(20 Mar 2014, 7:05 pm)ADLEnviro wrote Totally agree there, I would have also put and don't give a toss on the end though.

I feel sorry for people that read the wrong information that nexus display.............an example below is for the bus stop at Gilley Law turning circle where one stop is used for both directions. Looking at this timetable the 5 and 5A only operate between Gilley Law and Sunderland but the truth is Monday to Saturday day time it operates to Doxford Park. The timetable that is displayed runs to the Docks and what makes this even worse is the section between Sunderland and the Docks that is not shown is the part that Nexus secure.

Gilley Law Bus Stop Timetable

Using the same service for another example. The timetable is a mess for the 5A as nexus think Monday to Saturday it operates Thorney Close, North Moor, Moorside, Doxford Park, Farrringdon then Gilley Law. On a sunday they think it terminates at North Moor and runs empty to Gilly Law for its next trip.

Nexus Service 5/5A timetable

Just a reminder this is the organisation that (think they) can do a better job at running bus services.

Terrible

Despite it being a wholly secured service, Nsxus still have the 6 on market street east in newcastle city centre. It has terminated in pilgrim street for several weeks now.

Any more howlers at the bus stops

Has anyone seen the revised timetable format at stops? Very much like the one suggested for QCS without the ticket prices. Does contain brand names for GNE services which is good though.

Do think the old format was better. Not as smart/official though. Easier to read by far.

(20 Apr 2014, 6:30 am)Dan wrote Has anyone seen the revised timetable format at stops? Very much like the one suggested for QCS without the ticket prices. Does contain brand names for GNE services which is good though.

Do think the old format was better. Not as smart/official though. Easier to read by far.

Havent seen them yet, ill keep a look out for them

(20 Apr 2014, 9:04 am)Michael wrote Havent seen them yet, ill keep a look out for them

Do you still use the 56 to get to college or whatever it is? Think you did before, at least..?

If you do, you'll see an example of it at Nissan. Just make sure you sit on the bottom deck.

(20 Apr 2014, 9:07 am)Dan wrote Do you still use the 56 to get to college or whatever it is? Think you did before, at least..?

If you do, you'll see an example of it at Nissan. Just make sure you sit on the bottom deck.

I do but i wont be using it till Tuesday for going past Nissan but im popping to the town later so may have a look at the timetable there.

Is it orange for the 56 with its logo?

(20 Apr 2014, 9:25 am)Michael wrote I do but i wont be using it till Tuesday for going past Nissan but im popping to the town later so may have a look at the timetable there.

Is it orange for the 56 with its logo?

It's in the red/black format. It just says in text "Fab Fifty Six".. I think.

Not sure if you'll be able to or not, but on the Nexus website if you navigate your way to Nissan, the online version may have been updated. I'll try and check but the signal isn't at its best heading to Kirkby Stephen.

(20 Apr 2014, 9:28 am)Dan wrote It's in the red/black format. It just says in text "Fab Fifty Six".. I think.

Not sure if you'll be able to or not, but on the Nexus website if you navigate your way to Nissan, the online version may have been updated. I'll try and check but the signal isn't at its best heading to Kirkby Stephen.

Sounds good

I'll take a look, lets hope they decide to do it with every timetable soon, would of being nice to have the prices on to.

Edit: Nothing updated yet on the NEXUS site, i was gonna pop to my nanas but i remember i have college work to do... =(

and the shops are closed today!

Found one of the new timetables... here's Washington Road. It's simpler to understand, which is good, but I'm not a fan of the design myself.

http://liners.nexus.org.uk/23147.pdf

(20 Apr 2014, 12:49 pm)BJ10VUS wrote Found one of the new timetables... here's Washington Road. It's simpler to understand, which is good, but I'm not a fan of the design myself.

http://liners.nexus.org.uk/23147.pdf

Looks much better than the other ones, easier to read what time they are due to.

(20 Apr 2014, 12:57 pm)Michael wrote Looks much better than the other ones, easier to read what time they are due to.

bus stop at whitley bay metro same

Does anyone care to explain how two buses departing from the same stop, traversing the exact same route, have two different estimated times of how long it takes to get from Rowlands Gill to Newcastle?

http://liners.nexus.org.uk/20011.pdf

According to the timetable, service 45 takes 29 minutes while service 46 takes 35 minutes. Service 47, which goes a slightly different way, takes 30 minutes.

I didn't really want to put this in the 'Life's Little Mysteries' thread but perhaps I should have done!

I wonder if there any more examples of this timetabling anomaly.

(Yes, I know it's Nexus and expect nothing less!)

There's a few examples of that happening in Washington too, Adam. It's even more irritating that customers think this is a Go North East fault and complain to Go North East when these services take longer than x minutes as shown on the bus stop timetable.

Regarding the new design - the one on Newcastle Road opposite the Whatsheaf (X3 terminus) has been updated to the new style and it was hideous to read compared to the old style. I found myself having to point at the timetable and follow it along with my finger like a little old woman. It still read 'at xx and yy mins past each hour' too.

EDIT: Not sure if it was a mistake on the printed timetable or not, but it's not like that on the online version:
http://liners.nexus.org.uk/24020.pdf

(01 Jun 2014, 6:07 pm)Dan wrote There's a few examples of that happening in Washington too, Adam. It's even more irritating that customers think this is a Go North East fault and complain to Go North East when these services take longer than x minutes as shown on the bus stop timetable.

Regarding the new design - the one on Newcastle Road opposite the Whatsheaf (X3 terminus) has been updated to the new style and it was hideous to read compared to the old style. I found myself having to point at the timetable and follow it along with my finger like a little old woman. It still read 'at xx and yy mins past each hour' too.

EDIT: Not sure if it was a mistake on the printed timetable or not, but it's not like that on the online version:
http://liners.nexus.org.uk/24020.pdf

The 2 next to Sunderland Uni have being updated to - http://liners.nexus.org.uk/24245.pdf

Slightly different to the ones on Washington road for the 50/56 - due to the fact that theirs more services using that road

(01 Jun 2014, 6:18 pm)Michael wrote The 2 next to Sunderland Uni have being updated to - http://liners.nexus.org.uk/24245.pdf

Slightly different to the ones on Washington road for the 50/56 - due to the fact that theirs more services using that road

Yes! It was like that but a mixture of the one on Washington Road too... It was absolutely crazy and an old woman asked me if I knew when the bus was due because she couldn't read it and I had to admit that I hated the new timetable layout too because it was difficult to read.

(01 Jun 2014, 6:07 pm)Dan wrote There's a few examples of that happening in Washington too, Adam. It's even more irritating that customers think this is a Go North East fault and complain to Go North East when these services take longer than x minutes as shown on the bus stop timetable.

Regarding the new design - the one on Newcastle Road opposite the Whatsheaf (X3 terminus) has been updated to the new style and it was hideous to read compared to the old style. I found myself having to point at the timetable and follow it along with my finger like a little old woman. It still read 'at xx and yy mins past each hour' too.

I'm not a fan... they don't look that great!

The estimated time of 29 minutes is extremely optimistic to say the least. Maybe it's achievable with the first bus on a Sunday morning but even then there's the regular car-boot sale at Blaydon Rugby Club to consider. I don't know what loadings are like now, but back when I was a regular GNE punter (many moons ago), there was always a queue of people waiting to board with a variety of oversized junk.

(01 Jun 2014, 5:52 pm)AdamY wrote Does anyone care to explain how two buses departing from the same stop, traversing the exact same route, have two different estimated times of how long it takes to get from Rowlands Gill to Newcastle?

http://liners.nexus.org.uk/20011.pdf

According to the timetable, service 45 takes 29 minutes while service 46 takes 35 minutes. Service 47, which goes a slightly different way, takes 30 minutes.

I didn't really want to put this in the 'Life's Little Mysteries' thread but perhaps I should have done!

I wonder if there any more examples of this timetabling anomaly.

(Yes, I know it's Nexus and expect nothing less!)

There have been examples of it for years with the stops I have used on a regular basis.
No idea why.

The only thing I could come up with, was the popularity of the service i.e if it was popular, it took longer - if it was less so, then quicker.

No idea if that was the case with each example or not.

On a different note, the timetables on Chester Front St have changed. No idea how long the new versions have been in place, but much easier on the eye, than the traditional cluttered version.

Even more disparity regarding estimated journey times on the bus stop prior (heading into Newcastle) to the one I posted about earlier.

http://liners.nexus.org.uk/20010.pdf

Aside from the fact they're formatted differently, service 45 now takes 27 minutes; service 46 takes 42 minutes; and service 47 takes 40 minutes. The latter is probably the one I'd be inclined to believe.

I like how travelling to the past is now possible in Rowlands Gill courtesy of Nexus!

(01 Jun 2014, 6:33 pm)Andreos Constantopolous wrote There have been examples of it for years with the stops I have used on a regular basis.
No idea why.

The only thing I could come up with, was the popularity of the service i.e if it was popular, it took longer - if it was less so, then quicker.

No idea if that was the case with each example or not.

On a different note, the timetables on Chester Front St have changed. No idea how long the new versions have been in place, but much easier on the eye, than the traditional cluttered version.

Don't think there's that much of a popularity difference between "Red Kite" services 45/46 to cause a 15 minute difference in journey times!

FTAO: eezypeazy - this would be a perfect time to get a dig in about QCS, if they can't manage to publish timetables correctly!

(01 Jun 2014, 7:18 pm)Dan wrote Don't think there's that much of a popularity difference between "Red Kite" services 45/46 to cause a 15 minute difference in journey times!

FTAO: eezypeazy - this would be a perfect time to get a dig in about QCS, if they can't manage to publish timetables correctly!

I tend to choose services 45/46 over service 47 as it is usually marginally quicker. But I've yet to hear of anyone stating a preference between the two "Red-Kite" services.

Mind you, I have witnessed a DeLorean DMC-12 operating the 45 recently. I'm surprised no-one has managed to snap a picture of that particular allocation. Perhaps that explains the time difference?

Time to re-brand?

(01 Jun 2014, 7:18 pm)Dan wrote Don't think there's that much of a popularity difference between "Red Kite" services 45/46 to cause a 15 minute difference in journey times!

FTAO: eezypeazy - this would be a perfect time to get a dig in about QCS, if they can't manage to publish timetables correctly!

Well according to the Senior Traffic Commissioner, us folk don't see timetables as timetables anyway.

(01 Jun 2014, 7:32 pm)aureolin wrote Well according to the Senior Traffic Commissioner, us folk don't see timetables as timetables anyway.

(01 Jun 2014, 7:18 pm)Dan wrote Don't think there's that much of a popularity difference between "Red Kite" services 45/46 to cause a 15 minute difference in journey times!

FTAO: eezypeazy - this would be a perfect time to get a dig in about QCS, if they can't manage to publish timetables correctly!

Ah don't man.
He/she doesn't need any encouragement

As for the other bit, never noticed the 15min difference.
The ones I have seen, are just a few minutes difference.

(01 Jun 2014, 7:37 pm)citaro5284 wrote

That's my wires crossed. It was in fact our good friends over at Passenger Focus that suggested that. Probably based on the 0.000000005% of bus users they surveyed.

(01 Jun 2014, 7:45 pm)aureolin wrote That's my wires crossed. It was in fact our good friends over at Passenger Focus that suggested that. Probably based on the 0.000000005% of bus users they surveyed.

(27 Mar 2014, 7:41 pm)eezypeazy wrote You're still not able to understand sampling, are you? And how samples are representative? And how the same technique has been rigourously applied across the country?

(01 Jun 2014, 7:48 pm)Andreos Constantopolous wrote

one of the best debates on NEB.

I prefer living in a democracy though, where everyone has their say.

The timings on the nexus bus stops are based on the quickest scheduled journey. The rather odd timing of the 45 is based on the very first trip (0529 ish?) which doesn't encounter much traffic (cars or passengers). This explains the wide discrepancy to the 46 and 47.

In general terms, if a service has an evening variation, that's the point-to-point timings nexus use. Personally, I think these timings raise customer expectations too much. I'd much prefer they used general daytime timings, as they are generally more robust for connections/ journey planning, etc. and if a bus arrives at destination point earlier than customers expectation, this would certainly excite less comment...

(02 Jun 2014, 8:34 am)JakeSavage wrote The timings on the nexus bus stops are based on the quickest scheduled journey. The rather odd timing of the 45 is based on the very first trip (0529 ish?) which doesn't encounter much traffic (cars or passengers). This explains the wide discrepancy to the 46 and 47.

In general terms, if a service has an evening variation, that's the point-to-point timings nexus use. Personally, I think these timings raise customer expectations too much. I'd much prefer they used general daytime timings, as they are generally more robust for connections/ journey planning, etc. and if a bus arrives at destination point earlier than customers expectation, this would certainly excite less comment...

If what you say is correct, and I'm not suggesting it isn't, then this is such an idiotic way to serve as a basis for estimating journey times. Journey times should/need be estimated using the peak timetable on all services. That way, as you point out, customers will have realistic expectations over when the bus will arrive and how long it will take to its destination.

However, while that may explain the disparity between services 45 and 46, it does not explain the disparity between services 45 and 47. Both services have buses leaving the Gill prior to 6am, yet, one bus takes 27 minutes while the other takes 40 minutes. Although, in my view, service 47 takes slightly longer than services 45 & 46 due to its routing through The Teams, the difference does not come anywhere near 30 minutes. Are Nexus trying to suggest that levels of congestion are so much different between 05:30 and 06:00 than they are between 06:00 and 06:30? I accept that traffic levels may be higher in the latter time-window, but I would certainly not put it at peak-time levels which tend to start at 06:45 and 07:15.