The one thing I will credit GNE as an outsider is in terms they were far ahead than my local up north.
Go North East has been ahead of the competition for some time.
Stagecoach Busways are perhaps best described as competent, though it feels like that's damning with faint praise. There's been a bit of network development with the X24 and, further back, with the X47 (helped by Kickstart money) and they introduced gas buses to Sunderland. They're just a solid, if slightly dull, operator.
However, Arriva North East is really a shadow of what it was. Compare to 20 years ago, and they've been ousted for the most part from East Durham; they were the main operator in Peterlee and now are reduced to running in from Durham and Darlington. Even in Durham, the operations aren't what they were. There was a noticeable absence of investment in the mid-noughties (plus general apathy) that emboldened Peter Huntley to embark on a strategy to steal their lunch. GNE purchased some smaller outfits (Northumbrian Coaches, Jayline) to support the attack on Arriva; an attack that they didn't know was happening such was their complacency.
Now the retirement of Steve Noble from Arriva brought Jonathan May instead. In fairness, he had a lot to sort out; some moves were good (vehicle investment) and some not so good (more depot closures and service cuts). A lot was made about the peace being made and secret conversations, but Huntley had outmaneuvered Arriva and got the Tyne Valley operations from them, as well as getting East Durham by default. Peter Huntley did a real job on Arriva, and did a lot of good work on areas such as branding. The fleet had some investment too but there was also quite a lot of old London/Oxford/Brighton stuff as well.
Again, there were management changes. Peter Huntley left GNE and handed over to Kevin Carr, but PH sadly died in a climbing accident. Kevin Carr, being a Northern General veteran with an engineering background, back to look at things from a more operational viewpoint, and that probably explained why a substantial number of brands were discontinued in favour of all over red Northern or the later red and blue. There were still some developments like the introduction of the Tynedale Express again the Stagecoach/Arriva 685. Similarly, under a new team of Nigel Featham and Nick Knox, Arriva seemed to be steadier and was looking to both improve their offer with changes to the Northumberland routes and introducing Sapphire and MAX brands plus some continued investment through the early to mid 2010s.
However, and I confess I don't get back to the homeland like I did (and certainly not in 2020!) but it feels a bit like a re-run of 15 years ago. GNE are busy upgrading their offer on routes and expanding, ever so slightly, over Arriva territory, such as extending the X21 to West Auckland. The gulf in quality between GNE and Arriva is pretty pronounced - between West Auckland and Durham, with 4 year old Streetdecks vs Arriva's mix of 13 plate Pulsars and a few new e400s in Sapphire garb. Between Durham and Newcastle, it's older Pulsars and Geminis to MAX spec vs GNE, whilst the Hexham to Newcastle (via West Road) sees new GNE e400mmcs vs 14 year old Arriva Omnicities. In fact, you go to Durham and it is beginning to feel more like GNE territory than Arriva!
GNE are a good firm. Not perfect, and they do make mistakes but a good outfit. Arriva has a collection of half decent vehicles (but ageing), no investment for 4 years in new fleet, and a range of liveries including original Cotswold (yes, still), the later Arriva aqua, the "new" livery, then the subs of Sapphire, MAX and Frequenta all appearing with the premium ones now looking rather tired, and seemingly, bereft of direction.