North East Bus Operations

[ThePannier]

Hi,

As a bus enthusiast living in the North East, I feel like I should make a mark on this part of the forum by sharing knowledge of the bus operations in my region.

The three main operators are Go North East, Arriva North East & Stagecoach North East.

Go North East are the biggest operator in the North East, and operate services in pretty much every area, bar Teeside. They have depots at Gateshead Riverside, Deptford, Chester-le-Street, Stanley & Percy Main. There are also 'mini-depots' at Consett, Hexham, Peterlee & Crook.

Arriva North East operate the majority of services in Durham (and south of there) and north of Newcastle. They have depots at Ashington, Blyth, Jesmond, Belmont, Stockton, Whitby, Redcar & Darlington.

Stagecoach North East operate mainly in Newcastle, Sunderland, South Shields and Teeside, with respective fleets in each area. Depots are located at Walkergate, Slatyford, Wheatsheaf, Hartlepool, Stockton & South Shields.

Hopefully this will be of use to some people. I will also post here any major fleet movements across any of the operators, as well as the daily odd workings.

Many thanks,
Marcus
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
The odd workings from Go North East today....

MPD 542 on Service 2A/C
Vyking 3981 on Service 42
Versa 8327 on Service 238
Gemini 2 6099 on Service 42

....and from Arriva....

OmniCity 4659 on Service X21
Dart 1636 on Services 3 & 19
DAF 4001 on Service 7 (duplicates)

....and Stagecoach....

Olympian 16833 on Service X34 (on loan)
Dart 35195 on Service E2
ALX300 22734 on Service 3

 

[theblackwatch]

As someone who was more interested in buses in the late 80s, am I correct in thinking:

Go North East is pretty much the old NBC 'Northern'
Arriva North East is what was NBC 'Northumbria' and 'United'
Stagecoach North East has taken over 'T&WPTE/Busways' and a couple of the other municipals (Cleveland Transit/Hartlepool)

 

[Anvil1984]

As someone who was more interested in buses in the late 80s, am I correct in thinking:

Go North East is pretty much the old NBC 'Northern'
Arriva North East is what was NBC 'Northumbria' and 'United'
Stagecoach North East has taken over 'T&WPTE/Busways' and a couple of the other municipals (Cleveland Transit/Hartlepool)

Close

Go North East is the ex Northern plus a few independents they took over (like OK Travel), plus the old Arriva depot at Hexham which would have been ex United
Arriva North East is a bit more tricky. Started off as all United (now minus the Hexham depot services which transferred to Go North East a couple years back). Just before deregulation United split intp Northumbria and United with Uniteds Scarborough services sold to EYMR at some point. United and Northumbria went separate ways for a few years with different owner. Then during early 1990s United rebranded some of the Teeside operations as Tees Motor Services and Tees and District before all being bought by British Bus then Cowie which then formed Arriva
Stagecoach North East is formed out of Busways which was TWPTE and Transit / Hartlepool as you say, They moved out of Darlington a few year back

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Close

Go North East is the ex Northern plus a few independents they took over (like OK Travel), plus the old Arriva depot at Hexham which would have been ex United
Arriva North East is a bit more tricky. Started off as all United (now minus the Hexham depot services which transferred to Go North East a couple years back). Just before deregulation United split intp Northumbria and United with Uniteds Scarborough services sold to EYMR at some point. United and Northumbria went separate ways for a few years with different owner. Then during early 1990s United rebranded some of the Teeside operations as Tees Motor Services and Tees and District before all being bought by British Bus then Cowie which then formed Arriva
Stagecoach North East is formed out of Busways which was TWPTE and Transit / Hartlepool as you say, They moved out of Darlington a few year back

Just a few corrections and a load more detail (sorry )

Go North East is the old Northern plus the old United/NMS/Arriva depot at Hexham, and have expanded into Peterlee with the old Jayline business. However, much of the OK business was subsequently sold to Arriva in 2006 and the Bishop depot closed. They do now have an outbase at Crook but it's tiny.

United was split in Sep 1986 with Northumbria MS being formed and the Scarborough and Pickering ops being transferred by the NBC at the same time.
The Teesside ops were rebranded to Tees & District (t/a Tees) in 1990. Not long after, they bought TMS with the Durham ops being absorbed into United but the Stockton depot retaining TMS as an identity. It later took on more work when the Tees depot in Middlesbrough was closed. United/Tees/TMS formed North East Bus that was owned by West Riding, then demerged, sold to West Mids Travel, became part of NatEx and then bought by Cowie. NMS was sold as an MBO, sold out to British Bus and was then bought by Cowie and everything became Arriva.

NMS/Arriva Northumbria slimmed down, losing Hexham but also selling the Berwick ops to Perrymans, scaling back their North Northumberland ops generally as well as losing market share to Go NE in North Tyneside.

Stagecoach NE comes from the 1994 spending spree when they bought Busways, Hartlepool and Transit. They also had the infamous incursion into Darlington but sold that to Arriva in 2007

Along the way, there have been other sundry acquisitions (e.g. Eden by North East Bus, Stanley Taxis by Go Ahead, Hunters and Moordale/R&M by Northumbria).

 

[ThePannier]

If I can elaborate further on this, Go North East sort of 'claimed' a few smaller companies during the 90s, when it was Go-Ahead Northern, the most famous being OK Motor Services. In 2012, they launched Service OK1, using Solars 5229-5233 on it at Crook depot. It ceased operating on 10 August 2013 due to low usage, and competition from Arriva's X1 'The Best One' service.

Arriva is basically United. Pretty much all of their Durham (and Darlington) services are built up of the remains of United's old services, if not improved. As for Stagecoach, they basically bought Busways, who operated mainly in the areas served by their Sunderland and Newcastle depots (if I am not mistaken, their current depots also reflect former-Busways operations).

I am on another forum, dedicated to North East operations, so I will ask about in the 'bygone' threads.

Cheers!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

If I can elaborate further on this, Go North East sort of 'claimed' a few smaller companies during the 90s, when it was Go-Ahead Northern, the most famous being OK Motor Services. In 2012, they launched Service OK1, using Solars 5229-5233 on it at Crook depot. It ceased operating on 10 August 2013 due to low usage, and competition from Arriva's X1 'The Best One' service.

Arriva is basically United. Pretty much all of their Durham (and Darlington) services are built up of the remains of United's old services, if not improved. As for Stagecoach, they basically bought Busways, who operated mainly in the areas served by their Sunderland and Newcastle depots (if I am not mistaken, their current depots also reflect former-Busways operations).

I am on another forum, dedicated to North East operations, so I will ask about in the 'bygone' threads.

Cheers!

I wouldn't say that Arriva in Co Durham is much improved on the old United. Given that they purchased both TMS and what was OK, the route network is a shadow of what it was. Around Bishop, they've withdrawn from most areas and left it to various independents, concentrating on the main services to Darlington, Durham, West Auckland and Crook. No longer on the service to Ingleton, Barnard Castle, or Newfield. Yeah, a few little excursions to Toft Hill survive but the closure of the depot decimated things.

Go Ahead did try to re-enter Bishop and resurrect the old OK name with the X1. The local OK19 service also was started and survives, replacing a withdrawn Arriva facility. However, the Crook outbase just has that service and the longer standing service from Bishop to Durham and onward. They had more success around Peterlee where they now have most of the local services, and have also taken on stuff around Pittington to the north of Durham.

Arriva/United is also much depleted in North Yorkshire with Richmond served only every 20 mins on one route, Stokesley by two hourly routes, and Northallerton not at all. Ripon depot ops were sold in 1996 though some services survived until Richmond depot went in 2006. Much as the northern operations also been reigned in.

 

[Tetchytyke]

They had more success around Peterlee where they now have most of the local services

That comes from when Go bought Jayline back in about 2005, they've done a good job building up the random collection of Jayline routes into a proper network around the East Durham coalfield.

Arriva have been in steady contraction for a long time, leaving the rural routes to local independents. Apart from the profitable inter-urban buses they've pulled out of most of north Northumberland, leaving it to Perryman's and Travelsure, and North Yorkshire (Procter's).

It's annoying as none of the independents, apart from Travelsure and Weardale, accept the Explorer anymore.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

That comes from when Go bought Jayline back in about 2005, they've done a good job building up the random collection of Jayline routes into a proper network around the East Durham coalfield.

Arriva have been in steady contraction for a long time, leaving the rural routes to local independents. Apart from the profitable inter-urban buses they've pulled out of most of north Northumberland, leaving it to Perryman's and Travelsure, and North Yorkshire (Procter's).

It's annoying as none of the independents, apart from Travelsure and Weardale, accept the Explorer anymore.

I think that Explorer was valid on any Northumberland CC tendered route so should be ok on Glen Valley etc though that might have changed.

I did mention Jayline originally and that business does indeed form a fair bit of the Peterlee ops. However, they also dislodged Arriva from areas like Pittington and Carrville as well.

Sadly, if you look at 20 years ago when there were the United depots at Bishop, Durham, Darlington and Peterlee and the allocations, they've added the OK and Stagecoach Darlington operations and yet there's fewer buses now.

 

[Tetchytyke]

It's hard to tell with the Explorer, the most recent leaflet only lists Go, Stagecoach, Arriva, Travelsure and Weardale. It doesn't list any other operator, and I'm pretty sure Procter's don't accept it, making trips out to Richmond or Barnard Castle difficult and Northallerton impossible.

Go did well to build the Jayline stuff up, they were clever enough to use it as a base to get tendered routes off Arriva. Go had tried before in the mid 2000s using Chester-le-Street- for a while Go had the tendered parts of what was the 63/64 in Durham- but it never really worked then.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

It's hard to tell with the Explorer, the most recent leaflet only lists Go, Stagecoach, Arriva, Travelsure and Weardale. It doesn't list any other operator, and I'm pretty sure Procter's don't accept it, making trips out to Richmond or Barnard Castle difficult and Northallerton impossible.

Go did well to build the Jayline stuff up, they were clever enough to use it as a base to get tendered routes off Arriva. Go had tried before in the mid 2000s using Chester-le-Street- for a while Go had the tendered parts of what was the 63/64 in Durham- but it never really worked then.

It used to be valid on NCC tenders but I'm not certain now. Certainly, Proctors Travel Group firms don't accept it so Richmond is only accessible from Darlington on the main Arriva route. Same with Scarlet Band and Barnard Castle. You'd think that the local authorities could specify acceptance on their tenders?

As we've discussed before, Peter Huntley was very smart in how he dealt with Arriva. He had a plan..... Arriva didn't know they even needed a plan!!

 

[ThePannier]

Keep forgetting to do these! lol

Today's rare workings from across the 3 operators are....

Go North East
Vyking 3981 on Service 29
Olympian 3823 on Service 15/15A
Citaro 5338 on Service 43/44/44A
B10BLE 4907 on Service 71
B10BLE 4923 on Service 94
Solar 4928 on Service 50

Arriva North East
No reported oddities from what I've heard (#wow)

Stagecoach North East
Enviro200 27171 on Service 13

Arriva and Stagecoach appear to have had a rare good day! lol

 

[Deerfold]

It used to be valid on NCC tenders but I'm not certain now. Certainly, Proctors Travel Group firms don't accept it so Richmond is only accessible from Darlington on the main Arriva route. Same with Scarlet Band and Barnard Castle. You'd think that the local authorities could specify acceptance on their tenders?

They could. But they're all trying to save money and presumably they don't think its worth it.

A lot of authorities specified that evening tenders should accept day returns from the daytime operator but this is quite rare now as the daytime operator ended up being paid for journeys they didn't operate but they didn't pay anything to the council.

 

[ThePannier]

http://www.networkonetickets.co.uk/tickets/explorer-tickets

Not sure if this helps you all, but in my opinion the Explorer is just as limited as it is useful. Not being able to travel with the majority of independents is an immediate downside, just to name one!

 

[jp4712]

Apologies for the shameless plug, but you will find my half-decent photos of buses in the North East (mainly Tyneside) at https://flic.kr/s/aHsjDrae65j. Most are from the 1980s when I was a student in Newcastle.

 

[Deerfold]

http://www.networkonetickets.co.uk/tickets/explorer-tickets

Not sure if this helps you all, but in my opinion the Explorer is just as limited as it is useful. Not being able to travel with the majority of independents is an immediate downside, just to name one!

I wonder why they haven't joined the scheme. Perhaps someone should ask them.

 

[ThePannier]

I wonder why they haven't joined the scheme. Perhaps someone should ask them.

I think at the end of the day, it'll come down to profit. A single worth £2.00 or so, will be a lot more useful to a smaller operator than about £1.00-worth of a £9.50 Explorer, where another 10-odd journeys have been made. All comes down to 'every penny counts', in reality.

Then again, I'm not good with the technological ins and outs of these tickets. My favourite thing about my hobby is keeping the tickets of the buses I've rode - and sticking them in a book, so they all always singles.

Not very knowledgable at all when it comes to Explorers or Day Rovers! lol

 

[Deerfold]

I think at the end of the day, it'll come down to profit. A single worth £2.00 or so, will be a lot more useful to a smaller operator than about £1.00-worth of a £9.50 Explorer, where another 10-odd journeys have been made. All comes down to 'every penny counts', in reality.

Then again, I'm not good with the technological ins and outs of these tickets. My favourite thing about my hobby is keeping the tickets of the buses I've rode - and sticking them in a book, so they all always singles.

Not very knowledgable at all when it comes to Explorers or Day Rovers! lol

But that has to be balanced against the fact that more people may use them - presumably otherwise the big operators wouldn't accept them either.

I have 7 buses an hour that run past my door - the one run by an independent I'll only catch when I'm on a multi-operator ticket as otherwise I'm restricted by a return to 1 bus an hour instead of 6 (and they don't do a day ticket either).

 

[ThePannier]

Today's reported odd workings across the big three are;

Go North East
Scanias 5201 & 4943 on Service 35
Citaro 5320 on Service 20/20A
Versa 8323 on Servicw 20/20A
Scania 4990 on Service 2A/2C
Citaro 5337 on Service 43/44/44A

Arriva North East
No reported oddities, other than a few unidentifiable vehicles!

Stagecoach North East
Olympian 16834 on Service 38