Hard one to categorise this but the driving standards have really dropped a lot lately.

My EV has temporarily given in with a broken software update resorting into me needing a bus ride most days this week and I've noticed how much standards have fallen. I guess its natural since a lot of experienced good drivers have left and we've got newbies but by god....

A few from this week alone....

900 - the driver got lost twice, mounted two kerbs at a bus stop, had to reverse into a residential cul de sac and was generally in the wrong lane.

21 - 

• coming onto High St West from the bus link - scraped all the way along the kerb. 
  
• The same bus hit a roadworks sign turning onto John Dobson St 
  
• Went around Gateshead Roundabout twice as didn't know the turning for Low Fell and then crawled along in the dark and rain as they were new to the route.
  
• Knocked a roadworks sign off whilst turning onto the Tyne Bridge.
  
• I don't know if its because they are new or if its a Streetdeck issue but without fail they all seem to be stalling or losing power at bus stops. You wait 5 minutes then get the audible fire suppression active and we're away
  

The poor Cannon bus stop has been whacked 3 times in a week. 

X39 - can only assume these buses are fitted with handbrakes and not normal brakes.

I get it's tough to recruit and people have to learn but I've generally no idea how some of the drivers this week got their licence and worst of all - they look equally bloody terrified as the passengers!

Does the DFDS 327 have and official route,or is it upto the driver, saw one going along Wallsend High Street,im assumimg from there it went straight along Tynemouth Road,and onto the A187 from there via the bridge that goes over the Metro Line

The Road will be closed for 40 weeks, starting from 31st October 2022. 

https://www.sunderlandecho.com/business/...ht-3612185

Go North East - Fares increase again 23rd October 2022
https://www.gonortheast.co.uk/fares-and-...23-October

They seem to be determined to nail their own coffin shut!

In this day an age, how is it possible that tenders for once a morning workers buses evidently don't specify tracking as a required feature?

Bonkers.

I seriously doubt it has anything to do with lowering the entry cost to a minimum, but I suppose it's at least possible, but it would still be cost effective and simple common sense for Nexus to then provide trackers for the timespan of the tender.

If my observation is just a one off issue, I suppose that's still indicative of public public incompetence, since the unnerving experience of waiting even once for an evidently untrackable bus for such an important journey (my first day at a new job), I searched out alternative (commercially provided!) services for the next day and beyond. 

And then going forward, with the employer being sympathetic to the hell of relying on buses to get to work at all these days, with strikes looming, they let me, a person they barely know, use a company vehicle for commuting going forward, since me being late for work for even a half hour, would cost them dear. A level of pragmatism that is practically unheard of in the public sector.

Thereby as it happens, merely adding to the congestion afflicting that very service!

Scrimping pennies to lose pounds.

As you will know, Go-Ahead plc has just been taken over by a consortium of Kinetic, Australia and Globalvia, Spain.

We can just await developments with interest.  For example, this article quotes that They also see opportunities for Go-Ahead to "increase its footprint in the regional UK bus market"

So, could they buy out additional operators or subsidiaries of other groups?  Time will tell.

Go-Ahead sale to Kinetic and Globalvia completes - routeone (route-one.net)

This was a tiny mention as a far off prospect in the BSIP,  and has been mentioned again as a long term goal in the aftermath of the postponement of Black Street pedestrian.

If Waitrose is anything to go by, Marks and Spencer are sure to close their Eldon Square store soon, so I think the time is right to partner with Eldon Square to draw up plans for a single bus station that occupies the current footprint of the store, corkscrew car park and the two current bus stations.

This could surely accommodate all Newcastle services, cross town and terminators, using Percy Street, Great North Road and Durant Road as the access routes.

Serving Central Station would have to be a secondary concern, as it arguably already is now.

It's not ideal, but developing retail and parking over the top of this larger apron is the common way these days of funding such large projects.

Layover parking would perhaps have to be moved elsewhere, but that's not exactly an insurmountable problem.

Such a project surely fits the present priorities of reducing car usage (especially private commuter parking and city centre residential parking), increasing bus use (one station over the Metro being ideal for a future franchise), and it definitely allows the pedestrianisation and cycling up of Blacket Street and more besides. It may even suit a further change in use of Eldon Square from retail to leisure and residential, perhaps even start-up space in partnership with the university.

Stick a solar wind turbine farm on the roof for opportunity charging and heating, you will perhaps even have the Greens ready to support it.

Far off into the future, it will be an ideal hub for driverless personal transport pods (and the HyperLoop station on the East Coast Main Tunnel).

East Yorkshire Will Cut Services "Temporarily" as they face a driver shortage.

Service 54: Buses will run to a revised frequency of up to every 30 minutes Monday – Saturday daytime, no changes to the evening frequency. See the Service 54 timetable here.
Service 56: Buses will run to a revised frequency of up to every 30 minutes Monday – Saturday daytime, providing a combined 15-minute frequency with service 57 to and from Longhill/Asda. On Sundays buses will run up to every hour during the day, providing a combined 30-minute frequency with service 57. A revised evening timetable will be in operation. See the Service 56 timetable here.
Service 57: Buses will run to a revised frequency of up to every 30 minutes Monday – Saturday daytime, providing a combined 15-minute frequency with service 56 to and from Longhill/Asda. On Sundays buses will run up to every hour during the day, providing a combined 30-minute frequency with service 56 to and from Longhill/Asda. A revised evening timetable will be in operation. See the Service 57 timetable here.
Service 66: Buses will run to a revised frequency of up to every 20 minutes Monday – Saturday daytime, with minor changes to early morning and early evening journeys. On Sundays buses will run every hour. See the Service 66 timetable here.
Service 104: Buses will run to a revised frequency of up to every 30 minutes Monday – Saturday daytime, with minor changes to early morning and early evening journeys. See the Service 104 timetable here.
Service 105: On Sundays buses will run every hour during the day. There will be no changes to the Monday – Friday, or Saturday timetable. See the Service 105 timetable here.
Service 154: Buses will run to a revised frequency of up to every 30 minutes Monday – Saturday daytime, with minor changes to early morning and early evening journeys. See the Service 154 timetable here.

https://www.eastyorkshirebuses.co.uk/tem...23-october

Can’t understand why gne still have these.  They were essentially mothballed when covid hit and have been used as taxis and shuttles with a few odd exceptions since.  The diesel Yutongs seemed to have replaced them.  Surely they still have a good resale value with the spec they have, and are relatively low mileage, assuming the nox/Adblu issues ever got properly fixed.

Do you not think the Centrelink should be used more, really I think the X45 (hopefully at every 20 mins) and the 47 should use it all the time going to Newcastle, as its so much faster than being stuck on the Redheugh bridge. 

Not sure if the 10/10A/10B would use it as they need some service through Askew Road to Newcastle/Metrocentre and maybe the 6 too.