The dreaded FIRST BUS!

simong · Post by **simong** » Mon 06 Apr, 2009 6:53 pm

Cardiarms wrote: Just had a look on Streetview and the old store has been converted into student flats. If you dig through that Facebook album there are quite a few pics of Heaton and Byker and Parrishes gets a look in. I lived in Newcastle in the late 80s and I think Parrishes was still there then. It's only been redeveloped in the last five years or so and spent the intervening time looking rather threadbare like the rest of Byker.

Cardiarms · Post by **Cardiarms** » Mon 06 Apr, 2009 9:42 pm

Cheers, I have already! A great collection. I spent three years in the west end from 86 to 89. The quayside was very different then.

Si · Post by Si » Tue 07 Apr, 2009 12:03 pm

I lived in Gateshead from 78 to 81, and the quayside was largely derelict then, except for a pub. I think it was called The Cooperage. The Baltic warehouse was also derelict.

simon2710 · Post by **simon2710** » Tue 07 Jul, 2009 9:43 pm

Now you mention old liveries, I saw the other day in LCC near the Corn Exchange one of those old double deckers from the 1990's with the orange and red livery, thought it was very strange, I only saw the side of it so I wouldn't know if it was still in use. They have those single decker busses I've noticed quite often now that run in the Yorkshire Dales and come in to Leeds, they look quite old and they look as though they could break down at any minute!Bring back the Yorkshire Rider green say I!

railnut · Post by **railnut** » Wed 08 Jul, 2009 1:10 pm

raveydavey wrote: tyke bhoy wrote: raveydavey wrote: One particular bugbear is the way that Last put the skids under Supertram saying they could do a better job with bendybuses, the got an ongoing commitment from Metro to subsidise the cost of providing conductors on the ftr service to improve loading speeds and yet they still run old single manned double deckers on the route far too often. I'm not sure the comment on Supertram is correct. First were part of one of the consortiums in the running to operate it. Last may have been part of one of the consortiums bidding to run it, but it was reported in the YEP that they had also told the government that they could provide that service with buses at substantially lower cost, shortly before the entire project (which had been given provisional approval) was binned. Unfortunately the search facility on the YEP site only appears to go back about 6 months, but I remember the story well and can also remember the cries of indignation from the likes of Metro, etc at the time.A cynic might question why First have been allowed to develop such a monopoly in Leeds and why the likes of Arriva or Stagecoach don't seem interested in providing any meaningful competition to them? All this talk about Last, shouldn't that be Worst

Post by **tyke bhoy** » Fri 10 Jul, 2009 1:06 pm

simon2710 wrote: Now you mention old liveries, I saw the other day in LCC near the Corn Exchange one of those old double deckers from the 1990's with the orange and red livery, thought it was very strange, I only saw the side of it so I wouldn't know if it was still in use. Geldard's are using at least one, predominantly Red, front loading Double Decker on their 28B route from Clarence Dock to Leeds Met at Beckett Park. I've seen one, can't say if it was the same one, both on Otley Road and Crown Point Bridge.

Leeds-lad · Post by **Leeds-lad** » Fri 10 Jul, 2009 3:56 pm

tyke bhoy wrote: simon2710 wrote: Now you mention old liveries, I saw the other day in LCC near the Corn Exchange one of those old double deckers from the 1990's with the orange and red livery, thought it was very strange, I only saw the side of it so I wouldn't know if it was still in use. Geldard's are using at least one, predominantly Red, front loading Double Decker on their 28B route from Clarence Dock to Leeds Met at Beckett Park. I've seen one, can't say if it was the same one, both on Otley Road and Crown Point Bridge. I wonder what subsidy Geldards get for running that?

Post by **tyke bhoy** » Fri 10 Jul, 2009 4:48 pm

Given their pricing policy i suspect they may have enough volume not to need one.

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Fri 10 Jul, 2009 5:56 pm

I very much doubt if Geldards will be getting any subsidy for this service - a "normal hours" one like so many other competition services - and to be fair there is absolutely no reason at all why they should be subsidised. After all this service is not "socially necessary", and there are more than enough "First" buses on the route(s) as it is !! This is a general comment and is not to suggest that I have a good word to say for "First" because I haven't - as a "customer" (a passenger in the sane real world) I despair of them and their vynil plastered windows and all over adverts and "overground" networks and coloured "lines" and streetcars ......................... Sorry, I'll not go on and on

raveydavey · Post by **raveydavey** » Fri 10 Jul, 2009 9:12 pm

BLAKEY wrote: This is a general comment and is not to suggest that I have a good word to say for "First" because I haven't - as a "customer" (a passenger in the sane real world) I despair of them and their vynil plastered windows and all over adverts and "overground" networks and coloured "lines" and streetcars ......................... Sorry, I'll not go on and on Don't worry Blakey - you're not on your own with that opinion.I've got a couple of quid on tonights EuroMillions - if I drop the lot I'll buy a couple of buses, paint them light green with a dark green stripe (my favourite LCT colour scheme) and give Worst some competition!