North East thread 6: Everyone's welcome!

[Someaddedsugar]

Just starting a new thread for anyone who wants to join!

This goes back to the de-regulation of buses, some decades ago. Which immediately resulted in chaos, especially in Darlo. When I first came to know the buses in Co Durham in the mid 1970s, there were lots of little independent bus companies, such as Bond Bros., who had been operating for many years before this. But back then, people mostly worked locally, and car ownership was a rarity.

The bus strikes are terrible. Of course the point of a strike is to make things difficult but essential workers are also struggling to get to work and kids struggling with school which after all they've missed through covid is horrible.

Ours are still not fully back face to face site to RAAC so having kids struggling on the few face to face days they have is heartbreaking. Thankfully mine get a rural service run by Gateshead taxis so are not affected.

GNE have announced that they're not running some of their school services in Gateshead. This time, so some pupils eg at Cardinal Hume can get to school in the morning but not home again.

DH took Ds2 for a walk down into town, this morning. He said that North Road for predictably chaos and full of very confused people. So many people genuinely have no idea who operates their bus so, even if they saw the announcemts wouldn't realise that it affects them.

I see that it's going to take 3 years to re-build St L. 😲

The hope is it will be a little quicker but it is tricky as tight for space on site plus there is the original mansion house plus some other buildings that will be kept. Presumably by other buildings they mean things like the 6th form block which is fairly new.

They have done well though and families have campaigned hard. Things are now set up at ushaw college for years 7 and 8 and from after half term everybody will be back face to face with normal class sizes and normal timetabling. They are building temp accommodation on the fields which will be basically a full, small school with dining facilities and everything and once that is done the younger years will be there so it'll just operate as a split site school just like many schools already do.

So things will settle and that will just be the norm until the new build is done.

Good old Ushaw College - I didn't know that about St L.

The workers who are inconvenienced doubtless include nurses, also in a dispute about pay and conditions, and many other people who are earning a pittance in a time of economic unfairness, the like of which I've not seen for decades.

(And of course, nurses who do drive have to pay to park at the very hospital where they work )

It will hurt. But what else can people do except withdraw their labour? Big money owns us, and it's just not good enough.

Last week of strike there were loads of people waiting for buses at Chester le Street.
Just been shopping and driven past a couple of people waiting at bus stops that only Go north east use.
Hopefully lots of people may give lifts just this week, I know I would. Not ongoing because I love my drive alone to work. And to relax on the drive home.

Yes, de-regulation has been a disaster, certainly not a public service.
Pleased about St Leonard’s, parents have done well.
The park and ride is Gateshead taxi’s now, thank goodness. We have a Weardale travel and they are brilliant, happy drivers.
We use to have The Diamond bus company from Stanley to Durham, brilliant service, but bought by Go north east.
Then to add insult to injury they named the bus service Diamond!

Are London buses de-regulated?

London buses are overseen and coordinated by TFL. Greater Manchester now has a slightly looser franchising system which will hopefully be happening up here at some point, soon.

GNE are claiming in their communications that Unite proposed a settlement which was accepted, so they can't possibly understand why this week's strike is going ahead rather than drivers being balloted. Apparently, what the press release failed to mention was that it was accepted on the condition that they returned to discuss Ts & Cs again in a few months.

They did the same with OK travel and now they don't even have a depot in Crook, since they closed it a few years back.

I would love an Oyster card type system, so if you pay by card, you can get on any bus and the fare is worked out to whatever is cheapest.
Hopefully it will happen, probably in Tyne and Wear first. Co Durham is always forgotten about bitter.
But then I don’t want a North East Mayor because we really will be forgotten about.

Arriva have installed tap in tap out which is used with a pop card but that doesn't work so well outside of the Nexus area since people simply don't know about it and there's not much you can do with one here.

There are some hints at what is planned, here. I'm looking forward to the cheaper multi operator tickets because explorers are ridiculously expensive, now. https://www.hexham-courant.co.uk/news/23629063.richard-holden-mp-north-west-durham-bus-franchise/

Apparent youbcan use the tap on tap off with contactless, too, but I can't find the info on the arriva website, which is useless.

@AlviarinAesSedai
Then to add insult to injury they named the bus service Diamond!

Sorry, but you have missed the point. They are preserving the local culture. That bus route has been known as the Diamond (because of the company name) for a very long time, and so, the Diamond it will remain, to the people of Sacriston, Witton Gilbert, etc.

Just like The Univesity Hospital of North Durham is still called Dryburn, and in Croydon, the Croydon University Hospital is still called Mayday. Spoken culture in both cases, innit (Actually, on checking, the name Mayday is still associated with parts of that hospital - but not the building that the locals still call MayDay! (brain now fried, maybe I shouldn't have looked it up)

😆, I feel that they stole the name. But yes, the local population still call it the Diamond.
And everyone does still say Dryburn. Even though it’s been must be 20 years since Dryburn closed.
It will be fun, when the new Millburngate is opened. No one I know calls the Riverwalk, The Riverwalk. 😆

Lots of places still named after long gone pubs, too, particularly on bus timetables eg salutation bus gate and the blackie boy roundabout, named after a pub demolished in 1910!

Sorry to hear about all your bus woes, I hope it's settled soon.

Anyway, I was over in Jarrow earlier and came back through the tunnel. Traffic was slow and getting towards the bottom, I saw that cars were veering across the double lines and back again.

I got closer and realised there was some neck beard on a push bike! God knows how he got past the control cabin.

I'd be terrified on a bike there. Muppet!

It's totally illegal, I don't think I've heard of anyone doing it before.

I used to love bond busses and ok travel when I was a teen around bish Vegas. Hardly ever need a bus now as I get travel sick but feel sort for people using them.

When I lived in Oakenshaw and Willington in the 1970s, the Bondy bus (Oakenshaw to Bishop, same route is still running, but now Weardale has the contract) was the one I'd get if I was going into Durham.

The catch was, the Bondy bus arrived at the bus stop on Willington Front Street a couple of minutes after the (then) 724 arrived from Crook, heading into Durham, and in those days, onwards all the way to Newcastle. So you would have to tell the Bondy bus driver, who would try to make the connection. But didn't always succeed!

If you were heading back to Oakenshaw, you would say the number and street you wanted (usually New Row, as that's where all us blow-ins lived in cheap ex-Coal Board houses), and he would stop precisely outside your house.

According to one of my Willington neighbours, in one of the Great Snowy Winters, before my time, they sent a Bond bus up to Oakenshaw. When it didn't come back, they sent another one. When that one didn't come back, they sent a third one. What happened next, I never did learn

At least they're trying cheaper bus tickets at the moment. Bus fares are much more expensive up here than in London, say.

The £2 fares have been extended again, too. They'll make it easier for a lot of people. When they have a bus they can catch, of course 🙄

The most annoying thing was, as you came down the Colliery Road in the Bondy bus, you could sometimes actually see the bloomin' Durham bus approaching from Crook along Front Street. Then you could be pretty sure you wouldn't catch it.

In Willington (Boyne St actually) I didn't even need to catch the Bondy bus. If I wasn't already cutting it fine, or if the Bondy bus wasn't due when I left the house, I did used to walk down. But as soon as I caught the first glimpse of the 724 it was time to break into a sprint (ah, those were the days ) if I was to stand any chance of actually catching it.

Looks like everything's going to get a good wash, later this week. ☔

DH isn't usually one for sharing but he's managed to share a stinking cold with me. the rotter.

The 724 ran until 2005 in various forms. I think it was Northern by the time I lived in Low Fell in the late 90s but OK originally had it. https://www.flickr.com/photos/24759744@N02/7043118725
https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnmightycat/5579999481/

I'd never heard of Bond buses, so had to look them up
https://www.flickr.com/photos/8050359@N07/5649123884