Go North East

[Swanny200]

I head down to Middlesbrough a lot from South Tyneside and Arriva NE is bad as it is, but in Middlesbrough they look really shoddy, my nephew came up from there 2 weeks ago and couldn't believe buses here, last 3 times I was down there, I have seen a bus broken down with it's engine door open.

 

[tbtc]

IIRC....

The Q3 has its origins as the X40 Great Park and Ride. This was originally operated by Arriva using a pair of MPDs in a dedicated livery who simply took the money and nothing more until 2013. They were then surprised to lose the contract to Go North East who employed some Wright Solar Fusion artics released from the MetroCentre shuttle in Gateshead, giving the route a much higher profile. I think it was this that has since been integrated into the Q3 and suspect there is still some contribution from Great Park.

Thanks - that's interesting - as it's in what I'd think of as Arriva territory (I appreciate that there's the 33Ns towards Gosforth etc too, but you know what I mean)

The 55 has its origins in the old M55 which was a former Northumbria route, using early Metroriders. I think it had it roots as a variation of the old 355/356 that United/Northumbria/Arriva had and continued to operate with conventional vehicles, so it's always been home territory since the 1980s (though it might have had some differences before the Metro was built and routes swapped about)

I appreciate that this is going (further) off topic, but maybe that'd be a thread - Bus Routes Lost/ Changed Due To Light Rail - I might start one - you've mentioned before the "swaps" including Throckley - sounds an interesting time in terms of routes changing hands etc

The 9/9A were deregistered at dereg by TWPTE/Busways and were won on tender by Northumbria - think they ran from Central Station via Spital Tongues up to Kenton Bar Estate. Originally using VRs or ex Manc Fleetlines, I think the first Optare Metroriders NMS bought were also on it regularly, and I think they took it on commercially. @Geordie driver will doubtless remember it.

The 9/9A was Jesmonds run as a secured service, these were the shifts where we we expected to drive right to the limit of the driving hours, l loathed them. The last few out of Central on a weekend were very hairy, I recall some lads getting on the bus with an entire tree they had dug up, I said nowt. Times were stupidity tight, 5 minutes from central to the Haymarket, then all the " fun" of driving through Cowgate. Edit, now that I think about it, after a couple of years they ran it commercially, it was always very busy and Busways didn't seem to mind us stepping on their toes, even when they became stagecoach. All very cosy.

Interesting, thanks - similar to the modern 10/11 (?) - an entire tree though - wow - that takes some beating!

FWIW, I tracked down the Arriva X12 (not my photo) https://www.flickr.com/photos/18406...list-2ksGM1Y-2kZ8wQ3-2kYPiuM-2kTqjuM-2kYT8eW/ that I saw at Gateshead Metro and you can see the replacement panels etc. Not exactly "creating desire" as a certain design house would say!

That's almost in the "So Bad It's Good" territory - all the different shades of turquoise on the panels making it look almost like a harlequin effect - or those massive modern buildings where the architects and designers have tried to "hide" a hulking big wall by introducing various bits of panelling that are fairly similar but not quite identical, to break ip up a bit

(obviously it's done by accident and tightfistedness)

 

[Andyh82]

Service 2 is being rebranded as “Sunderland District Berries”

The new timetable showing this brand and the colour scheme is linked to here

https://passenger-line-assets.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/gonortheast/GNE/2-timetable-20210623-534b61ab.pdf

It is currently branded as “Black Cats”

 

[NorthOxonian]

Service 2 is being rebranded as “Sunderland District Berries”

The new timetable showing this brand and the colour scheme is linked to here

https://passenger-line-assets.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/gonortheast/GNE/2-timetable-20210623-534b61ab.pdf

It is currently branded as “Black Cats”

For me, that's in the same category as "East Gateshead Rider" - a bit of a weak brand. It doesn't really roll off the tongue, and to use an excellent phrase you coined earlier this thread, it's very "Stenning by numbers".

There are some routes where branding makes a lot of sense, and some routes which are more generic. I'd put the 2 and 2A into that latter category. If it must be branded, the old Black Cats like a much better choice to me.

 

[Andyh82]

I’m not impressed by the way every brand seems to be being replaced rather than refreshed. Companies like TrentBarton and Transdev manage to refresh brands without throwing the brand name in the bin.

When the time comes they’ll probably rebrand “The Angel” as something else.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

For me, that's in the same category as "East Gateshead Rider" - a bit of a weak brand. It doesn't really roll off the tongue, and to use an excellent phrase you coined earlier this thread, it's very "Stenning by numbers".

There are some routes where branding makes a lot of sense, and some routes which are more generic. I'd put the 2 and 2A into that latter category. If it must be branded, the old Black Cats like a much better choice to me.

I’m not impressed by the way every brand seems to be being replaced rather than refreshed. Companies like TrentBarton and Transdev manage to refresh brands without throwing the brand name in the bin.

When the time comes they’ll probably rebrand “The Angel” as something else.

Have to agree with both of you. I'm generally a fan of both Best Impressions and of Martijn Gilbert. The work on the X Lines network is particularly impressive. However, this move and the earlier East Gateshead Rider and Cityline brands seem so anondyne and unremarkable.

Surprisingly so, when you consider what they've done elsewhere with other clients and it would seem that Gilbert is looking to sweep away the old brands in the main. Not all of those were that great but Fab, Black Cats and Angel are/were ones that seemed to resonate to my mind.

 

[bobslack1982]

Service 2 is being rebranded as “Sunderland District Berries”

The new timetable showing this brand and the colour scheme is linked to here

https://passenger-line-assets.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/gonortheast/GNE/2-timetable-20210623-534b61ab.pdf

It is currently branded as “Black Cats”

That is garbage. At least Black Cats has some connection to the city, what on earth is the relevance of “berries”?

 

[tbtc]

Arriva's service changes (https://www.arrivabus.co.uk/latest-news/services-changes-from-monday-28th-june) show that GNE are to go back onto the old 723/732 corridor to Darlington (albeit just temporarily, to cover for a lack of Arriva drivers - not sure why they are struggling for staff whilst Go have enough to take on temporary work, but can probably guess...)

Service 6 – Durham to West Auckland/Cockfield

From Monday 28th June, a small number of journeys will be operated by our colleagues at Go North East. There is no change to timetable and all Arriva tickets will be accepted as normal.

Service 7 – Durham to Darlington

From Monday 28th June, a small number of journeys will be operated by our colleagues at Go North East. There is no change to timetable and all Arriva tickets will be accepted as normal.

.

At least Black Cats has some connection to the city, what on earth is the relevance of “berries”?

Agreed

Black Cats and Toon Link both had a local connection to the relevant cities. Berries though... I don't get that!

On the subject of the 2/2A, what's the reason for the Brady Square diversion on Sundays? (i.e. what does this replace at those times?)

I'm slightly surprised that the 2/2A/39/39A still run as cross-Sunderland services - I appreciate that this was the 139/140 once upon a time (back when Busways and GNE worked together) but there's not much in the way of cross-city demand is there? (okay, the office park at Doxford is a destination, but it's a long way from Chester Road via Ryhope) - in this era of operators chopping services into smaller/ shorter reliable routes, it's slightly odd that these have stayed IMHO

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Arriva's service changes (https://www.arrivabus.co.uk/latest-news/services-changes-from-monday-28th-june) show that GNE are to go back onto the old 723/732 corridor to Darlington (albeit just temporarily, to cover for a lack of Arriva drivers - not sure why they are struggling for staff whilst Go have enough to take on temporary work, but can probably guess...)

You mean 722/723 of old?

I know Darlington is experiencing an significant uptick in Covid cases so might be a case of drivers isolating?

 

[NorthOxonian]

On the subject of the 2/2A, what's the reason for the Brady Square diversion on Sundays? (i.e. what does this replace at those times?)

It replaces a local Washington service (85) which normally runs between Concord and Brady Square but on a Sunday only runs to the Galleries.

I assume it's so the bus which runs the Sunday 85 can interwork with other local Washington routes (whereas the Monday - Saturday service appears to involve that bus shuttling back and forth with no interworking).

 

[cnjb8]

Apparently there are a number of fleet changes due at GNE:
Quaylink Versas go to Washington to operate 2/2A
This will displace the Black Cat StreetLites at Deptford to the Quaylink which is becoming the East Gateshead Orbit
Diamond StreetLites at Consett are moving to Percy Main to work the 1/1A and possibly 19.
Hybrids go the other way.
Somehow the Mercs and Omnis get withdrawn in all of this.
Source: https://www.northeastbuses.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?tid=3443&page=5

 

[kez19]

I’m not impressed by the way every brand seems to be being replaced rather than refreshed. Companies like TrentBarton and Transdev manage to refresh brands without throwing the brand name in the bin.

When the time comes they’ll probably rebrand “The Angel” as something else.

In one of the pics even though its demo bus but they seem to be calling it "the electric angel" ?

9051 Go North East Optare Metrodecker EV Demonstrator on Angel Service 21

An all electric demonstrator has arrived from Optare to see use at Chester-le-Street depot on Angel 21 but only as far as Chester-le-Street as opposed to Durham this vehicle has since returned to Optare but it will return in July seen here in Gateshead on Angel Service 21 to Chester-le-Street ©...

www.flickr.com

 

[Andyh82]

Apparently there are a number of fleet changes due at GNE:
Quaylink Versas go to Washington to operate 2/2A
This will displace the Black Cat StreetLites at Deptford to the Quaylink which is becoming the East Gateshead Orbit
Diamond StreetLites at Consett are moving to Percy Main to work the 1/1A and possibly 19.
Hybrids go the other way.
Somehow the Mercs and Omnis get withdrawn in all of this.
Source: https://www.northeastbuses.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?tid=3443&page=5

So they’re binning off the long established “Quaylink” as well replacing it with “East Gateshead Orbits”?

The mind boggles

 

[NorthOxonian]

So they’re binning off the long established “Quaylink” as well replacing it with “East Gateshead Orbits”?

The mind boggles

The majority of what is now Quaylink did technically used to be called the "Orbit". The section between Newcastle and Gateshead has always been Quaylink, but the southern part was a separate route numbered 51 and 52 until a few years back.

However, note that those routes were branded as the "Orbit". We can argue about how good a brand it is, but it's snappy and to the point. "East Gateshead Orbits" is just too long a name.

 

[tbtc]

You mean 722/723 of old?

Yeah, that's the one (apologies, got the numbers wrong)

I know Darlington is experiencing an significant uptick in Covid cases so might be a case of drivers isolating?

I was guessing that was the reason but hadn't heard anything so wasn't certain

It replaces a local Washington service (85) which normally runs between Concord and Brady Square but on a Sunday only runs to the Galleries.

I assume it's so the bus which runs the Sunday 85 can interwork with other local Washington routes (whereas the Monday - Saturday service appears to involve that bus shuttling back and forth with no interworking).

Cheers for confirming!

So they’re binning off the long established “Quaylink” as well replacing it with “East Gateshead Orbits”?

The mind boggles

I don't get this

Some of the local route branding works really well and elevates a service in the eyes of passengers and potential passengers - some can be a bit forgettable/ unnecessary though.

The Angel works well IMHO - it promotes the service that passes a tourist attraction, it's probably attracted a few leisure journeys over the years

I get why some operators don't bother with branding, especially ones who run fairly "common or garden" urban services - e.g. Busways in Newcastle - for a generic "city centre to housing estate" route it doesn't matter too much if it's the number 37 or the "Red Line" or has some branding based on the name of the terminus ("The Flat-Roofed Pub Flyer" or "The Diamond White Line") - but it is worth doing it for the 100 to the Metrocentre

The Quaylink services though... they are the kind of routes where you've surely got a leisure market, a Quaylink branding could attract people to Sage/ Baltic, you'd be able to fill a few seats off-peak

East Gateshead though... no offence to east Gateshead (I think I have some distant family in the area) but it's not a tourist destination. That bit of route is about getting people from east Gateshead into central Gateshead, into Newcastle, onto the Metro at Heworth... it seems a bit odd to focus on that bit of the route rather than the Quayside section - it'd be a bit like branding the 21 as "The Birtley Bus" (I mean, it serves Birtley, but that's not the attraction)

I appreciate that this is part of a wider rebranding etc - it just seems to be getting rid of a pretty long established brand that promoted bus travel to a leisure destination - seems necessary

 

[NorthOxonian]

East Gateshead though... no offence to east Gateshead (I think I have some distant family in the area) but it's not a tourist destination. That bit of route is about getting people from east Gateshead into central Gateshead, into Newcastle, onto the Metro at Heworth... it seems a bit odd to focus on that bit of the route rather than the Quayside section - it'd be a bit like branding the 21 as "The Birtley Bus" (I mean, it serves Birtley, but that's not the attraction)

It does seem to be part of a trend.

Take my local route - which is the 53 and 54. Previously it had been branded as "Saltwell Park", which was the main attraction on the route and drove a lot of the off-peak demand. Now it's "Voltra", which has nothing to do with the local area. I do realise they want to promote their electric buses, which are very good, but if someone who had little knowledge of (or interest in) buses saw it, they would see it as a meaningless brand.

At the time, I put those doubts to the back of my mind. The Saltwell Park branding was looking a bit old, and needed a refresh. But at least it's a timeless brand - whereas if many more routes are electric in a few years, Voltra will look even more meaningless than now.

 

[Andyh82]

There also seems to be a bit of confusion of where “East Gateshead” actually is, considering the 93/94 are branded like this

Is it the eastern part of the Gateshead council area, meaning Gateshead Town Centre is actually in East Gateshead, or is it east of the town centre meaning Team Valley is certainly not east Gateshead

And on the note of routes that might attract tourists, I still think it’s a shame they dropped the “Waggonway” branding for the 28/28A to Beamish

 

[Bristol LHS]

That is garbage. At least Black Cats has some connection to the city, what on earth is the relevance of “berries”?

Completely bizarre. Not like there’s any fruit growing in the city, or even any place names with a link (Sunderland does have a ’Strawberry Bank’, but this route doesn’t serve it.

The 2/2a was originally the Silver Arrows, playing on the links it offered between Sunderland and Washington, before it was joined with the Hollycarrside circular, purely for operational reasons - you can see from the route map in the link above that it makes little sense as a through journey.

 

[bobslack1982]

Completely bizarre. Not like there’s any fruit growing in the city, or even any place names with a link (Sunderland does have a ’Strawberry Bank’, but this route doesn’t serve it.

The 2/2a was originally the Silver Arrows, playing on the links it offered between Sunderland and Washington, before it was joined with the Hollycarrside circular, purely for operational reasons - you can see from the route map in the link above that it makes little sense as a through journey.

Yeah it came about after the Red Arrows X2 from Sunderland to Newcastle via Washington - and then they cancelled that altogether.

Think this is something like the 4th brand in less than 10 years - silver arrows, simplicity, black cats and now this - which is also now the second time they’ve tried Versas on the route as well.

 

[Bwsbro]

I see from Nexus that Go North East are one of the operators who have picked up emergency Nexus contracts from Gateshead Central Taxis - Does anyone know why Gateshead Central Taxis have had to temporarily give up the contracts?

Service 39 between Pennywell and Doxford International - Daily Evening trips on Nexus secured service previously operated by Gateshead Central Taxis will now be operated by Go North East until further notice. Service will continue to operate to same route, frequency and timetable.

Services 81/82 between Birtley and Washington Galleries - Daily Evening trips on Nexus secured service previously operated by Gateshead Central Taxis will now be operated by Go North East until further notice. Service will continue to operate to same route, frequency and timetable.

Services 83/84 between Concord and Washington Galleries - Daily Evening trips on Nexus secured service previously operated by Gateshead Central Taxis will now be operated by Go North East until further notice. Service will continue to operate to same route, frequency and timetable.

Services 85/86 between Concord and Brady Square/Waterview Park - Daily Evening trips on Nexus secured service previously operated by Gateshead Central Taxis will now be operated by Go North East until further notice. Service will continue to operate to same route and frequency. Minor timing change to service 86 on Sunday, trip at 0804pm from The Galleries will now be revised to depart at 0809pm.

Service 99 between Sunderland Royal Hospital and Hylton Castle – Monday to Saturday daytime trips on Nexus secured service previously operated by Gateshead Central Taxis will now be operated by Go North East until the 24thJuly 2021. Service will continue to operate to same route, frequency and timetable.

Services 135/136 between Sunderland and Castletown/Witherwack - Daily Evening and Sunday trips on Nexus secured service previously operated by Gateshead Central Taxis will now be operated by Go North East until further notice. Service will continue to operate to same route, frequency and timetable.

Service 939 between Sunderland and Team Valley – Monday to Friday AM trip at 0635am from Park Lane and 0408pm and 0508pm trip from Team Valley on Nexus secured service previously operated by Gateshead Central Taxis will now be operated by Go North East until the 24th July 2021. Service will continue to operate to same route, frequency and timetable.

However it seems that the Nightingale Hospital service has gone the other way

Service MS (Metro Shuttle) between Heworth and Nightingale Hospital – Daily daytime trips on this service previously operated by Go North East will now be operated by Gateshead Central Taxis. Frequency revised to operate daily every 30 mins with departures from Heworth Interchange at 07:20am, 07:50am, 08:20am, then every 30 minutes at xx:20 and xx:50 until the last trip at 07:20pm. Departures From the Nightingale Hospital will be at 08:07am, 08:37am, 09:07am, then every 30 minutes at xx:37 and xx:07 until the last trip at 07:37pm.

 

[kez19]

It does seem to be part of a trend.

Take my local route - which is the 53 and 54. Previously it had been branded as "Saltwell Park", which was the main attraction on the route and drove a lot of the off-peak demand. Now it's "Voltra", which has nothing to do with the local area. I do realise they want to promote their electric buses, which are very good, but if someone who had little knowledge of (or interest in) buses saw it, they would see it as a meaningless brand.

At the time, I put those doubts to the back of my mind. The Saltwell Park branding was looking a bit old, and needed a refresh. But at least it's a timeless brand - whereas if many more routes are electric in a few years, Voltra will look even more meaningless than now.

I liked that branding as I didn’t know about the place in Newcastle but I think in my mind should they not have kept some branding or at least revamp it up a bit.

As someone that visits the area but why drop something that works? I see Quaylink was mentioned so will the Quaycity brand go too?

 

[darloscott]

I see from Nexus that Go North East are one of the operators who have picked up emergency Nexus contracts from Gateshead Central Taxis - Does anyone know why Gateshead Central Taxis have had to temporarily give up the contracts?


However it seems that the Nightingale Hospital service has gone the other way

I see from Nexus that Go North East are one of the operators who have picked up emergency Nexus contracts from Gateshead Central Taxis - Does anyone know why Gateshead Central Taxis have had to temporarily give up the contracts?


However it seems that the Nightingale Hospital service has gone the other way

Lack of drivers… they’ve been losing mileage for the last few months and Nexus seem to have finally decided enough is enough and taken some contracts off them. GNE and a few others have helped out at short notice though a combination of this and a few other things all happening in one go means things might be up in the air for a while!

 

[Wallsendmag]

Maybe it's due to the Black Cats being a tainted brand

 

[DanNCL]

I see from Nexus that Go North East are one of the operators who have picked up emergency Nexus contracts from Gateshead Central Taxis - Does anyone know why Gateshead Central Taxis have had to temporarily give up the contracts?

Gateshead Central Taxis bid for more work than they have the vehicles and drivers to cover. It's a long running issue which Nexus were already aware of - they shouldn't have awarded contracts to a company they knew didn't have the resources to operate them.

As someone that visits the area but why drop something that works? I see Quaylink was mentioned so will the Quaycity brand go too?

Quaycity will stay for the Q3.

 

[kez19]

Gateshead Central Taxis bid for more work than they have the vehicles and drivers to cover. It's a long running issue which Nexus were already aware of - they shouldn't have awarded contracts to a company they knew didn't have the resources to operate them.


Quaycity will stay for the Q3.

Bit odd to keep Quaycity but drop Quaylink, I would have thought they would use Quaycity to align with Q3 (just opinion here) with Q1/2

 

[Andyh82]

Bit odd to keep Quaycity but drop Quaylink, I would have thought they would use Quaycity to align with Q3 (just opinion here) with Q1/2

I think this was always on the cards when they rebranded the Q3 from Quaylink to Quaycity, but kept the Q1/Q2 as Quaylink.

 

[Megafuss]

In the context of the East Gateshead Bus Alliance, those rebrands make total sense. I'd imagine a nice booklet with all the East Gateshead area buses times would go down well too

Sunderland district berries on the other hand is just the Reading Buses brand transposed on to a Sunderland operation. Makes sense in Reading. Not sure about Sunderland without rebranding all the other Sunderland routes by colour.

Just paint all red routes Sunderland green (2, 33, 38, 39, 35, 55, 61, 9 etc) and stick an old style "Wear Buses" vinyl on the side..

 

[Kuyoyo]

In the context of the East Gateshead Bus Alliance, those rebrands make total sense. I'd imagine a nice booklet with all the East Gateshead area buses times would go down well too

Sunderland district berries on the other hand is just the Reading Buses brand transposed on to a Sunderland operation. Makes sense in Reading. Not sure about Sunderland without rebranding all the other Sunderland routes by colour.

Just paint all red routes Sunderland green (2, 33, 38, 39, 35, 55, 61, 9 etc) and stick an old style "Wear Buses" vinyl on the side..

As mentioned on North East Buses Forum, all Deptford routes presently operated under either ‘Black Cats’ or no brand will be part of the ‘Sunderland District’ brand with the descriptor at the end describing the colour used at the front (‘Berries’ for the pinky-purple used on the 2/2A, which additionally links it to the Washington area network’s pink)

 

[Megafuss]

As mentioned on North East Buses Forum, all Deptford routes presently operated under either ‘Black Cats’ or no brand will be part of the ‘Sunderland District’ brand with the descriptor at the end describing the colour used at the front (‘Berries’ for the pinky-purple used on the 2/2A, which additionally links it to the Washington area network’s pink)

That's fair enough. I personally don't see what all the fuss is about then.

 

[DanNCL]

Sunderland district berries on the other hand is just the Reading Buses brand transposed on to a Sunderland operation. Makes sense in Reading. Not sure about Sunderland without rebranding all the other Sunderland routes by colour.

Go North East's MD was formerly MD of Reading Buses, so maybe we shouldn't be too surprised!