Toon Time

Friday 23rd August 2019

It’s always a pleasure to spend some time on Tyneside.

Open tops

Yesterday I sampled the new open-top sightseeing tour introduced this summer by Go North East and branded as ‘toontour’. There’s been a bit of a change round on the open-top tour front on Tyneside this year. Stagecoach pulled out of the City Sightseeing franchise with Go North East filling the void and confidently using their own unique local brand for the service rather than paying to use the familiar red and yellow City Sightseeing livery.

Probably a wise decision; the Best Impressions designed livery looks great and it very much does what it says on the buses.Two buses provide a half hourly frequency between 10:00 and 17:00 on a circuit taking in the sites of both central Newcastle and south of the Tyne on the Gateshead side including the Baltic and Sage buildings ..…and a great view of the Millenium Bridge, which unusually was open as I passed by yesterday.The full tour takes just under an hour and has a very informative commentary which can be easily heard over the bus PA system. There’s an attractive and informative leaflet widely available with map, times, prices and descriptions of the attractions including some discounts. There’s also detail about Go North East bus routes to other tourist towns and cities in the region (eg Durham and Hexham).

A 24 hour ‘toontour’ ticket costs £8 or £12.50 including travel on all Go North East buses. A reduced £6 price is available for concessionary pass holders and students. It’s good value and if you have a spare hour the tour is well recommended.

Meanwhile Stagecoach have redeployed their ousted City Sightseeing open top buses on a new tour linking North Tyneside with Tynemouth and Whitley Bay branded as ‘The Seasider’. The bus seats might still be in CS colours but the buses have been repainted into ‘The Seasider’ branding with a pale sky blue and yellow beach livery which strangely makes no reference to the route taken or destinations served.The Seasider route also runs half hourly from 10:00 to 16:20 and is more in the style of a traditional seaside open-top service than a city-sightseeing operation reflected in the cheaper fares of £2.50 single or £4 all-day with concessionary passes fully valid. It’s a weekends mid-April to mid-September venture with daily operation during school holidays.Buses pick up conveniently from the bus turning circle just a short walk from the cross-Tyne passenger ferry’s North Shields landing stage and the route stops outside North Shields, Tynemouth and Whitley Bay (photgraphed below) Metro stations.It’s a great half hour ride offering some delightful seafront views on this popular stretch of coastline. I hope Stagecoach are having a good summer with the venture and repeats it next year.

New interchange

I took the opportunity on my journey on the Metro between these two open-top rides to check out the brand new transport interchange which opened earlier this month at the end of the line at the South Shields terminus.

This £21 million investment by Nexus has involved moving the elevated Metro station terminating platform about 100 yards further west (just visible in the above photo and below more clearly) so it can provide a direct link via escalators and a lift to the new bus station which has been built immediately below at ground level.Bus station provision in PTE/Combined Authority areas is usually exemplary and it was great to see a brand new facility offering an airy and clean area to wait for a bus with a large passenger circulation area and seats for each front-on departure bay.Real time departures were shown in the concourse and at each bay but I was a bit surprised there were no toilets; the Travel Shop was a closed-in talk-through-window affair and the only retail offering was a Greggs (which at least you could walk into rather than be served at a security window).

Meanwhile upstairs the Metro platform offered scant protection from the elements although there is a large area well under cover between the top of the escalators and the ticket barriers which would provide shelter waiting for the train to arrive before ‘turning round’ and heading back.Perhaps finances were tight and these extras got culled.

Ferry cross the Tyne

I took a ride across the Tyne on the passenger ferry which is just under a ten minute walk from the South Shields transport interchange.Gerry Marsden has made the equivalent Mersey ferry world famous with his dulcet tones blasting out from the vessel’s speakers as you cross; I half expected Lindisfarne’s ‘Fog on the Tyne’ on this trip but it was all quiet on the impressively quick seven minute crossing.It almost took as long to load all the passengers on the pay-as-you board system!The ferry runs every half an hour with a bargain fare of £1.30 single and a range of other tickets which on first reading can appear quite complex. Run by Nexus, my Metro day ticket was valid for travel so that was a welcome bonus.On the North Shields side as well as the Seasider open-top, Nexus fund a half hourly route 333 which provides convenient timetabled connections to the ferry a short walk from the landing stage. Ferry tickets (including my Metro day ticket) are valid as far as the nearby North Shields Metro station which is handy as it’s a bit further to walk than on the South Shields side.

Hadrian’s Country

It’s been a few years since I had a ride on the splendidly scenic and appropriately, yet oddly, numbered bus route AD122 which links Hexham with Haltwhistle along the eerily straight B6318 (thank you, Romans) adjacent to Hadrians Wall.

Two buses in a bespoke livery provide the hourly service (with some lunchtime gaps) daily from mid April to the end of September. It’s a popular service with tourists, campers and walkers enjoying this fascinating part of Northumberland with its rich history across a number of easily accessible sites to explore along the route.I caught the first journey from Hexham at 08:35 this morning. This runs direct to Haltwhistle using the A69, only deviating off it to call at Barden Mill, but as a 685 runs at a similar time it wasn’t surprising I was the only passenger on what is effectively an in service positioning journey.In Haltwhistle an obvious regular passenger with shopping bag got on for the return journey to Hexham even though a 685 had departed a few minutes earlier and would have got her to Hexham in 36 minutes instead of the 57 minutes we took. Still I don’t blame her as the views along the AD122 route are stunning and the commentary over the bus PA provides a fascinating insight into the sites and sights the route passes.We picked up and dropped off nine passengers at various points along the route and it was just me and my fellow shopper who travelled the full route.A few were obviously camping in the area while others looked as though they’d left a car nearby and were taking the bus to then walk back.

There’s a great leaflet available giving full details not only of route AD122 and the places it serves but also timetables and information about connecting bus routes at Hexham and Haltwhistle.The two buses have a fantastic display of leaflets and information on board too, and I was impressed to see these being topped up on our arrival back at Hexham bus station.AD122 is part funded by Northumberland County Council, the Northumberland National Park Authority as well as a commercial input, at their risk, by Go North East. It’s an excellent example of partnership working which other county councils and National Park Authorities should take notice of. Well done to everyone involved.

Hexham bus station

Hexham bus station is a smart functional, if somewhat clinical, affair opened just three years ago. There are three departure bays on the north side (as well as some layover space) with two on the south, roadside.

A waiting room is available with leaflet racks and departure screens at the western end of the central building off a short covered passage midway along…..….. and three individual toilet cubicles (signed for male/female/accessible) on the eastern side …..…… which also has a number of anonymous doors creating a bit of an unfriendly impression – one door leads into a staff facility which drivers accessed and the leaflet rack filler-up man tooBus timetables weren’t displayed by each stand but instead were grouped together in one place, stuck on the large waiting room windows.Real time departures were showing in the waiting room and by each stop on the north facing three bays but not on the two south facing roadside bays.The bus station is used by Go North East buses in their localised branding for ‘Tynedale’ routes ….….. as well as the half hourly all stops ‘Tyne Valley Ten’ (route 10) to Newcastle (84 minute journey time)….….the semi limited stop hourly ‘Tynedale Express’ route X84 to Newcastle (65 minute journey time) and the hourly route X85 very limited stop (48 minute journey time)….Go North East also run a more rural 4-5 journeys a day route 74 taking 84 minutes between Hexham and Newcastle.

There’s yet another route to Newcastle (and westbound to Carlisle) – the infamous 685 jointly operated by Arriva North East and Stagecoach Cumbria. The 685 runs hourly and takes 51 minutes to Newcastle. I saw an Arriva single deck in the Best Impressions designed Cross Pennine livery ….…. but the following bus was in standard livery ……. as was a Stagecoach single decker showing its age too.Stagecoach does have at least one double deck sporting Cross Pennine branding but Twitter comments indicated this is not always allocated or possibly a temporary diversion on route is currently making a double decker unsuitable. Either way it’s a shame this prestigious route with its inspiring brand is not more consistently promoted.

It’s also a bit odd Northumberland County Council have left the two former shelters and bus stop flags in situ at the old bus station in Hexham (closer to the town centre too). Three years on, it’s now looking somewhat forlorn and unloved.At least the timetables have been removed and I know Martijn Gilbert will have in hand the removal of the poster heralding the new look X84/X85 which must date back to over five years ago, at least!It’s a shame to see the building in such a dilapidated state and sadly gives public transport a poor image while those shelters remain.Before leaving Hexham it’s worth noting since May Northern have improved the frequency of trains on the line to Newcastle with two semi-fast trains an hour taking just 31 minutes and a third train an hour stopping at all stations taking 43 minutes. Journey time from Hexham to Carlisle is 52-56 minutes (twice an hour) compared to 84 minutes on the 685.

All in all there’s quite a choice of travel along the Tyne between Newcastle and Hexham (and on to Carlisle).

I bounced along on a Pacer on a stopper from Newcastle to Hexham last night which was well loaded leaving Newcastle at 17:55 ….…. and returned later this morning on the fast X85 taking the same journey time which was also a well loaded and busy journey.I enjoyed both journey experiences.

I’m always puzzled by the interior layout at the rear of these Mercedes – how the designer at Merc HQ thought it was a good idea to have six rear facing seats (including one pair split level on the nearside) and three inward facers baffles me.

Liveries and brands

Back in Newcastle you can’t help but notice the variety of liveries used by Go North East.

I’m pleased this policy is now changing as it makes good sense to bring these disparate brands together in a more logical family – particularly the new X-lines brand now being introduced for ‘fast direct bus links’ and I wrote about back in May.

I kept an eye out for the latest vesion now applied to one bus on the ‘Castles express’ route X21 to replace what I regard as one of the worst liveries ever put on a bus …… but didn’t spot it this time. The photographs of it circulating on social media a few days ago look like it provides a huge improvement.I’m sure this other ‘angel’ atrocity will also be revised and replaced as Martijn Gilbert’s new broom continues to sweep through Go North East.

Meanwhile Arriva North East have a plethora of route branded liveries for their routes heading north from Haymarket bus station. They’re on both new and original MAX and Sapphire brands as well as the “eco” type green branding and it’s all a bit of a muddle particularly as the depot allocation staff seem to pay no heed to the importance of getting the right buses on the right routes.

I lost count of the number of wrongly allocated buses I spotted in a short time – I could fill this blog with photographic examples….

…. so it was good to see a more generalised approach to branding ….… which I hope is not just for one or two spare buses! If you’re going to do route branding you must do it properly … or not at all.

Finally to end on a positive note, it was hugely impressive and welcome to see excellent displays facilitated by Nexus of timetable leaflets from all three bus companies available at bus stations in Newcastle and some other locations.Well done everyone. Other PTE areas please note.

All we need now is a network map or three!

Roger French