(08 Apr 2026, 7:50 pm)Adrian wrote Needed to travel into Newcastle yesterday, so used the bus and Metro. Out of the 3 GNE buses I used (Washington depot), none of them had a working next stop announcement system. The new Metro, on the other hand, was absolutely fine.

Given this is a legal requirement for vehicles first used during the 2010s now, I'd have thought we'd have seen less examples of this. When I looked back through my notes, 5361 had the same screen fault that I saw back in November. I wonder how many people have driven this bus and failed to note and report it. 

Have I been incredibly unlucky, or is this still a common issue?

Picking on GNE is a little harsh. They were one of the first in the region to have working NSA inside most vehicles. Because everybody else is now playing catch-up, and using the bandwidth of the suppliers, they are now bottom of the list for fault fixing.

(08 Apr 2026, 8:29 pm)Kimlfixit wrote Picking on GNE is a little harsh. They were one of the first in the region to have working NSA inside most vehicles. Because everybody else is now playing catch-up, and using the bandwidth of the suppliers, they are now bottom of the list for fault fixing.

Picking on them? I've made an observation based on the buses I used yesterday. If Arriva, Stagecoach, Lothian of Derwentside or any other operator served the route I needed to travel, I'd make a similar observation. 

If a global company the size of the Go-Ahead Group has allowed itself to hit the bottom of the list for support with a supplier, then they need to be managing that relationship better. 

I don't use buses regularly enough to notice patterns or trends nowadays, which is why I posed the question, but for 5361 to have the same broken screen for 5 months is unacceptable.

GNE are really inconsistent

On the new Angels - the announcements are really quiet but the far more useful next stop display rarely works, insteady showing irrelevant consultations and random GNE adverts

On the Cobalts - the screens and announcements don't work aside the DFDS buses where they are deafening

(08 Apr 2026, 8:50 pm)Ambassador wrote GNE are really inconsistent

On the new Angels - the announcements are really quiet but the far more useful next stop display rarely works, insteady showing irrelevant consultations and random GNE adverts

On the Cobalts - the screens and announcements don't work aside the DFDS buses where they are deafening

I'm surprised the new Angels have any advertising at all, aside from when being sat at each terminus?

The regulations are clear that "Any visual advertisements should be removed from view on screens, where relevant, when journey information is provided." Given how frequently the 21 stops, there should be no real opportunity to display advertising information.

A big problem with the NSAs seems to be that they get stuck every now and then and need rebooting, not something any GNE driver has been trained to do. I always try and report when they don't work, but honestly it's such background noise for me now, I often forget to listen out for them.

(08 Apr 2026, 8:41 pm)Adrian wrote Picking on them? I've made an observation based on the buses I used yesterday. If Arriva, Stagecoach, Lothian of Derwentside or any other operator served the route I needed to travel, I'd make a similar observation. 

If a global company the size of the Go-Ahead Group has allowed itself to hit the bottom of the list for support with a supplier, then they need to be managing that relationship better. 

I don't use buses regularly enough to notice patterns or trends nowadays, which is why I posed the question, but for 5361 to have the same broken screen for 5 months is unacceptable.

5 months is unacceptable. Given the law is effectively active now, I'd hope operators are including broken NSA as part of first use checks so that things like that are picked up more quickly as for all the will in the world, I doubt customers would report it.

But there are genuine supply issues across the industry as those operators less prepared than others are eating up supplier bandwidth.

(09 Apr 2026, 7:49 pm)Adrian wrote I'm surprised the new Angels have any advertising at all, aside from when being sat at each terminus?

The regulations are clear that "Any visual advertisements should be removed from view on screens, where relevant, when journey information is provided." Given how frequently the 21 stops, there should be no real opportunity to display advertising information.

Hah. They haven't even programmed the NSA's for the 787s on the Yutongs.

(08 Apr 2026, 8:41 pm)Adrian wrote Picking on them? I've made an observation based on the buses I used yesterday. If Arriva, Stagecoach, Lothian of Derwentside or any other operator served the route I needed to travel, I'd make a similar observation. 

If a global company the size of the Go-Ahead Group has allowed itself to hit the bottom of the list for support with a supplier, then they need to be managing that relationship better. 

I don't use buses regularly enough to notice patterns or trends nowadays, which is why I posed the question, but for 5361 to have the same broken screen for 5 months is unacceptable.

(Yesterday, 5:55 am)Kimlfixit wrote 5 months is unacceptable. Given the law is effectively active now, I'd hope operators are including broken NSA as part of first use checks so that things like that are picked up more quickly as for all the will in the world, I doubt customers would report it.

But there are genuine supply issues across the industry as those operators less prepared than others are eating up supplier bandwidth.

Lothian of derwentside ??