Thunder Thursday or Beast From The East) ever topped the delays from the Blyth Tall Ships back in 2016? The biggest one there from GNE back then was 2hr 30mins.

Wow 2 hr 30. I was working on a massive job for the few days that it was in Sunderland, luckily I could watch it.

(04 Jun 2022, 11:43 am)idiot wrote Wow 2 hr 30. I was working on a massive job for the few days that it was in Sunderland, luckily I could watch it.

Yeah, was total gridlock all the way through Seaton Sluice to Blyth.

(28 May 2022, 5:53 pm)Andreos1 wrote Where's Clifton Hignett when you need him? He'd have something to say about it all.

I don't like all the MG bashing that goes on in this forum. While MG may not be as well-regarded as Daewoo or Proton in certain circles, they are still a respectable producer of motor cars with an impressive history which has seen multiple relaunches of the brand under various owners.

The only link they have with buses is that, through a series of mergers, they formed part of the British Leyland group. Other than that, I don't see the relevance of MG to a bua forum.