Vehicle Details
Registration: YJ13 HOA
Chassis: Optare Solo SR M890
Bodywork: Optare
Depot: Go South West
Livery: Little Coasters
Year new: 2013
Vehicle History
June 2020
Go North East
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From Monday 1 June 2020, in line with guidance from the government, Go North East's bus services will start returning to what can be considered a 'normal' level of service on weekdays (albeit still reduced on weekends), also with some minor changes which had originally been planned to take place from 17 May 2020. As such, this vehicle has now been reinstated at Percy Main.
April 2020
Go North East
Following completion of all required vehicle re-allocations; this vehicle has been temporarily withdrawn from service due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and has been officially delicensed (SORN'd), enabling Go North East to obtain a tax refund.
March 2020
Go North East
Following repaint, this vehicle has received "Little Coasters" branding.
March 2020
Go North East
This vehicle has been repainted into a two-tone blue base livery, having previously carried Go North East's 2016 fleet livery.
March 2020
Go North East
This vehicle has been fitted with a free customer Wi-Fi system.
May 2019
Go North East
In line with service changes and the introduction of new brand identities, there were a large number of vehicle re-allocations which took place on Sunday 19 May, the significance of which have been likened to the South Shields and Bishop Auckland depot closures in 2005 and 2006 respectively. This vehicle has transferred from Hownsgill Depot to Percy Main, in order to operate "Little Coasters" services 40/41/42.
April 2019
Go North East
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This vehicle has transferred from Stanley Depot to Hownsgill. After two and a half years of development, the region’s largest bus operator, Go North East opened the doors to its brand new £3.5 million, state-of-the-art Hownsgill Depot in Consett, County Durham, on Friday 15 March 2019. The high-tech operation replaces the company’s Stanley Depot, which it operated from for nearly 100 years. Therefore; most vehicles based at Stanley transferred to Hownsgill on Sunday 7 April, the date from which the new depot commenced operations.
October 2018
Go North East
Due to capacity constraints within Chester-le-Street Depot, the operation of all of the depot's minibus contracts are transferring elsewhere. To provide Stanley with a spare bus to operate the Durham Cathedral Bus services 40/40A/40B and Chester-le-Street Town Service, this vehicle has transferred from Chester-le-Street Depot to Stanley.
January 2018
Go North East
Due to the high requirement for minibuses in the fleet as a result of the award of Durham County Council contracts, service 18 is being upgraded from a minibus allocation to midibus. As such; this vehicle has been released for cascade from Crook Depot to Chester-le-Street, where it will primarily be allocated to "Lambton Worm" services 34/34A, or, in the event of one of Chester-le-Street's three Optare Solo M710SE/Optare vehicles being unfit for service, will be allocated to the newly-awarded Chester-le-Street Town Bus Durham County Council contract.
May 2017
Go North East
This vehicle has received the tagline "Recharge your batteries | Many of our buses have power sockets on board"
February 2017
Go North East
Following temporary transfer to Chester-le-Street, this vehicle has returned to service at Crook Depot.
February 2017
Go North East
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Transbus MPD/Transbus Mini Pointer 549 (NK53 TKD), which originally transferred to Chester-le-Street to operate a shuttle service due to a road closure in Belmont affecting "Prince Bishops" services 20/20A/X20 and "indiGo" services 204, 208 and 265, is unfit for service and as such this vehicle has transferred from Crook Depot to Chester-le-Street on temporary loan to operate the shuttle service instead.
November 2016
Go North East
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This vehicle has entered service at Crook Depot, where it will be allocated to service 18, replacing Transbus MPD/Transbus Mini Pointer 571 (NK53 TMV) and 572 (NK53 TMX).
October 2016
Go North East
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This vehicle has been repainted into Go North East's new corporate livery. The new livery design is a a lot more eye-catching and features a two-tone base livery, with the traditional key colour of red towards the front of the bus, and non-metallic dark blue towards the back. It is thought that further vinyls will be added at a later date, in order to reflect the quality and customer values of Go North East.
October 2016
Go North East
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Since the withdrawal of Oxfordshire County Council subsidies on 20th July 2016, Thames Travel has been operating the Bicester Town bus services 22 and 23 on a commercial basis. These services run at a loss of approximately £4,500 per week and therefore this decision was a temporary arrangement, while Thames Travel continued discussions with several local stakeholders to pool existing finances and resources to safeguard the longer term future of the services. The company’s proposal included extended operating hours to better meet the needs of commuters using rail services, offering improved daily links to the new Park & Ride site and providing a frequent service between the town centre, two rail stations and Bicester Village. Unfortunately, while some stakeholders were supportive of the company’s proposals and were prepared to provide some funding for the services, others chose to pursue their own commercial interests and therefore services 22 and 23 were withdrawn from the end of service on Saturday 3rd September 2016. The Optare Solos allocated to these services are now hence surplus to requirements at Thames Travel, and have hence been acquired by Go North East, to allow for the withdrawal of further Transbus Mini Pointer Darts from the fleet. This vehicle was new to, and previously with, Thames Travel in June 2013 as fleet number 720.
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May 2008
Go North East
This vehicle has been repainted into a plain white base livery, providing spare coverage in the event of a branded vehicle being unavailable for service. Following repaint, it also transferred from Deptford Depot to Percy Main.
May 2016
Go North East
Originally added to commemorate the company's centenary year in 2013, this vehicle has had its 'Northern' fleet names stripped ahead of the introduction of a new company corporate livery.