Following on from our already established Go North East and Stagecoach North East Service Suggestions threads, I invite you all to come up with some Arriva North East suggestions also. I'm sure there must be one or two services out there we think we could improve!

Last month, North East Buses asked its members: Would you like to see the Go North East thread contented? After further discussion on how our original ideas could be improved, 75% of the community agreed that they would like to see Go North East, Arriva North East and Stagecoach North East’s threads contented. A mere 25% said that things should stay as they are at present. With the majority of the feedback being positive, we decided that we would go ahead with some of our original proposals and also elaborate on some of our ideas too to suit the wants and needs of the community. After many hours of hard work splitting and categorising the posts in our operator threads, it was decided that we didn’t quite like our proposals as much as we did when we first discussed them in June, and that even if we did still like the proposals, they were simply going to take far too long to accomplish. We realised that changes still needed to be performed, but the question was ‘what changes?’

As part of the above changes, a personal project of my own was to design fleet lists for each main North East bus operator (GNE, ANE and SNE). These fleet lists would be created in a database format, where those using the fleet lists could search in a specific field for what they would like to view – by fleet number, registration, chassis/bodywork, livery, depot etc.
We believe that these fleet lists will be an asset to North East Buses, but adding these fleet lists to the site was simply not good enough – we needed more.

An already existent item on the market at present is fleet news. We appreciate that there are websites at present which offer fleet news for the main bus operators within the North East as well as independent operators too, but our ideas were thriving at the prospect of adding this feature to the site too. We all thought that we could improve on how fleet news is currently distributed on these websites, and we could link it to our fleet lists and to our already established forum too. In April, it became apparent to us that some of the posts on our forums often insinuate things that may not be true. As North East Buses was the first enthusiast community to receive a link inserted on Go North East’s “Enthusiast Area” section of their website, we realised that if customers were to stumble upon this page and subsequently view our discussions on the forums, we would not like to have our members’ opinions shown as fact if said opinions are representing Go North East or any other party in a bad light. Members and non-members alike have also expressed that they would prefer it if opinion and speculation could be separated from fact. We definitely feel that the addition of fleet news would resolve any issues that the community have at the moment – the information given on fleet news (containing repaints, loans, transfers, addition and losses from the fleet etc) would be fact, while the posts in our discussion threads is merely discussion. It can include opinion and speculation, and the information given in these threads (should it concern future plans) should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Finally, posts in our main operator threads have been split into parts of 200 posts each. These changes ease pressure on our site’s database and it also allows the reader to digest what is being said a little easier. The parted threads are then locked, but discussion can still be carried through into the next thread if/when necessary.

I am therefore delighted to inform you all of our (well anticipated and much awaited) changes, rolling into effect from today.
Our fleet lists: Go North East, Stagecoach North East and Arriva North East.
And of course, our fleet news sections! Dedicated persons (fleet news reporters) are allowed to post in these sections, and should see bi-weekly updates from these persons. Each thread is relative to the bus operator’s sub-forum it is under.
As part of the changes, we have also divided our service suggestions by bus operator. There was some discussion of Nexus service suggestions while also discussing Go North East, and this has been the case with a few other posts too – in this case, they have been put into the thread where they were best suited where the original discussion derived from.

Some of these updates are still being carried out as I write this post and will continue to be carried out through today. No posts will be lost in this process, so keep on posting as normal! You’ll notice a new link to our fleet list homepage will be inserted on the navigation bar once the page is complete. Until then, you will have to navigate to the fleet lists by the direct links given above.

What’s planned for the future? Starting off with Go North East, we hope to allow members to click on a vehicle within the fleet list and see a photo of it hosted on Flickr. This will work alongside my personal Go North East: “Buses By Brand” collection, so frequently discussed by myself on the Go North East forums. If this proves to succeed, it will be gradually rolled out onto the Stagecoach North East and Arriva North East fleet lists also. The coding is in place, we’re just waiting for all the photographs to be uploaded! Again, this will prove to be a unique feature brought to bus enthusiasts in the North East, and we hope it will be a well-used feature which is appreciated by all.
If in time the resources are available, we also hope to trial fleet news for independent operators within the North East too. If these resources are not available, normal discussion can continue on our dedicated threads for these operators.

Your feedback is also greatly appreciated. Do you like the updates? How could they be improved? What would you have done differently if you were performing these updates? Have you got any other suggestions?
Post below!

Many thanks.

I couldn't find anywhere to slide this in (pun intended), so I decided to start a new thread.

I was just randomly searching for stuff to do with the transport industry in general and came across this page:

http://www.slideshare.net/RussellPublish...artin-dean

Basically, it somewhere for people to place slides either prior to their presentation (essentially as a back-up in case anything were to get lost) or after it. The link above shows slides from a presentation given to the European Bus Operators' Forum by the Go Ahead Group's Martin Dean. To the side (similar to YouTube), you can find the slideshows of other presentations given by representatives of other bus operators.

Obviously, it's no substitute for actually being there listening to what people have to say. But it's pretty interesting nonetheless.

Reported on Facebook that one Garnetts Tridents was on fire at a school this afternoon. Another 3 were seen expired on the A1 apparently!

Just been made aware of this company looking to set up in Northumberland.

Not sure who the owners are or if this is a subsidary of a 'big boy'.

Interesting set of vehicles too.

Good luck to them!

Www.spiritbuses.co.uk

From a sign to a Guided Bus Way, from bus lanes to Trolley Buses, what new infrastructure would you install and what could you run through it.

I would like to install a bus lane for southbound traffic on the A188 at Quorum Business Park so that buses don't get stuck in traffic.

Adamson's of Cramlington have bought their first ever brand new coach, a Van Hool Alicron.

It looks great in its black, red and silver livery. Mini article about it in RouteOne's latest issue. The link to the article is below.

http://www.route-one.net/issues/495/index.html#/44/

Before Christmas last I believe it was mentioned about Washington getting a new Leisure Centre which now in the process of being, the land has been cleared and the skate park moved, so all been well building work should start soon.

Also last year there was talk of a Morrisons being built up by B&Q in the Blackfell area of Washington along with a Tesco which would be situated across the road from McDonald's and Clay Garden Centre on the Peel Retail Park where Homebase etc currently are, no idea on how plans are going with that atm. Would have to do some research into it.

But now the Washington area is set even more development with the announcement last of a New 9 Screen Cinema and a Resturant next to Asda at Washington Galleries. it will be situated where current Cheviot House is which due to be knocked down in the next few weeks, As it has stood empty for a number of years now.

More Info on this link
http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/busin...-1-5830363

Now my Question is with all this supposed Development in the Washington Area, could this then lead into plans for an improved Transport Facillity aswell, Thus making Washington a Major HUB for members of the Public to come to instead going further afield to the likes of Sunderland - Newcastle and the MetroCentre which are all Major Shopping/Transport HUB's in my opinion.

Now obviously as mentioned on other forums on this site it is unlikely Washington will ever receive a Metro System although it could be possible, but I do think an Improved Bus System would be great for Washington as a whole, resulting in giving links to Areas such as Middlesbrough and Hartlepool or North Shields and Tynemouth for example.

News/Info regarding Jim Hughes to be posted here


Jim Hughes have recently re-branded Volvo B10M OTP940 and WSU486. They carry the standard gold variation of the livery with 'jh' vinyls applied.

In addition to this, Mercedes Touro BX06UMJ retains the red livery she previously carried with similar vinyls applied.

Finally, Volvo B10M YSV815 had a run out to Lightwater Valley today on a school trip. She too has been put into the livery of OTP940/WSU486 - gold again too.

Thought it would be useful to have a press cuttings thread, rather than having to start a new thread for every other article regarding public transport in the North East. Mods: Feel free to split/rename/etc if you disagree.

"Cut-price travel for children in Tyne & Wear under threat".

If cheap fares are scrapped, some hard-pressed families will face extra costs running into hundreds of pounds a year to send their children to school by bus
Share on print Share on email
A Metro train A Metro train

Cut-price child fares could be in the firing line following a cash crisis over concessionary travel.

If cheap fares are scrapped, some hard-pressed families will face extra costs running into hundreds of pounds a year to send their children to school by bus.

The problem has arisen in Tyne & Wear, where children can travel on the public transport network for 60p a trip or £1.10 for a day ticket under a scheme supported by councils and the transport authority.

But the funding crisis affecting free bus travel for pensioners and the disabled means transport chiefs may have to look for cuts elsewhere, including subsidised children’s fares.

The child fare scheme is safe until 2015 but if it’s scrapped families would probably have to pay between £100 and £300 extra a year for each child using the bus for school.

Public transport provider Nexus and the Tyne & Wear Integrated Transport Authority must by law operate the free bus pass scheme for 240,000 pensioners and disabled people.

Money is provided by the Government to the five Tyne & Wear councils which is then passed on to the transport authority via a levy.

The scheme costs £40m but there is a £17m funding gap expected to rise to £20m and if this is not plugged members of the ITA will have make cuts.

The subsidised child fare scheme, which is discretionary and believed to cost around £3m, is one target along with subsidised bus routes, including school, work, weekend and evening services

About 40,000 youngsters between five and 16 have Pop cards which cost £5, entitling them to cut price travel on the transport network including buses and Metro.

If the scheme is scrapped they would have to pay around 80p to £1.30 for a single bus ticket.

Coun David Wood, chairman of the ITA, said they have met MPs and he has personally raised the matter with the Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin, but they will have to consider cuts if the funding gap is not sorted out by 2015.

“Members are horrified that this could happen,” he said. “The impact on families who are already struggling financially would be horrendous. We have to support concessionary travel for pensioners and disabled people by law and what money is left is used for other services.

“If we don’t get enough money we have to look at other areas which are not statutory including child fares and secured services.”

At the heart of the problem is a funding formula which dishes out money based on the number of elderly people in the area but does not take into account overall bus use.

Coun Greg Stone, a Liberal Democrat member of the ITA, said: “The concessionary travel funding formula has been problematic for a number of years under both the previous and current governments.

“The concessionary fare scheme for older people is a national government policy but it falls on local authorities to fund and the formula grant provided doesn't cover the full cost. As this is a national policy, I feel there is a strong case for the cost being met directly by national government via the Department for Transport. Regrettably, both the previous and current governments haven't seen fit to do this.’’

A delegation led by Newcastle City Council leader Nick Forbes met Mr McLoughlin in May and told him that unless the Government funding formula changes services will be lost.

Coun Forbes said: “We have always been strongly committed to supporting children’s travel on public transport and it would be a hugely backwards step if that concession was lost as a result of Government cuts.’’

Nexus already spends two-thirds of the total money it receives from local councils on concessionary travel.

Source: The Journal