Having had a few days seeing the family in the North, I had a second opportunity to get out and explore. I'm an exiled Northerner who spent much of the late 80s and 90s trawling all over the North East and Yorkshire before and after deregulation using Explorer North East tickets**. Having moved away, it's now a rare treat to go out and not something I'd done for a while given personal commitments and then Covid restrictions. So in glorious sunshine and with some anticipation as to what the local operators (esp Go North East are up to). Hopefully, you find this interesting, and not too full of self-indulgent wiffle and I'd welcome any feedback as to whether my experiences were typical etc.
The weather was set fair, and so I made my way to Faverdale in Darlington, not far from the Arriva depot. My first bus of the day was to be the historic service 1 to Bishop Auckland which had featured on my first ever Explorer trip just over 35 years ago. Rather than a knackered United Leyland National, it was to be an Arriva Sapphire specification Wright Streetlite that duly arrived and off we went. 1614 was one of the last new vehicles delivered to Arriva North East in early 2018 as investment has stalled in what was a fairly modern fleet. This example had the wifi, USB charging etc that we'd expect though. Now, the route interworks with the X1 and the 5/5A (I think) and 1614 was on home turf though there seemed to be a variety of other vehicles in use - vehicle allocations in Darlington seem to be "fluid" if I'm charitable. The Streetlite was also emblematic of the quality issues that Wright had - it was bad even for a Streetlite, as we clattered our way towards Bishop Auckland. The route in Shildon still surprises me....I'm still stuck in the 90s!! We picked up a few people but deposited most before reaching Bishop bus station.
Arriving there, the place was almost deserted with people and buses. It reflects, in part, how services have declined after the purchase of the former OK operations by Arriva and then cuts that preceded and followed the closure of Bishop depot. However, the bus station remains resolutely familiar and bleak; whilst the travel kiosk is a cafe, the public toilets are still unremittingly grim! I waited for my next bus and it was the X1 to Tow Law - this was a decker surprisingly (branded for the Durham to Darlington route) and in the original Sapphire scheme. To be honest, it wasn't bad internally though the aspirational Sapphire sparkling vinyls (courtesy of Best Impressions) seemed to be out of kilter with the slightly down at heel presentation. However, the ride was brilliant. After traversing Newton Cap, we climbed and climbed through Crook. I had the top deck to myself as we continued our ascent, with views across the Wear Valley and the various former pit villages scattered beneath me. On a cloudless day, it was superb and as we headed to Sunniside, the whole vista of County Durham and North Pennines opened out. Oddly, I've never done the route past Crook to Tow Law but what a day to break my duck. For the uninitiated, Tow Law is a large moor top village that is pretty bleak at times, and the terminus at Inkerman is a layby on the far edge of the village. If you can get the weather, it's a cracking run. The problem is that there aren't too many other journey options. However, the Mon-Fri 764 service from Wolsingham to Consett runs between the schools and so I joined the dozen pensioners on a small Solo operated by Weardale. Weardale used to accept/issue Explorers but exited the scheme a number of years ago which is a shame as they and Scarlet Band have rushed in to fill the void caused by Arriva's retrenchment. The single to Consett was a mere £1.80 which is a bargain.
I arrived at Consett bus station and the usual array of time served deckers laying over between schools was more interesting with a range of East Yorkshire and Lothian liveried examples in attendance. I had heard that the bus station might be redeveloped as part of a town centre regeneration though that might be a tricky ask seeing as how much out of town development has been permitted. It was a quick change and onto my first X-Lines route, the rebranding and respecifying of various routes that are seen as quick links that generally seek to link places without rail services, and employing higher specification vehicles, in partnership with Best Impressions. My first one was the X45 and a Wright Streetdeck about a year old. Streetdecks get a bad rap but this was ok. As with all my GNE services, timetables were available onboard and I went upstairs and enjoyed the view from my table seat as we headed through Ebchester. However, I was bailing early at Bank Top allowing me a leisurely stroll down the hill to Blackhill Mill; it's odd that there are frequent routes to there and Bank Top but few routes traverse the short distance between the two. Even better, there's a tremendous bakery there with all manner of tasty treats. I got a latte and cake to go and went round the corner to catch my next bus.
This was the 10A, part of the Tyne Valley 10 network, worked by a B9TL that I'd last encountered working on the X10 to Middlesbrough! Now mention was made early on this thread about complaints about these vehicles on the TV10. To be honest, I didn't have an issue. These are 9 years old but are pretty well kept inside and out. Certainly, a mid life refurb might be appropriate but it was a decent machine as we weaved through Chopwell (once known as Little Russia on account of local communist support that saw Marx and Lenin Terraces built). We then went through High Spen where the bus stand is adjacent to where the bus depot used to be. We then weaved around, as shown on the excellent leaflet and map contained therein . However, we were losing time and I suddenly realised that my next connection (a 6 min gap at Crawcrook) was in peril. And so it came to pass that I missed my 686 to Ovington, and a replan was needed. More worrying, the next scheduled 10 to Corbridge wasn't tracking!!
It thankfully did arrive in the form of a Citaro on the otherwise DD route. I'm not a great fan of these; the seating layout reflects its origins as a multi door bus and the built quality can be a bit patchy as on this one. Still, we sped through to Corbridge. I could've continued onto Hexham but I'd been bouncing from bus to bus so thought I'd have a more civilised break and grab a sandwich to eat in the sun whilst I worked out my revised itinerary. Now, this is something.... Stagecoach's presence on the 685 appears to have disappeared according to BusTimes. Assume that they are still actually running but that the feed has somehow disappeared?? The next machine though was another new X-Lines machine with one of the X84/X85 e400mmcs. I got on and grabbed the timetable leaflet - publicity on GNE is excellent. In fact, the map in the leaflet was arguably better than that on the interior cove panels (so why not use that). Moreover, the seat was possibly the most comfortable I've ever had on a bus. Apart from the odd bodywork creak, it was a superb and refined trip onto the A69 before diving into Heddon. I missed out on Transdev's SkyClass the other day but these are some of nicest machines I've experienced. It was interesting to compare with the newish Stagecoach examples as we travelled along West Road and see how dull the promotion is despite eLeather seats on city routes. I really don't know what Stagecoach are doing with their promotion and approach and that awful livery though Busways have always been very conservative. Another thing was the repainting of a number of e300s but not bothering with the roof as "no-one can see it" except, of course, you can. So you have a patch of old livery clearly on view from the top deck of a decker.... It smacks of cheap and nasty cost cutting.
I knew that it would be a tight connection but I reckoned I'd probably miss it (and I was right) as the introduction of the longer ex Oxford coaches has seen the X9/X10 moved from Eldon Square to Newgate Street. Instead, I had a bit of a stroll and then literally stumbled upon the new Voltra electric Yutongs on Market Street. Knowing I could get the X10 from Gateshead, I caught a Voltra on the 53. Now, they have the exterior styling of a breeze block but internally they were much nicer. The wireless charging was used to bolster the battery, and whilst it's only a short journey of about 8 minutes, I was much more impressed with these machines that the Harrogate 7900e types. Barely a rattle (I know they're nearly new) and just felt much more robust machines. I got off at Gateshead Metro and headed to the coach bay for the X10, only to find that there was no Interdeck but one of the spare, neutral branded X Lines Streetdecks. Bit disappointing but still a nice run along the A19. Again, the X10 is a route I've used so many times over the years and aside from the mental turbo charged MCW Metrobuses, these are probably some of the best vehicles to have operated it though a delay departure from Gateshead was never overcome. It was certainly a lot smarter than the Max spec Arriva Pulsar that passed through on the X12 - replacement panels, poor colour matching, missing vinyls - it looked a state for 9 years old. Knowing I had time to spare, I dived off at Norton Green and waited for the next Stagecoach machine to maximise my Explorer functionality. The bus that arrived was 22070 working the 35 which I suspect is a route where the older stuff is dumped. Noticing the internal vinyls, I wondered if this was an ex Newcastle machine and yes, that did explain some of the "out of context" adverts. Moreover, the ageing MAN was, by far, the worst bus I had all day. It rattled like hell on hitting any bump in the road, and the raft of notices internally was bewildering. Certainly no creating desire there!
However, it was only 10 mins and then a quick leap onto the X66/67 to Darlington. Now this route highlights the gulf, nay chasm, between Go North East and Arriva. This would be an X Lines route in the GNE lexicon, with modern smart vehicles, good interior and external marketing, and all the bells and whistles to generate passenger growth. In Arriva world, it is a Max route and should be operated by 2005 Scania Omnicities (and a couple of newer Pulsars) albeit refurbished. On the X66/X67, a few of these were working alongside a Darlington gas bus, a Streetlite and a Pulsar but my steed was Solo 2836. New in 2008, it has the old Arriva moquette having not been refurbished. It had Best Impressions designed ads to promote the Max and Sapphire routes but looking a bit dowdy in keeping with this machine that bore the Frequenta fleetname for Darlington locals. In addition, the X67 now encompasses much of Hartburn and is so routed as an express in Darlington via some industrial areas that will generate little traffic, which is odd in itself when operating as per the X66 round Whinbush in Darlington seems more sensible? 2836 is a decent enough machine but that on a primary route like that... a route that could and should be nurtured and is instead reduced to having some ageing refurbs that are then replaced as they fail with whatever else is in the depot. It might be Covid related but the customer numbers of 4 on my journey is worryingly low. The Darlington depot, even in United times, was known as being worse for presentation and standards. However, it demonstrated everything that has bugged me about Arriva in recent years. Route allocations are haphazard and everything looks so jaded - it feels like life stopped about 5 years ago with Arriva North East and I can see the complacency that led to GNE and Peter Huntley exploiting the torpor being repeated. Naturally, it felt appropriate to get the X1 back from Darlington town centre to Faverdale on a 7 branded decker again.
I know that my observations are coloured or influenced by my own sensitivities. I appreciate that I am looking out for "these things". GNE seems to have a handle on service delivery and is being innovative in the main. That said, I think that the unleashing of Best Impressions is also leading to a "not invented here" approach and they are losing some distinctive brands in favour of things that are more anodyne. In the round, they seem to be doing most things right and Martijn Gilbert is a born marketeer but it feels like there's the operational backbone to meet the hype (in the main). I was genuinely stunned by how poor Arriva in Darlington has got; I really only saw fleeting glimpses of Arriva vehicles in Stockton (again, not a great depot historically) whilst not seeing those depots who are usually better like Durham and Blyth. However, as I say, it feels like a business that is suspended in aspic from c.2016 - little or no investment, the Sapphire and Max initiatives now nothing more than remnants of a more optimistic and vibrant age, and treading water as the fleet gets increasing aged with Max routes (the second string but important inter-urban services) continue to be operated by vehicles that date from the mid-2000s.
** Having checked my records from June 1986, another early Explorer trip involved a trip from Darlington via Newcastle (on an RELH) and then into the Tyne Valley on the 685 and 602 (now 10) before heading back to Newcastle to catch the X10 (United DP Olympian) to Teesside and then returning back to Darlington on a Mk2 National.... a strange echo and quite coincidental