(28 May 2014, 8:49 pm)Marcus wrote So scrap the 34A? Possibly brand a few of the 4926-4931 batch for The Waggonway if something like that went through? What of the fate of the 4 Worm Versas then if they all aren't needed?

No, the 28A/34A would serve Garden Farm, and the 28/34 would serve the avenue.
They would be used on the M2/M3 alongside the Quaylink Versas if they get them.

(28 May 2014, 8:53 pm)Tom wrote No, the 28A/34A would serve Garden Farm, and the 28/34 would serve the avenue.
They would be used on the M2/M3 alongside the Quaylink Versas if they get them.

Oh, I see now. The X25 and 50 both serve Waldridge Park, and if anyone ever gets on them there it's for The Galleries or Newcastle. The 34/34A is seen as a local service.

(28 May 2014, 9:08 pm)Marcus wrote Oh, I see now. The X25 and 50 both serve Waldridge Park, and if anyone ever gets on them there it's for The Galleries or Newcastle. The 34/34A is seen as a local service.

Yeah - I wouldn't fancy the 28 all the way to Newcastle though
I was the only one on the 34 from Ouston to South Pelaw, but there was a decent loading for Waldridge Park. 4930 had a decent load heading to Urpeth too.

73 - Washington Galleries - Galleries Retail Park - Sainsbury's Car Park - Glebe - Washington Village - Barmston Village Centre - Peel Retail Park - Waterview Park - Teal Farm - Castletown - Sunderland Enterprise Park - Sunderland Interchange

The above would eliminate the Service from serving both Waterview Park/Peel Retail Park/Sulgrave and Concord Twice in both Directions when heading to Washington and Sunderland, It would also cut Journey Times down by around 25 Minutes I am predicting. To cover the loss of the 73 OAP's would be forced to walk 200 Yards in each Direction to catch either the 4/56 Every 10 Minutes or the M2 Every 30 Minutes, That is a Total of 14 Buses Per Hour that would replace a Service none of them use the 73 as I learnt Yesterday when I decided not to get off it the first time at Concord when going to get my Hair Cut.

Or we could alternatively we could be nice and extend the W5/W6 to Coach Road Estate for no reason at all. To add further fuel to the Fire of axing the 73 from Coach Road Estate, why do you think almost 5 Years Ago Go North East Axed the W3 before merging it with the M2/M3, Because no body used it even though it was Operating at a Frequency of Every 30 Minutes. I think Personally Go North East/Nexus should do a Consultation over a Period of a Month or 2, and see how many People get on the 73 at Coach Road Estate.

(28 May 2014, 9:47 pm)NEBCD Malarkey wrote 73 - Washington Galleries - Galleries Retail Park - Sainsbury's Car Park - Glebe - Washington Village - Barmston Village Centre - Peel Retail Park - Waterview Park - Teal Farm - Castletown - Sunderland Enterprise Park - Sunderland Interchange

The above would eliminate the Service from serving both Waterview Park/Peel Retail Park/Sulgrave and Concord Twice in both Directions when heading to Washington and Sunderland, It would also cut Journey Times down by around 25 Minutes I am predicting. To cover the loss of the 73 OAP's would be forced to walk 200 Yards in each Direction to catch either the 4/56 Every 10 Minutes or the M2 Every 30 Minutes, That is a Total of 14 Buses Per Hour that would replace a Service none of them use the 73 as I learnt Yesterday when I decided not to get off it the first time at Concord when going to get my Hair Cut.

Or we could alternatively we could be nice and extend the W5/W6 to Coach Road Estate for no reason at all. To add further fuel to the Fire of axing the 73 from Coach Road Estate, why do you think almost 5 Years Ago Go North East Axed the W3 before merging it with the M2/M3, Because no body used it even though it was Operating at a Frequency of Every 30 Minutes. I think Personally Go North East/Nexus should do a Consultation over a Period of a Month or 2, and see how many People get on the 73 at Coach Road Estate.

Sounds like a good idea, although I'm sure that even if you found that nobody boards at Coach Road Estate for the whole consultation, someone would write to the local papers in anger at how shocked they feel to have been "isolated" from society due to the removal of the 73...

(13 Jun 2014, 9:37 pm)BJ10VUS wrote Sounds like a good idea, although I'm sure that even if you found that nobody boards at Coach Road Estate for the whole consultation, someone would write to the local papers in anger at how shocked they feel to have been "isolated" from society due to the removal of the 73...

Hardly isolated when they can walk 200 Yards North/East/South and West and get a Bus Every 10 Minutes to Concord - The Galleries - Heworth - Newcastle and Sunderland Respectively, Sure they won't miss 1 Bus an Hour will they, when they have 14 an Hour serving the Perimeter of the Estate.

This is what i'd like to happen as its really annoying going out and seeing the current 704 running around with nobody on:

704: Stanley Bus Station - Durham Road - Avon Road - Hollyhill Gardens - South Moor - Stanley Bus Station
705: Stanley Bus Station - South Moor - Hollyhill Gardens - Avon Road - Durham Road - Stanley Bus Station

Both services would use 1 Solo SR or any small bus as it will take around 15 minutes for a full loop to be completed in either direction. The SR could be bought new or cascaded off another service like the Nexus contracts. The services wont interwork like the service does now but that would mean purchasing more buses that arent needed as the bus required could be based at Stanley depot rather than Consett. It would also give the service a chance to actually gain passengers as at the moment its minor loop around South Stanley along Avon Road ends really quickly so really the service might aswell not exist. The services would also benefit to anybody that has missed a 43 or 44/44A as they would be timed to arrive about 15 minutes before the next service (would also work for services 78/X30/130 etc.). Frequencies are below:

Every 15 Minutes Mon-Sat Daytimes
Every 30 Minutes Mon-Sat Evenings and Sundays

Another suggestion:

X8: Sunderland - Seaham - Peterlee - Billingham - Middlesbrough

This would then be Sunderlands connection to Billingham without having to change onto something like the X9 at Peterlee. It will probably need an extra 2 buses but the frequency, like the X9 and X10 will be every 30 minutes between Seaham and Peterlee and every 30 minutes with the X9 between Peterlee, Billingham and Middlesbrough.

In my opinion, i think this and the services i suggested above this one do have potential but, will GNE want to do this? Certainly take the evening 704 services around Stanley off as quite frankly, nobody uses them.

(13 Jun 2014, 10:14 pm)Robert wrote This is what i'd like to happen as its really annoying going out and seeing the current 704 running around with nobody on:

704: Stanley Bus Station - Durham Road - Avon Road - Hollyhill Gardens - South Moor - Stanley Bus Station
705: Stanley Bus Station - South Moor - Hollyhill Gardens - Avon Road - Durham Road - Stanley Bus Station

I'm not familiar with the Stanley area, so would you be able to tell me what is the 704 actually for? Does it replace something, as it only runs during the evening, but it's a pretty short route.

(14 Jun 2014, 10:56 am)BJ10VUS wrote I'm not familiar with the Stanley area, so would you be able to tell me what is the 704 actually for? Does it replace something, as it only runs during the evening, but it's a pretty short route.

The 704 is mainly an evening service that literally goes round Avon Road and back up to Stanley. Takes 5 minutes and gets nobody on. Those 2 routes would run throughout the day and would get used as they would run in between the timetables of the main routes that go the same way as these services on some parts of the route.

Looking at the old 704 (just went Stanley - Avon Road - Hollyhill Gardens - Avon Road - Stanley) which used a DAF as it interworked with the 729 and that got decent loadings so, thats what im basing this idea off.

(14 Jun 2014, 11:04 am)Robert wrote The 704 is mainly an evening service that literally goes round Avon Road and back up to Stanley. Takes 5 minutes and gets nobody on. Those 2 routes would run throughout the day and would get used as they would run in between the timetables of the main routes that go the same way as these services on some parts of the route.

Looking at the old 704 (just went Stanley - Avon Road - Hollyhill Gardens - Avon Road - Stanley) which used a DAF as it interworked with the 729 and that got decent loadings so, thats what im basing this idea off.

Thanks for the information. Seems a bit pointless as it is, so it'd be a good idea to run it during the day

X1:- Extend one and hour to Peterlee, to give Peterlee-Newcastle a half hourly service

New X2 Dalton Park-Murton-Hetton-Houghton-Seaton-Shiney Row-Galleries-Wrekenton-Gateshead-Newcastle, if that was popular introduce another service

Dalton Park-Seaham-Seaton Road Ends-A19-Heworth-Newcastle

Modified X36 to Hartlepool down the Coast, stopping at Dalton Park, would go through Cold Hesledon on the the way down but would return to Dalton Park on the A19 from Easington.

Modify 61, introduce an express 61 Sunderland-Ryhope-Seaham-Fox Cover-Dalton Park-Murton-Easington Lane

I reckon this could be done In a time of about 35 minutes
Sunderland-Seaham 15 mins
Seaham-Murton 15 mins
Murton - Easington Lane about 5-7 minutes

I would also like to see the 61 route round Murton, have one bus an hour going the other way round Murton

Just been looking through the Timetables on the BygoneEraofNEB/simplygo.com for Journey Times between Newcastle and Hartlepool as it has been a Topic Discussed a lot this week on the GNE Latest Forum, and here is what I found

X35 - Sunderland to Hartlepool
Journey Time = 89 Minutes
X36 – Sunderland to Newcastle
Journey Time = 58 Minutes
Total Journey Time = 2 and a Half Hours (147 Minutes) – Excludes Layover Period in Sunderland

X35 – Hartlepool to Peterlee – Journey Time = 32 Minutes
X9 – Peterlee to Newcastle – Journey Time = 43 Minutes
Total Journey Time = 75 Minutes – Excludes Layover Period in Peterlee

Old X5/Proposed X1 Extention - Newcastle to Hartlepool
Journey Time = 93 Minutes

Now one would assume said Passengers using Bus Services between Newcastle and Hartlepool would swap from X9 to X35 at Peterlee and Vice Versa, Looks like a Straight Forward swap of Services until look at the Timetable and see you have to wait 35 Minutes for the X9, Which we all know could potentially be running late, which means said Passenger has to wait up to a Further Hour for the Next X9 to show up, this I believe shows how unreliable the current Connections and Services are between Newcastle and Hartlepool, So here are few Suggestions.

Extend the X1 to Hartlepool, would in turn bring back the Links of the Old X5 Between Newcastle and Hartlepool, but instead of it being an Hourly Service, Have it operate Half Hourly.

*New Service*
X8 - Newcastle - Gateshead - Heworth - Peterlee - Hartlepool
This would provide the Current X9/X35 Link as a through Service with no need to change at Peterlee, and a Substanial Improvement to Reliabillity.

(14 Jun 2014, 4:29 pm)NEBCD Malarkey wrote Just been looking through the Timetables on the BygoneEraofNEB/simplygo.com for Journey Times between Newcastle and Hartlepool as it has been a Topic Discussed a lot this week on the GNE Latest Forum, and here is what I found

X35 - Sunderland to Hartlepool
Journey Time = 89 Minutes
X36 – Sunderland to Newcastle
Journey Time = 58 Minutes
Total Journey Time = 2 and a Half Hours (147 Minutes) – Excludes Layover Period in Sunderland

X35 – Hartlepool to Peterlee – Journey Time = 32 Minutes
X9 – Peterlee to Newcastle – Journey Time = 43 Minutes
Total Journey Time = 75 Minutes – Excludes Layover Period in Peterlee

Old X5/Proposed X1 Extention - Newcastle to Hartlepool
Journey Time = 93 Minutes

Now one would assume said Passengers using Bus Services between Newcastle and Hartlepool would swap from X9 to X35 at Peterlee and Vice Versa, Looks like a Straight Forward swap of Services until look at the Timetable and see you have to wait 35 Minutes for the X9, Which we all know could potentially be running late, which means said Passenger has to wait up to a Further Hour for the Next X9 to show up, this I believe shows how unreliable the current Connections and Services are between Newcastle and Hartlepool, So here are few Suggestions.

Extend the X1 to Hartlepool, would in turn bring back the Links of the Old X5 Between Newcastle and Hartlepool, but instead of it being an Hourly Service, Have it operate Half Hourly.

*New Service*
X8 - Newcastle - Gateshead - Heworth - Peterlee - Hartlepool
This would provide the Current X9/X35 Link as a through Service with no need to change at Peterlee, and a Substanial Improvement to Reliabillity.

You could easy shave nearly a half hour off Sunderland-Hartlepool down the coast, I think it can be done in under an hour as long as it long as it leaves out Peterlee, Pygalls claimed to do It in 50 minutes

Is there any opportunities to shave some minutes off Newcastle-Hartlepool via E.Lane, 93 mins is a long time, make it as limited stop as possible, stopping only at Gateshead Int-Wrekenton-Galleries-Shiney Row-Houghton Church-Hetton Int-Wrekenton-Galleries-Shiney-E.Lane-Peterlee-Hartlepool stopping only at one point in each place, and obviously there would be EU driving regulations would need to be taken into account, split the route at Hetton or Houghton perhaps, keep the X35 route, but change the number and drop the X, it is anything but an express service, and have it pick up at stops a limited stop doesn't serve

Go North East briefly had Service X11 a few years back which ran from Newcastle - Hartlepool with two journeys in each direction on Saturdays only.

http://durham.pindarcreative.co.uk/tt/X11_GNE.pdf

(14 Jun 2014, 5:09 pm)Jimmi wrote Go North East briefly had Service X11 a few years back which ran from Newcastle - Hartlepool with two journeys in each direction on Saturdays only.

http://durham.pindarcreative.co.uk/tt/X11_GNE.pdf

I was told by the MD at GNE at the time, that the X11 was put on due to the reliability issue at the time between Newcastle and Peterlee on Saturdays and their decided to start the X11 at Hartlepool to see if anybody uses it.

(14 Jun 2014, 4:55 pm)marxistafozzski wrote You could easy shave nearly a half hour off Sunderland-Hartlepool down the coast, I think it can be done in under an hour as long as it long as it leaves out Peterlee, Pygalls claimed to do It in 50 minutes

Is there any opportunities to shave some minutes off Newcastle-Hartlepool via E.Lane, 93 mins is a long time, make it as limited stop as possible, stopping only at Gateshead Int-Wrekenton-Galleries-Shiney Row-Houghton Church-Hetton Int-Wrekenton-Galleries-Shiney-E.Lane-Peterlee-Hartlepool stopping only at one point in each place, and obviously there would be EU driving regulations would need to be taken into account, split the route at Hetton or Houghton perhaps, keep the X35 route, but change the number and drop the X, it is anything but an express service, and have it pick up at stops a limited stop doesn't serve

There's more income going via Peterlee than Horden, that's why arriva withdrew their 23 (old 230 route) from Horden.

(14 Jun 2014, 4:55 pm)marxistafozzski wrote You could easy shave nearly a half hour off Sunderland-Hartlepool down the coast, I think it can be done in under an hour as long as it long as it leaves out Peterlee, Pygalls claimed to do It in 50 minutes

Is there any opportunities to shave some minutes off Newcastle-Hartlepool via E.Lane, 93 mins is a long time, make it as limited stop as possible, stopping only at Gateshead Int-Wrekenton-Galleries-Shiney Row-Houghton Church-Hetton Int-Wrekenton-Galleries-Shiney-E.Lane-Peterlee-Hartlepool stopping only at one point in each place, and obviously there would be EU driving regulations would need to be taken into account, split the route at Hetton or Houghton perhaps, keep the X35 route, but change the number and drop the X, it is anything but an express service, and have it pick up at stops a limited stop doesn't serve

Going with the Coastal Idea down to Hartlepool, would it be a good idea to Perhaps extend the 60/61 once an Hour via Peterlee to Hartlepool rather than create a whole New Route from Scratch, As for trimming down the Old X5, Limited Stopping is the only way I can see it Working as you have said abpve, alternatively would be quicker to go via Seaham to Peterlee then onto Hartlepool.

(14 Jun 2014, 7:53 pm)NEBCD Malarkey wrote Going with the Coastal Idea down to Hartlepool, would it be a good idea to Perhaps extend the 60/61 once an Hour via Peterlee to Hartlepool rather than create a whole New Route from Scratch, As for trimming down the Old X5, Limited Stopping is the only way I can see it Working as you have said abpve, alternatively would be quicker to go via Seaham to Peterlee then onto Hartlepool.

Not really that new, it has been done before and is still been done today by Arriva 23 (it only misses Horden)...The quickest way to Hartlepool will always be down the Coast and if it were ever to be done, I reckon it could be done by extending the X36...I do see where your coming from though Adam

Hi im new to this forum but i do have a suggestion and a question

I never understood why the 14/14A in sunderland was changed to the 5/5A does
Anyone know why?
Right my suggestion
Personally i think the 9 and 17/17A should be withdrawn
Reinstate the 319 but pick up the holy cross part then onwards to the tunnel to jarrow and sunderland
New service 320 would start from whitley bay and continue to north shields via rake lane and chirton grange taking up the 17/17A then from there omit royal quays and onwards to the tunnel using the same route as 319 but those who live in sunderland can help out there.
To take up withdrawn 17/17A in percy main W3 would be extended and from there continue to howdon road,waterville road and start its route back to whitley bay from meadow well

(15 Jun 2014, 11:27 am)tezthorn wrote Hi im new to this forum but i do have a suggestion and a question

I never understood why the 14/14A in sunderland was changed to the 5/5A does
Anyone know why?
Right my suggestion
Personally i think the 9 and 17/17A should be withdrawn
Reinstate the 319 but pick up the holy cross part then onwards to the tunnel to jarrow and sunderland
New service 320 would start from whitley bay and continue to north shields via rake lane and chirton grange taking up the 17/17A then from there omit royal quays and onwards to the tunnel using the same route as 319 but those who live in sunderland can help out there.
To take up withdrawn 17/17A in percy main W3 would be extended and from there continue to howdon road,waterville road and start its route back to whitley bay from meadow well

I don't know an awful lot about the North Tyneside network, but I doubt Nexus would be happy forking out more money to change the W3 (which GNE have the tender for), so that GNE can re-model their commercial network there.

(14 Jun 2014, 4:29 pm)NEBCD Malarkey wrote Just been looking through the Timetables on the BygoneEraofNEB/simplygo.com for Journey Times between Newcastle and Hartlepool as it has been a Topic Discussed a lot this week on the GNE Latest Forum, and here is what I found

X35 - Sunderland to Hartlepool
Journey Time = 89 Minutes
X36 – Sunderland to Newcastle
Journey Time = 58 Minutes
Total Journey Time = 2 and a Half Hours (147 Minutes) – Excludes Layover Period in Sunderland

X35 – Hartlepool to Peterlee – Journey Time = 32 Minutes
X9 – Peterlee to Newcastle – Journey Time = 43 Minutes
Total Journey Time = 75 Minutes – Excludes Layover Period in Peterlee

Old X5/Proposed X1 Extention - Newcastle to Hartlepool
Journey Time = 93 Minutes

Now one would assume said Passengers using Bus Services between Newcastle and Hartlepool would swap from X9 to X35 at Peterlee and Vice Versa, Looks like a Straight Forward swap of Services until look at the Timetable and see you have to wait 35 Minutes for the X9, Which we all know could potentially be running late, which means said Passenger has to wait up to a Further Hour for the Next X9 to show up, this I believe shows how unreliable the current Connections and Services are between Newcastle and Hartlepool, So here are few Suggestions.

Extend the X1 to Hartlepool, would in turn bring back the Links of the Old X5 Between Newcastle and Hartlepool, but instead of it being an Hourly Service, Have it operate Half Hourly.

*New Service*
X8 - Newcastle - Gateshead - Heworth - Peterlee - Hartlepool
This would provide the Current X9/X35 Link as a through Service with no need to change at Peterlee, and a Substanial Improvement to Reliabillity.

Cant have an X4 or 5 due to arriva having it could be X6 perhaps

(15 Jun 2014, 9:07 pm)tezthorn wrote Cant have an X4 or 5 due to arriva having it could be X6 perhaps

Different Company and a Different Operating Area so therefore you can have an X4/X5, I believe Arriva operate an X10 Service into Newcastle Haymarket while GNE operate an X10 into Eldon Square, but both go to entirely different Areas.

(15 Jun 2014, 9:07 pm)tezthorn wrote Cant have an X4 or 5 due to arriva having it could be X6 perhaps

GNE could have X4 or X5 as Adam said different operators can use the same numbers as other operators i.e

21 GNE/ANE
23 ANE/SNE
13/14 SNE/GNE

I could probably think of numerous examples but cannot be arsed

There's no regulation on service numbers, so you can use whatever you want. Arriva have two X1s, and GNE used to have two X7s and X8s.

In Newcastle there were once three different services operating as the number 10.

ANE: Newcastle - Blyth
GNE: Newcastle - Rockwood Hill Estate/High Spen
SNE: West Denton Park - North Kenton

Two of the services even served stops near each other at Central Station (and still do!).

And to add even further confusion both GNE and SNE operate a different service 1 in Newcastle bot both operate on pilgrim street and I believe but not certain that they both observe the same stop on the side of the old Odeon.

New idea for service X3 - thought and suggestions, please? Doesn't serve Fulwell or Monkwearmouth, but opens new connections to Newcastle from Cleadon and Whitburn.

Newcastle, Market Street East - xx.00
Gateshead Interchange - xx.10
Heworth Interchange - xx.19
Boldon Cineworld - xx.27
Boldon, North Road - xx.29
East Boldon, Black's Corner - xx.36
Cleadon, Front Street - xx.42
Whitburn, Front Street- xx.48
Seaburn, Morrisons - xx.51
Seaburn, Dene Estate - xx.53

(16 Jun 2014, 2:51 pm)BJ10VUS wrote New idea for service X3 - thought and suggestions, please? Doesn't serve Fulwell or Monkwearmouth, but opens new connections to Newcastle from Cleadon and Whitburn.

Newcastle, Market Street East - xx.00
Gateshead Interchange - xx.10
Heworth Interchange - xx.19
Boldon Cineworld - xx.27
Boldon, North Road - xx.29
East Boldon, Black's Corner - xx.36
Cleadon, Front Street - xx.42
Whitburn, Front Street- xx.48
Seaburn, Morrisons - xx.51
Seaburn, Dene Estate - xx.53

Been done before as a X98 I believe, GNE took on the 558 daytime awhile ago and extended the service along your proposed route to Newcastle while the evening and sunday times stayed the same as 558. didn't last long as it was carrying fresh air. The timetable should be on NEB in the bygone era.

Don't know why residents or passengers from East Boldon are worried about having no direct bus to Newcastle, theirs a 15 minute service on service 9 which will take passengers to the X36 where both services meet each over. Most passengers wants to have a direct link to Newcastle etc... but these days its not a viable option.

(16 Jun 2014, 2:51 pm)BJ10VUS wrote New idea for service X3 - thought and suggestions, please? Doesn't serve Fulwell or Monkwearmouth, but opens new connections to Newcastle from Cleadon and Whitburn.

Newcastle, Market Street East - xx.00
Gateshead Interchange - xx.10
Heworth Interchange - xx.19
Boldon Cineworld - xx.27
Boldon, North Road - xx.29
East Boldon, Black's Corner - xx.36
Cleadon, Front Street - xx.42
Whitburn, Front Street- xx.48
Seaburn, Morrisons - xx.51
Seaburn, Dene Estate - xx.53

I was thinking along those lines, but still having it run to Sunderland through Fulwell and Roker (the old 164 route).
I also thought about it extending south to Seaham or Peterlee possibly, via the a19 and Dalton Park.

Apart from the immediate local population, is there much interest/demand in getting to Dalton Park? There's nothing there in terms of shopping that isn't at Royal Quays, Newcastle or Metrocentre which are far more accessible