We're planning service changes in North Tyneside, Newcastle and south east Northumberland, set to launch on Sunday 23 March 2025.

We're encouraging our passengers to share their views on these proposed changes to the bus network. Feedback received will help us refine our plans, ensuring local travel needs are met as effectively as possible.


https://www.gonortheast.co.uk/share-your...h-tyneside




Some contracts have been confirmed too:

54 Newcastle-Whitley Bay: Evening/Sunday Nexus contract service from Stagecoach

342 Wallsend-Kingston Park: We will take over the operation of this service from Gateshead Central Taxis.


With the X78 - Going back to Stagecoach - The contract for this service has been awarded to Stagecoach, who will operate the service from this date.




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But couldn't do on a online survey for Sunderland/South Tyneside?

Odd that they haven't rerouted the 342 via the airport again. U would have thought to go for that

(29 Jan 2025, 9:08 am)Michael wrote We're planning service changes in North Tyneside, Newcastle and south east Northumberland, set to launch on Sunday 23 March 2025.

We're encouraging our passengers to share their views on these proposed changes to the bus network. Feedback received will help us refine our plans, ensuring local travel needs are met as effectively as possible.


https://www.gonortheast.co.uk/share-your...h-tyneside




Some contracts have been confirmed too:

54 Newcastle-Whitley Bay: Evening/Sunday Nexus contract service from Stagecoach

342 Wallsend-Kingston Park: We will take over the operation of this service from Gateshead Central Taxis.


With the X78 - Going back to Stagecoach -  The contract for this service has been awarded to Stagecoach, who will operate the service from this date.




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But couldn't do on an hey aonline survey for Sunderland/South Tyneside?

They’ve also gained the 359 as well that is now part of the 355 as the 356.

So in basic terms without the waffle:

• 352 binned - Cramlington to Killingworth - Dropped from 2 BPH to 1 BPH as a result
  
• 355 extended to Whitley Bay via Killingworth and the 359 route additionally serving Monkseaton numbered as 356
  
• 342 Kingston Park to Wallsend only, new shorts from Benton Rise to Wallsend
  
• 41/41A renumbered to 340/341
  
• Rest timetable changes
  

Not really positive, and not really negative either.

The 353 is potentially in trouble though imo as people from Cramlington to North Shields might aswell use the 19 and the 37/X8 is more frequent at the Northern end for local journeys.

I'm still surprised Arriva never kept the 53(353) as it used to be a popular service, they clearly had enough space at Ashington to run it and could've easily been the route to Morpeth instead of the 43 since they've upped the PVR by 7 since the depot closure anyway.

(29 Jan 2025, 10:17 am)Coastliner700 wrote They’ve also gained the 359 as well that is now part of the 355 as the 356.

Oops, forgot to include that!


Lets hope they have enough buses by March to run them.........

(29 Jan 2025, 10:23 am)Storx wrote So in basic terms without the waffle:

• 352 binned - Cramlington to Killingworth - Dropped from 2 BPH to 1 BPH as a result
  

This has to be the best change of them all. There was no point in the 352. It was just a worse 37. No wonder it's being withdrawn. 

I do wonder if the 353 should have gone every 30 minutes as a result

(29 Jan 2025, 10:32 am)Aaron21 wrote This has to be the best change of them all. There was no point in the 352. It was just a worse 37. No wonder it's being withdrawn. 

I do wonder if the 353 should have gone every 30 minutes as a result

Aye don't disagree, could've extended the other 355 up either maybe either? Would've gave a 30 minute service from Forest Hall to Cramlington which is probably enough, can't imagine there's many travelling over Forest Hall / Palmersville as it doesn't make too much sense since the 19/57/57A start coming into play which are more direct.

You'd really need to bin off the 354 if you wanted to up the 353 to every 30 minutes throughout which probably wouldn't be missed much either as that seems to cart around fresh air whenever I see it at the Western side but the links are needed really.

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It'll be interested to see what happens with the 335/351 since they're now severed in the middle and the timetable doesn't work without it connecting to something, which doesn't exist at both ends.

(29 Jan 2025, 10:28 am)Michael wrote Oops, forgot to include that!


Lets hope they have enough buses by March to run them.........

Haven't done my sums properly, but it would not surprise me to see this result in a smaller PVR. 

Almost to be expected with each change.

(29 Jan 2025, 9:08 am)Michael wrote Some contracts have been confirmed too:

54 Newcastle-Whitley Bay: Evening/Sunday Nexus contract service from Stagecoach

342 Wallsend-Kingston Park: We will take over the operation of this service from Gateshead Central Taxis.

With the X78 - Going back to Stagecoach -  The contract for this service has been awarded to Stagecoach, who will operate the service from this date.

It's astonishing that they're being awarded contracts at a time they can't manage to operate their commercial network.

Disappointing that the 342 is going back to GNE. I was enjoying being able to rely on it turning up.

X39 which runs early consistently on a morning and is consistently late on an evening (but still arrives in town well ahead of schedule) retimed by a whole minute.

Seems a waste of someone's minimal effort!

I've used the 342 for 2 years now, and whilst there was some issues in 2023 with no shows and minibuses being allocated, for the last year I have no complaints whatsoever.

Don't think Go North East will run it well, and even if they do, the vehicles will be older and of worse quality than GCT.

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Wonder if GCT lost the 342 as they didn't bother with next stop announcements? It's one of the few things Go North East seem to do pretty well.

(29 Jan 2025, 2:33 pm)Arriva7446 wrote I've used the 342 for 2 years now, and whilst there was some issues in 2023 with no shows and minibuses being allocated, for the last year I have no complaints whatsoever.

Don't think Go North East will run it well, and even if they do, the vehicles will be older and of worse quality than GCT.

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Wonder if GCT lost the 342 as they didn't bother with next stop announcements? It's one of the few things Go North East seem to do pretty well.

They used to do it well - pretty rare to get a bus now that has them working.

Which is a relief at times

The 356 will be very confusing especially for the old biddies who were regulars on the 'old' 356!

For the changes, I reckon they should've gone.......

Stagecoach:
- X63 - Peak times only
- 54 (daytime) - Newcastle - Killingworth loop Mon-Sat, evening & Sunday route as now to W.Bay

GNE:
- 353 - Every 30 mins and extended to Morpeth. Poss run via High Pit and NESCH rather than Dudley Lane to create new hospital link
- 354 - Proposed 356 route
- 355 - As is

Arriva:
- 43 - Newcastle to Cramlington only

Also, how many deckers do Arriva have on order for the 43/44/45? Would they have enough to cover the Morpeth PVR?

(29 Jan 2025, 10:09 am)Aaron21 wrote Odd that they haven't rerouted the 342 via the airport again. U would have thought to go for that

Now that they’ve cut the Newbiggin Hall extension, they could have. It’s seems they’ve opted for short journeys from Wallsend to East Benton instead. 

I’m sorry, but unless it’s developer funding paying for it that’s a complete waste of money.  A better idea would have been to increase the 351 to half hourly.

On a different note, I’m guessing they’ve bothered to put out a consultation this time as these are pretty uncontroversial changes compared to those in Sunderland/South Tyneside which they didn’t bother consulting for.

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(29 Jan 2025, 2:33 pm)Arriva7446 wrote I've used the 342 for 2 years now, and whilst there was some issues in 2023 with no shows and minibuses being allocated, for the last year I have no complaints whatsoever.

Don't think Go North East will run it well, and even if they do, the vehicles will be older and of worse quality than GCT.

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Wonder if GCT lost the 342 as they didn't bother with next stop announcements? It's one of the few things Go North East seem to do pretty well.

I doubt it - winning the 32, 35 and M71 will mean and overall increase. It will just be that Go North East submitted the lowest tender cost.

I do agree though - GCT have improved over the last year or so. I’m not sure what’s changed but it’s definitely positive.

(29 Jan 2025, 9:08 am)Michael wrote We're planning service changes in North Tyneside, Newcastle and south east Northumberland, set to launch on Sunday 23 March 2025.

We're encouraging our passengers to share their views on these proposed changes to the bus network. Feedback received will help us refine our plans, ensuring local travel needs are met as effectively as possible.


https://www.gonortheast.co.uk/share-your...h-tyneside




Some contracts have been confirmed too:

54 Newcastle-Whitley Bay: Evening/Sunday Nexus contract service from Stagecoach

342 Wallsend-Kingston Park: We will take over the operation of this service from Gateshead Central Taxis.


With the X78 - Going back to Stagecoach -  The contract for this service has been awarded to Stagecoach, who will operate the service from this date.




-------


But couldn't do on an hey aonline survey for Sunderland/South Tyneside?

They’ve also gained the 359 as well that is now part of the 355 as the 356.

Tbh, while these changes seem to be taken quite negetive, the new head of operations or whatever that rols called today, the one from scotland clearly has some plans.

However I would say 353 needs doubling in capacity, and in Sunderland, 61/62/62A/63/33/32/35/36 all need to use the bus station, its jsut so much easier, plus I would increase the 63 to every 30 mins on an evening. Plus increase the 26 to every 30 mins.

(29 Jan 2025, 7:12 pm)Unber43 wrote Tbh, while these changes seem to be taken quite negetive, the new head of operations or whatever that rols called today, the one from scotland clearly has some plans.

However I would say 353 needs doubling in capacity, and in Sunderland, 61/62/62A/63/33/32/35/36 all need to use the bus station, its jsut so much easier, plus I would increase the 63 to every 30 mins on an evening. Plus increase the 26 to every 30 mins.

Hmm - not sure I’d give much credit to Go North East for anything. Most changes are in relation to Nexus bus tenders. And the ones GNE have made are negative although justified (like the 352, which doesn’t need to exist)

(29 Jan 2025, 5:18 pm)L469 YVK wrote The 356 will be very confusing  especially for the old biddies who were regulars on the 'old' 356!

For the changes, I reckon they should've gone.......

Stagecoach:
- X63 - Peak times only
- 54 (daytime) - Newcastle - Killingworth loop Mon-Sat, evening & Sunday route as now to W.Bay

GNE:
- 353 - Every 30 mins and extended to Morpeth. Poss run via High Pit and NESCH rather than Dudley Lane to create new hospital link
- 354 - Proposed 356 route
- 355 - As is

Arriva:
- 43 - Newcastle to Cramlington only

Also, how many deckers do Arriva have on order for the 43/44/45? Would they have enough to cover the Morpeth PVR?

Right few things again 

Why does the 43 not need to go to Morpeth 

Why does the 353 have too

Why should the X63 be a peak service 

Who in the right mind riding the 356 is gonna remember the old 356

U have to remember the 43 to Morpeth is doing extremely well since it's every 30 mins & runs there evenings & Sundays

Idk how rerouting the 353 via High Pit and Hospital instead of Dudley would make absolutely any sense to you "making me think u don't live anywhere near the 353". The 353 (ex arriva 53) has always been the strongest route as it's not duplicates anything and is a direct link from Cramlington to North Shields via Killingworth/Forest Hall & Shiremoor/New York. Sending the 353 to Morpeth would be suicide as it just wouldn't work. Neither would routing it via the Hospital or High Pit for that matter. Cramlington has 2 buses that run to the hospital on a weekday & one on a Sunday. If they wanted to a new link would have been created with the 57A/19/X8 but they haven't. There ain't a demand for the hospital at Cramlington. I barely see anyone get off it. And I've used the 58 a lot recently & 57.

(29 Jan 2025, 9:37 pm)Aaron21 wrote Right few things again 

Why does the 43 not need to go to Morpeth 

Quite overkill IMO and will Arriva have sufficient PVR factored in as part of the EV decker order for the 43/44/45? The Morpeth extension would work perfect and bump the driving hours up to make it worth while. 

Why does the 353 have too

See above and the Morpeth extension would open up a fair few useful links. As you said, the 353 is a strong service and actually warrants a 30 minute frequency.

Why should the X63 be a peak service 

Fair enough, the slog through Gosforth at peak times is no good. But off peak, a 54 doing the Killingworth loop and serving the old 356/54 would make way more commercial sense. Maybe a 20 minute frequency to compensate for the loss of the X63?

Who in the right mind riding the 356 is gonna remember the old 356

Quite a lot of people especially given how closely it mirrors the old 356 route. The 354 is effectively a like for like replacement of the 356.

U have to remember the 43 to Morpeth is doing extremely well since it's every 30 mins & runs there evenings & Sundays

And so would the 353.

Idk how rerouting the 353 via High Pit and Hospital instead of Dudley would make absolutely any sense to you "making me think u don't live anywhere near the 353". The 353 (ex arriva 53) has always been the strongest route as it's not duplicates anything and is a direct link from Cramlington to North Shields via Killingworth/Forest Hall & Shiremoor/New York. Sending the 353 to Morpeth would be suicide as it just wouldn't work. Neither would routing it via the Hospital or High Pit for that matter. Cramlington has 2 buses that run to the hospital on a weekday & one on a Sunday. If they wanted to a new link would have been created with the 57A/19/X8 but they haven't. There ain't a demand for the hospital at Cramlington. I barely see anyone get off it. And I've used the 58 a lot recently & 57.

Not enough people using hospital stops, as hardly anything useful serves NESCH. The 353 is a perfect route to re-route via NESCH and High Pit instead of Dudley Lane. The 353 also carries quite a lot of 'twirles' (especially North Shields to Shiremoor and I'd imagine other places too). The 353 also being sent to Morpeth wouldn't be suicide as it would still serve Cramlington, whilst opening up a hell of a lot of useful links.

Given GNE's changes......if I was in Arriva's shoes right now and had some decent Pulsars / StreetLites, I'd be looking to capitalise on the loss of the 352 and launch a competing service against the 353. Wouldn't surprise me if an operator decided to do this given what Stagecoach effectively did against the 352/355 with the 37/38.

(29 Jan 2025, 6:18 pm)Thomas12 wrote Now that they’ve cut the Newbiggin Hall extension, they could have. It’s seems they’ve opted for short journeys from Wallsend to East Benton instead. 

I’m sorry, but unless it’s developer funding paying for it that’s a complete waste of money.  A better idea would have been to increase the 351 to half hourly.

On a different note, I’m guessing they’ve bothered to put out a consultation this time as these are pretty uncontroversial changes compared to those in Sunderland/South Tyneside which they didn’t bother consulting for.

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I doubt it - winning the 32, 35 and M71 will mean and overall increase. It will just be that Go North East submitted the lowest tender cost.

I do agree though - GCT have improved over the last year or so. I’m not sure what’s changed but it’s definitely positive.

Woah hold up. Have stagecoach lost both the 32 and the 35?

(29 Jan 2025, 10:27 pm)ReDemPTiion wrote Woah hold up. Have stagecoach lost both the 32 and the 35?

Yeah - possibly as Nexus only award minimum cost tenders now.

(29 Jan 2025, 6:18 pm)Thomas12 wrote Now that they’ve cut the Newbiggin Hall extension, they could have. It’s seems they’ve opted for short journeys from Wallsend to East Benton instead. 

I’m sorry, but unless it’s developer funding paying for it that’s a complete waste of money.  A better idea would have been to increase the 351 to half hourly.

On a different note, I’m guessing they’ve bothered to put out a consultation this time as these are pretty uncontroversial changes compared to those in Sunderland/South Tyneside which they didn’t bother consulting for.

If Northumberland Council and Nexus worked together they'd be better splitting the 342 at Killingworth imo.

Then having a Morpeth to Killingworth via the Airport (777/342 merged to Killingworth only) and the 342 running from Wallsend to Cramlington to keep the 30 minute service from Killingworth to Cramlington working with the 353. Obviously no-one is going to go end to end but there might be someone from Seaton Burn or what not wanting to go to the airport.

I'm not saying there'd be millions of people wanting it but Wallsend to Cramlington is a link which probably should exist like it did for years.

(29 Jan 2025, 9:37 pm)Aaron21 wrote U have to remember the 43 to Morpeth is doing extremely well since it's every 30 mins & runs there evenings & Sundays

The 43 to Morpeth is operational purposes though. It's a complete waste having deckers running on there and no-one in their right mind is going to do it end-to-end since it's just a detour over the expresses. The operational purpose being it uses the layover at Cramlington to save a bus.

(29 Jan 2025, 10:39 pm)Thomas12 wrote Yeah - possibly as Nexus only award minimum cost tenders now.

I’m a driver at Slatyford I had heard we’d lost the 35 I didn’t think we’d lose the 32 as well. Stagecoach not getting anything either bar the X78 back on an evening

(29 Jan 2025, 10:39 pm)Storx wrote If Northumberland Council and Nexus worked together they'd be better splitting the 342 at Killingworth imo.

Then having a Morpeth to Killingworth via the Airport (777/342 merged to Killingworth only) and the 342 running from Wallsend to Cramlington to keep the 30 minute service from Killingworth to Cramlington working with the 353.

I'm not saying there'd be millions of people wanting it but Wallsend to Cramlington is a link which probably should exist like it did for years.


The 43 to Morpeth is operational purposes though. It's a complete waste having deckers running on there and no-one in their right mind is going to do it end-to-end. I'm not saying there's millions of people wanting it but there's more likely someone wanting to go from Killingworth to Morpeth rather than Gosforth to Morpeth via Cramlington.

It's basically just the old 343/344 anyway which ran successfully for years.

Agree with you. I'd rather have the 342 from Cramlington to Wallsend (half hourly from Killingworth to Wallsend) and scrap the waste of space 335 which doesn't work for workers anymore.

The 335 used to be quite popular until they messed around with the timetable so it no longer coincided with shift patterns at BT/Quorum.

(29 Jan 2025, 10:42 pm)Thomas12 wrote Agree with you. I'd rather have the 342 from Cramlington to Wallsend (half hourly from Killingworth to Wallsend) and scrap the waste of space 335 which doesn't work for workers anymore.

The 335 used to be quite popular until they messed around with the timetable so it no longer coincided with shift patterns at BT/Quorum.

Yeah agreed, it's a corridor which is a mess and getting to Wallsend isn't great. Quorum definitely needs more links but imo it should be more of a works service, who realistically wants to go there outside of it? There's nothing there really. Whether that does the 335 route or another route then someone else can decide tbh.

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Noticed someone mentioned a 350/351 before, wonder if this might be the way Arriva ran the 51/51A with a short bus running from Newcastle to Holystone omitting Wailtshire Park and a long bus from Newcastle to Whitley Bay omitting Holystone Park. It takes 61 minutes end to end so something has to change without the 359 as the timetable just doesn't work.

https://www.nexus.org.uk/sites/default/f...r_2019.pdf - This one.

Should of refused GNE the 342,why?, cus they binned the 42/42A as it had "low passenger numbers" likewise with the 317 having to replace the 11 and 41/41A but now they've decided they want to run it again

(30 Jan 2025, 8:30 pm)V514DFT wrote Should of refused GNE the 342,why?, cus they binned the 42/42A as it had "low passenger numbers" likewise with the 317 having to replace the 11 and 41/41A but now they've decided they want to run it again

They don't really have a choice though. If GNE decide to run it commercially again you say thank you. It's a poor system, but any money Nexus can save is good, however it happens.

Wonder if the 353 will go standalone if the 352 gets axed, likewise will the 317/340/341/342 all interwork, but nice to see the return of old route numbers the 40(41/41A) (was the 340) 41 (was the 341), the 356 is an interesting one, is it going to go along Great Lime Road from Meadway/Feetham Avenue to get to Killingworth (was the evening 350/351 back in the day), but Forest Hall will be pleased to have its link to the Hospital and Whitley Bay, a link that was severed in 2016 when the 17 was withdrawn, 4 buses to Killingworth though, bit overkill especially with the 63 being every 15 minutes, be interesting to see how it copes with the 342/353/356 following it to Killingworth

(30 Jan 2025, 9:06 pm)V514DFT wrote Wonder if the 353 will go standalone if the 352 gets axed, likewise will the 317/340/341/342 all interwork, but nice to see the return of old route numbers the 40(41/41A) (was the 340)  41 (was the 341), the 356 is an interesting one, is it going to go along Great Lime Road from Meadway/Feetham Avenue to get to Killingworth (was the evening 350/351 back in the day), but Forest Hall will be pleased to have its link to the Hospital and Whitley Bay, a link that was severed in 2016 when the 17 was withdrawn, 4 buses to Killingworth though, bit overkill especially with the 63 being every 15 minutes, be interesting to see how it copes with the 342/353/356 following it to Killingworth

353 -> 354 -> 356 -> 356 -> 355 -> 355 -> 354 -> 353 ... is the new interworking pattern, can tell by the timings and stands their going into.