Tyne & Wear Metro To Cut Services

[jkkne]

Metro services to be cut amid 'driver shortage'

The network is to run a reduced service as it has too few trained drivers.

www.bbc.co.uk

Article states

Transport chiefs expect staff numbers to be up to 13% below the levels needed to run a full timetable, even before factoring in staff sickness.

Sounds like they are finally formalising their ineptitude as opposed to announcing late at night what services won't run the next day.

Admittedly the service is pretty dead at the moment but this hardly helps the message of getting back into the office and high street. Luckily, the local bus companies are quite competent and will have a solid and cheaper alternative (if not a longer journey time).

They can blame the pandemic but Nexus have been mismanaging for years now

 

[Tetchytyke]

Well it's a day with a Y in it, so of course Metro have a staff shortage. Still, only the three years after this first became an issue, at least they're putting a formal timetable in to compensate. Though I'm sure you'll still get the joy of getting down to the platform only to find the next train's in 40 minutes.

Amazingly Tobyn Hughes got a promotion from his stunning success in running Metro

 

[Pelaw Junction]

Metro services to be cut amid 'driver shortage'

The network is to run a reduced service as it has too few trained drivers.

www.bbc.co.uk

Admittedly the service is pretty dead at the moment but this hardly helps the message of getting back into the office and high street. Luckily, the local bus companies are quite competent and will have a solid and cheaper alternative (if not a longer journey time).

Certainly not my experience in the past few weeks, especially after schools went back.

Trains on Sunderland branch almost back to normal for morning commute for me but yes, cut services.

I tested positive for COVID this week and had limited contact with other people outside of my metro trips where I was often less than a metre from other passengers and some still flouting mask rules (and still unenforced by staff!). This is incredibly dangerous from them to then cut services and change is desperately needed at the top, starting with Tobyn Hughes.

 

[Paul_10]

Depends on what is being cut. Im sure it's been mentioned but I'm sure I heard there may not be any more peak services running.

Day time frequency may drop to 15 mins outside the core frequency and night time service every 30 mins which I believe that is what it is at the moment.

Yet again though, the financial implications is going to hurt Nexus and this brand new fleet could very well become a white elephant. With everything going on, I have a bad feeling the new fleet may not even get built in the end and the system will decline and fail.

So sad to hear constant negative stories of what was a system people of Tyneside could be proud of.

 

[Scott M]

How can there be a perennial driver shortage when everybody and their dog in the region applies for the job when it comes up? I get training places are limited, but they should have adapted capacity long ago if they are constantly under staffed; this is hardly a new occurrence.

Honestly the new fleet can’t come soon enough. Think it will transform the system from dire to good again overnight. All just negativity and poor service atm.

Metro services to be cut amid 'driver shortage'

The network is to run a reduced service as it has too few trained drivers.

www.bbc.co.uk

Luckily, the local bus companies are quite competent and will have a solid and cheaper alternative (if not a longer journey time).

Problem is the journey time isn't just longer, it is a lot longer. The 27 is Go North East's main rival to the metro for S. Shields to Newcastle, and it takes 1hr 10 min, including 25 min to get from Jarrow-Heworth (which is 3 stops on the metro).

I tested positive for COVID this week and had limited contact with other people outside of my metro trips where I was often less than a metre from other passengers and some still flouting mask rules (and still unenforced by staff!). This is incredibly dangerous from them to then cut services and change is desperately needed at the top, starting with Tobyn Hughes.

Hope you get better soon mate. Worrying for me as I am returning to work soon and will be taking the metro too.

 

[DorkingMain]

How can there be a perennial driver shortage when everybody and their dog in the region applies for the job when it comes up? I get training places are limited, but they should have adapted capacity long ago if they are constantly under staffed; this is hardly a new occurrence.

Without wishing to get too much into the complexities of it, it comes down to various things:

- Hundreds apply, but very few pass the assessments.
- There's a natural turnover rate in staff, which can end up being accelerated by a variety of factors. The fact there's a fairly big mainline depot at Newcastle probably draws quite a few away.
- Training to drive a train takes a long time. There's a significant time lag between drivers being hired and being "productive". Obviously this is a long term issue and that doesn't so much apply here, but it does mean changes can take a long time to take effect.
- Training can be a bottleneck. A shortage of drivers often means a shortage of Ops trainers and DIs. Getting experienced and competent people to train other people can be difficult, especially if your natural turnover of staff is quite high.
- COVID has put the buffers on training for all train operators, because it's not feasible to train people in a socially distanced fashion. This means whatever stage of the process people were at (including right at the end) they got frozen at that point.

 

[NorthOxonian]

Problem is the journey time isn't just longer, it is a lot longer. The 27 is Go North East's main rival to the metro for S. Shields to Newcastle, and it takes 1hr 10 min, including 25 min to get from Jarrow-Heworth (which is 3 stops on the metro).

South Shields to Newcastle does seem to be the worst corridor here - Stagecoach's X24 is pretty much competitive with the Metro for Newcastle - Sunderland (especially if you're heading for the west side), while Kingston Park and the Airport also have fast Stagecoach services and the Coast has a number of routes which are only a bit slower than the Metro.

I think that Go North East briefly tried a 27X service which ran a faster route through Hebburn, but it clearly didn't sustain itself.

 

[jkkne]

South Shields to Newcastle does seem to be the worst corridor here - Stagecoach's X24 is pretty much competitive with the Metro for Newcastle - Sunderland (especially if you're heading for the west side), while Kingston Park and the Airport also have fast Stagecoach services and the Coast has a number of routes which are only a bit slower than the Metro.

I think that Go North East briefly tried a 27X service which ran a faster route through Hebburn, but it clearly didn't sustain itself.

Yes they did, it ran from Hebburn only to Newcastle through Victoria Road. It failed miserably as from what i recall metro was fairly reliable at that point. A quicker route through Hebburn for the 27 would be ideal as it goes on a magical mystery tour around there.

Tomorrow when all schools and colleges are finally back up here. 4 Core services and all peaks cancelled. I would guess this is the shape of things to come.

There were 60 minute delays due to resourcing today. It’s entirely unsustainable. People simply won’t come back onto the service when they do return to the office as it’s just not reliable.

 

[Paul_10]

Honestly the new fleet is just going to become a white elephant unfortunately if they even arrive at all. Every new train has issues, lots of testing and already Nexus ambitious targets are going to be delayed.

According to social media, the lack of drivers are down to COVID, so yeah don't expect things to get any better.

 

[philthetube]

Without wishing to get too much into the complexities of it, it comes down to various things:

- Hundreds apply, but very few pass the assessments.
- There's a natural turnover rate in staff, which can end up being accelerated by a variety of factors. The fact there's a fairly big mainline depot at Newcastle probably draws quite a few away.
- Training to drive a train takes a long time. There's a significant time lag between drivers being hired and being "productive". Obviously this is a long term issue and that doesn't so much apply here, but it does mean changes can take a long time to take effect.
- Training can be a bottleneck. A shortage of drivers often means a shortage of Ops trainers and DIs. Getting experienced and competent people to train other people can be difficult, especially if your natural turnover of staff is quite high.
- COVID has put the buffers on training for all train operators, because it's not feasible to train people in a socially distanced fashion. This means whatever stage of the process people were at (including right at the end) they got frozen at that point.

I don't know the system or the wage structure but this sounds to me like one of the unintended consequences of privatisation. Instead of staff coming in at the bottom and waiting for vacancies to be promoted, they can only be promoted by moving to another company, so they do and operators like Metro, (and Northern), foot the bill.

They will only retain staff if they pay a competitive rate for the railway in general.

London Underground pay the rate and maintain the staffing levels, knock the wages down and watch the service fall to pieces.

 

[ModernRailways]

- COVID has put the buffers on training for all train operators, because it's not feasible to train people in a socially distanced fashion. This means whatever stage of the process people were at (including right at the end) they got frozen at that point.

A number of train crew who were in training still passed out during Covid, despite what Metro/Nexus might claim, they did continue the training schools that were in progress. Two training schools that never begun were however cancelled and those have been pushed back.

I haven't been in the past few days, but a driver had tested positive, Metro continued to have staff coming in until they eventually sent them home. I believe it was around 15 train crew that were eventually told to go home, isolate and get tested. Metro can blame Covid but they also need to lay blame on themselves. From what I'm aware the revenue inspectors are back to their normal duties, this means interacting with the public unnecessarily and in a hot spot such as the North East this shouldn't be happening and is putting the front line staff at unnecessary risk, potentially fatal risk as a large number of the revenue staff that I've met are older and would seem to be more vulnerable, there has however been a massive a turnover across them too. It's no surprise that Metro is losing staff when you look at the management and how they act, very few of them are capable of running a railway.

The service cutbacks are mainly being put on Covid but they have been planned for a while. Covid is just the perfect excuse.