GNE currently asking for thoughts about potential service changes within Newcastle/Gateshead, Sunderland and County Durham which are expected to be implemented on October 26th 2025:  Link to changes

Drop in events for these changes are at:

Thursday 28 August - 3pm-6pm - Sunderland Park Lane Interchange.
Friday 29 August - 9am-12pm - Durham Bus Station.
Monday 1 September - 9am-12pm - Sunderland Park Lane Interchange.
Tuesday 2 September - 3pm-6pm - Durham Bus Station.
Thursday 4 September - 9.30am-1pm - Houghton Library

Ahhhh so they're wanting to re-split the X20 into the 14 and X20, is it really such a bad move?, also the 58A confuses me , is it the 57 just renumbered 58A or is it 57 during the day and the 58A in the evening meaning it'll be 57/58/58A, its funny though 5 years on you still hear some of the North Tyneside residents say they still miss the 57/58, wont see that over here again, with the Coast Road agreement in place

Looks like GNE have chickened out of re-routing the X5/X15 if rumours were true! No surprise why!

(Yesterday, 4:46 pm)V514DFT wrote Ahhhh so they're wanting to re-split the  X20 into the 14 and X20, is it really such a bad move?, also the 58A confuses me , is it the 57 just renumbered 58A or is it 57 during the day and the 58A in the evening meaning it'll be 57/58/58A, its funny though 5 years on you still hear some of the North Tyneside residents say they still miss the 57/58, wont see that over here again, with the Coast Road agreement in place

X20 Sunderland to Durham is a much better move. It used to operate this when it was under the brand of Prince Bishops Swift, and more reliable.

(Yesterday, 4:46 pm)V514DFT wrote its funny though 5 years on you still hear some of the North Tyneside residents say they still miss the 57/58, wont see that over here again, with the Coast Road agreement in place

The 57/58 were too much of an oddball amongst the 306/308/309/310 and 51/51A.

NECA & GNE do need to pull the 309 out of High Farm during the day though, as it's too long of a route and no buffer to compensate for any delays along the Coast - unlike when drivers could "put their foot down" to make up time along Selby Gardens after Battle Hill rather than stopping at every stop through High Farm.

Getting quite noticeable now in New York Village where people are using the 308 instead if willing to walk - knowing it will complete the journey in the time given rather than run later and later and later.

Looks like the actually trying to the X20 an actual Express apart from peak times where it has to go around Doxford International.

Only place I think it should stop between Herrington Park is the college

Also - wonder what will happen to 6308-14 with PVR reduction if X20 goes single deck? Wouldn't surprise me if these ended up on the X5/X15 or X45

(Yesterday, 6:18 pm)L469 YVK wrote Also - wonder what will happen to 6308-14 with PVR reduction if X20 goes single deck? Wouldn't surprise me if these ended up on the X5/X15 or X45

My guess would be either Consett or possibly Riverside again, looking at the timetables, it seems as if the 14 will interwork with the 50 in the daytime, so if it is the case, Washington could maybe do with more StreetDecks, with a few more possibly for Consett for the X5/X15.

(Yesterday, 6:15 pm)Ds1197 wrote Looks like the actually trying to the X20 an actual Express apart from peak times where it has to go around Doxford International.

Only place I think it should stop between Herrington Park is the college

They're trying to get the X20 under an hour so they can cut the PVR. Fixed it for you

(Yesterday, 6:18 pm)L469 YVK wrote Also - wonder what will happen to 6308-14 with PVR reduction if X20 goes single deck? Wouldn't surprise me if these ended up on the X5/X15 or X45

or they could be sold on, its not like they are very reliable

(Yesterday, 7:05 pm)N1cholas wrote or they could be sold on, its not like they are very reliable

They are all in desperate need of a repaint and a good internal clean, haven't aged well at all.

(Yesterday, 7:05 pm)N1cholas wrote or they could be sold on, its not like they are very reliable

To be honest, wouldn't be a bad thing if GNE & EY swapped them for the 7x EY ex-dealer stock B9TLs - 4x of them originally GNE.

Would be good use on the likes of the 16/16A and X5/X15 which don't go into Newcastle - alongside other B9TLs which Consett could likely get from Deptford and perhaps Percy Main.

(Yesterday, 5:57 pm)L469 YVK wrote Looks like GNE have chickened out of re-routing the X5/X15 if rumours were true! No surprise why!

To be fair to them, the whole point of the consultation period under the BSIP is to be exactly that - consultation, not information.

So if they've consulted, the feedback is that would have been a really bad idea and therefore have abandoned it, then the consultation process has worked.

(Yesterday, 7:14 pm)L469 YVK wrote To be honest, wouldn't be a bad thing if GNE & EY swapped them for the 7x EY ex-dealer stock B9TLs - 4x of them originally GNE.

Would be good use on the likes of the 16/16A and X5/X15 which don't go into Newcastle - alongside other B9TLs which Consett could likely get from Deptford and perhaps Percy Main.

Doubt that would happen since EY and GNE are now spilt with 2 different management teams.  More chance of stuff coming from Manchester than Hull!

(Yesterday, 8:18 pm)citaro5284 wrote Doubt that would happen since EY and GNE are now spilt with 2 different management teams.  More chance of stuff coming from Manchester than Hull!

To be fair wouldn't be surprised if they end up in Yorkshire. It's the only area which has B5TL's, might aswell keep them together. 

The new rumoured E400MMC's at Deptford could easily displace them rather than seeing off old stuff with them limping on somewhere until then.

(Yesterday, 8:28 pm)Storx wrote To be fair wouldn't be surprised if they end up in Yorkshire. It's the only area which has B5TL's, might aswell keep them together. 

The new rumoured E400MMC's at Deptford could easily displace them rather than seeing off old stuff with them limping on somewhere until then.

Morebus has a small fleet of B5TL / MCV EvoSeti's which are a mix of closed top, open top and convertible open tops. Can't imagine they'll be leaving Go North East anytime soon though.

(Yesterday, 8:35 pm)Jimmi wrote Morebus has a small fleet of B5TL / MCV EvoSeti's which are a mix of closed top, open top and convertible open tops. Can't imagine they'll be leaving Go North East anytime soon though.

Missed them ones. Don't know, wouldn't be too surprised to me. They never like investing up in recent times so it wouldn't put it past them that it comes with the displacement of some of the newer fleet. 

They're arguably a waste of space up here as they can't keep them on the road and ideally need to be on some city routes but we don't really have the route up here to do it or not with a PVR of 7 anyway.

I'm sure similar has happened with some of their Southern divisions in recent times.

I love how the 61 reverse is portrayed as “regrettable” the regrettable bit is still keeping it on a Sunday! Revert it back to its old route and have the 62 run on a Sunday what actually is the difference?

(Yesterday, 10:38 pm)ALavery wrote I love how the 61 reverse is portrayed as “regrettable” the regrettable bit is still keeping it on a Sunday! Revert it back to its old route and have the 62 run on a Sunday what actually is the difference?

Loss of the cross Sunderland links I'd guess. It's gone down from 8 buses an hour to 2 buses an hour in the space of a couple years.

Chester Road has gone down from 10 buses an hour to 7 buses an hour aswell, with now, no form of any timetable interworking and not even serving the same bus stops in the centre either. Those electric vehicles with Stagecoach are no doubt looking very attractive to people down there nowadays...

imo the 62 is a route which could be in trouble soon as it has little purpose now, bar minor links to places people questionably don't want to be with the Stagecoach 13, 16 and 20 being much superior for doing the city centre links at both ends of the route and are all substantially more frequent aswell since the last round of cuts.

Needs to be earlier than 9am. 6pm is better than the past but not late enough.

The 85A is always packed full of the Oxclose schoolkids whenever I see it in passing on a morning. I'd imagine any speculative journeys made by adult commuters would sharp drop off once they realise what they're in for.

A blind man could see that it's just an ill-thought-out attempt to reduce the existing dead mileage from Riverside to Springwell than actually create a meaningful difference for any morning commuters travelling southbound from Gateshead to Washington. From my own observations, I'm also not convinced there is any real need for additional buses on that corridor heading southbound.

My takeaway from all this is that all the changes GNE made in January in Sunderland and South Tyneside were successful from thier point of view, apart from the 61. It's the only one where they want to do extensive surgery by the looks.

(Today, 5:32 am)DodgepotMcDougal wrote My takeaway from all this is that all the changes GNE made in January in Sunderland and South Tyneside were successful from thier point of view, apart from the 61. It's the only one where they want to do extensive surgery by the looks.

The 20/20A/X20 is struggling aswell imo. These changes are dropping the PVR by 1 there aswell and every time I see the 20's going through West Rainton off peak - often pop into the Downey's there, the loads are dire for such a frequent service, well into the single figures.

Personally wouldn't be surprised to see the X20 go again if/when the BSIP money ends or at the most be peak only.

(Today, 5:32 am)DodgepotMcDougal wrote My takeaway from all this is that all the changes GNE made in January in Sunderland and South Tyneside were successful from thier point of view, apart from the 61. It's the only one where they want to do extensive surgery by the looks.

To me it raises a question over what data they've initially made those January changes on, if 9 months later they want to rip one service up and start again?

They stated the reason for this back in Jan was to "significantly improve travel options for customers in Pennywell, with the number of buses doubled, with enhanced links to Sunderland Royal Hospital."

What has significantly changed in 9 months?

(8 hours ago)Adrian wrote To me it raises a question over what data they've initially made those January changes on, if 9 months later they want to rip one service up and start again?

They stated the reason for this back in Jan was to "significantly improve travel options for customers in Pennywell, with the number of buses doubled, with enhanced links to Sunderland Royal Hospital."

What has significantly changed in 9 months?

They probably aren't carrying as many people as they thought. So cutting losses?

I personally don't see the issue as they are just putting back the service level to what it was before January.

(Yesterday, 6:04 pm)Retro Nero wrote X20 Sunderland to Durham is a much better move. It used to operate this when it was under the brand of Prince Bishops Swift, and more reliable.

And that whacky pizza brand. 

But they apparently stopped it as there wasn't enough through traffic to sustain it. 
Hence the diversion via Rainton Bridge in an effort to boost numbers.

(4 hours ago)Andreos1 wrote And that whacky pizza brand. 

But they apparently stopped it as there wasn't enough through traffic to sustain it. 
Hence the diversion via Rainton Bridge in an effort to boost numbers.

The Diversion via Rainton Bridge was for Npower at the time when they withdrew the 35A from Shields to Rainton Bridge

(4 hours ago)DodgepotMcDougal wrote They probably aren't carrying as many people as they thought. So cutting losses?

I personally don't see the issue as they are just putting back the service level to what it was before January.

I personally thought the Chester Road corridor was over-served by routes basically following each other and very little in the way of actual destinations. 

If you live anywhere other than Sunderland City Centre or Shiney Row, there's nothing to attract you to make that modal switch to/from the hospital.

Why bother getting 2 buses and the inevitable hike from one part of Park Lane to another (or worse, another part of the city centre), when you can use the car, get a taxi or utilise patient transport?

Or, in the case of the Pennywell offering - those living there, have a better choice of routes/destinations with SNE. 

I'd have thought all the forecasting they did in preparation, would have identified those issues myself mind.

(4 hours ago)Retro Nero wrote The Diversion via Rainton Bridge was for Npower at the time when they withdrew the 35A from Shields to Rainton Bridge

And they're not going to get rid of a money maker are they?

The whole network around Rainton Bridge has been a mish mash for years. 

Just remembered about a short-lived service that went via Silksworth and Ryhope.
There was the H1 that used the ex-ANE Darts.
Theres been the 20A/X20 (was there a 20X at one stage?), X1's, the workers services that ran Express to/from Newcastle and probably others that have slipped my mind.

I remember having a dialogue with Peter Huntley about the 21A going and he suggested walking to Rainton Bridge and using whatever number the workers service was, to get to Newcastle.
Needless to say, I didn't take him up on the offer.