In response to customer comments we are making some changes on Sunday 27 July 2008. We hope that you will find these changes helpful. Comments and suggestions are always appreciated. Please write to the address above, email us at customerservices@gonortheast.co.uk or telephone us on 0845 6060260.
Improved Bus services for West Durham from 27 July
Go North East has been asking the opinions of the people who use our buses in West Durham to give us their views on the best way to continue improving our services. After studying the responses, we are about to make some further improvements to services in the West Durham area.
The changes will take place from Sunday 27 July and this Bus Briefing gives you an outline of the main alterations. Other minor changes may have been made to your service and details of these will be included on a special section on our website along with the detailed timetables for the new services. Please visit www.simplygo.com for all up-to-date service and timetable information.
We are also offering some great deals for customers to start the new services off with a bang !
Summer Specials in West Durham from Go North East
With the launch of our network we are running these great offers from 27 July through to 30 August.
It’s not just our Red Kites that are going “cheep cheep!” throughout August. With our cheap day returns you pay no more than £4 for a day on the West Durham Swifts, Diamonds and the famous Red Kites. Have a great day out in Newcastle or Durham, go shopping at the Metrocentre all for no more than £4 – that’s got to beat filling the car up and paying for parking. With our children’s return costing just £2 or a Get Around for unlimited travel anywhere with Go North East for just £2.50, relax and enjoy the scenery as we drive you to a great day out.
Local travel around Consett is going to be great value this summer. Use our Venture services V1 to V6 and V9* for just £2 unlimited travel all day. Leave the car at home and just hop on a Venture bus into Consett – you can make as many trips as you like on our Venture services for just £2. Children under 14 also get a fantastic deal for just £1!
*Valid on V9 between Consett and Shotley Bridge.
Test drive our services for a tenner!
Spend your money on having a great time this summer, not on the spiralling costs of travelling by car. Tired of the sky high prices at the forecourt, and that’s before finding and paying for a parking space? Then take any of our West Durham services for a test drive this summer for just £10 for a week’s travel *.
You may be one of the thousands of lucky residents on the Red Kite route who will be contacted shortly by post or telephone to talk about this great offer that will be running for 5 weeks from the 27th July. This great deal will allow you to go for a spin as far as the MetroCentre, Sunderland or Newcastle, for less than £1.50 a day!
*Offer not available from driver, eligible participants will be contacted by Go North East.
Making Kites Fly Higher
You told us that you wanted to see simplified timetables, improved reliability and a consistent frequency on our popular Red Kite buses. As a result Red Kites will run either as service 45 or 46, every 15 minutes during the day on Monday to Saturday daytimes and every 30 minutes and hourly at later times.
Red Kite service 45 will run via Laburnum Avenue and Benfieldside Road, with service 46 providing a new, direct link from Bridgehill to MetroCentre and Newcastle.
In the evenings until approximately 2000, the service will run every 30 minutes. During Sunday daytimes, the service will run every 30 minutes and every hour on Sunday evenings.
Timetables for both services have been revised to improve reliability during peak times and we have introduced more buses to improve links for Hamsterley, Ebchester and Shotley Bridge. Both services will also provide quicker and more reliable journeys between MetroCentre and Newcastle. Some early morning peak journeys run non-stop from Team Street to Newcastle Clayton Street via Centrelink, Swing Bridge and Forth Banks.
Our Red Kite service 46A will be replaced by a new West Durham Swift X71 service and Venture services V5 and V6.
Extra West Durham Swift services
A new service X71 will run hourly between Consett and Newcastle via Leadgate, Pont, Bradley, Medomsley, Burnopfield, Sunniside and Gateshead. This will replace the Red Kite service 46A between Consett and Medomsley, as well as creating new links to Gateshead. Service X70 will continue to run half-hourly at peak times, but hourly during the daytime.
To meet increasing demand, an extra service will be provided from Sunnside to Gateshead and Newcastle at peak times. Due to very low passenger numbers, service 70A is being replaced by West Durham Swift service 70 and Diamond service 43B.The new X71 will run hourly on this popular route between Newcastle and Consett via Pont, Bradley and Hat & Feather and provides new links between Medomsley and Newcastle.
Some timetable changes are also being introduced to improve reliability following requests from passengers.
Venture services offer new guarantee and improved connections
Passengers travelling on our Diamond or West Durham Swift services from Durham or on our Red Kite or West Durham Swift services from Newcastle can now benefit from our new Get You Home Guarantee. Making connecting journeys at Stanley or Consett Bus Stations can sometimes be affected by delays from heavy city centre traffic. With our new Get You Home Guarantee, our drivers can call ahead to book you a taxi if the bus is going to miss one of the journeys covered by our guarantee and there is no reasonable alternative provided. The taxi, provided by our partners Stanley taxis, will then get you to your home bus stop from Stanley Bus Station without any additional cost providing you have a valid BuzzFare or ‘txt2go’ ticket for your entire journey.
For full details of our Get You Home Guarantee, including details of which services are covered, pick up a leaflet from our driver, from the Stanley Taxis office, or simply click here.
We have also improved timetables to make sure people can transfer quickly from one bus to another at Consett Bus Station to continue their journey. We recognise that no-one likes waiting around for connecting services, particularly in the evenings, so passengers arriving on our Red Kite 45 will be able to connect within minutes to Venture service V1 to Delves Lane and Lime service 8 to Castleside. We have also improved connections for people arriving from Delves Lane and transferring to our Red Kite 45 or 46 to MetroCentre and Newcastle.
introduces new services and improved links and reliability
Some minor timetable changes will be introduced for services V1 and V2, which will allow us to provide a regular 15 minute frequency. Services currently running via Shotley Bridge as V1 and V2 will be re-numbered to run as V3 and V4 and operate hourly each way via Number One and Queens Road.
New services V5 and V6 will replace Red Kite service 46A and service 756. Service V5 will run hourly on Monday to Saturday daytimes between Consett and The Dene via Number One, Hat & Feather and Medomsley. The hourly V6 will serve Consett, Pont and Bradley via Number One and Leadgate and be extended to include The Dene. That’s great news for people travelling to and from Pont Lane because the X71 and V6 will give you two buses per hour to Consett.
New service V9 will replace services 758 and 759 between Chopwell and Consett. It will run hourly via Blackhall Mill, Ebchester and Shotley Bridge, providing a direct link to Shotley Bridge Hospital from Chopwell and Blackhall Mill in response to requests from our passengers.
Please note: Venture service 870 will be re-routed via Kings Road and Rosedale Avenue, replacing service 46.
Adding more sparkle to your Diamond services
Diamond services will now provide an improved frequency at morning peak times on Monday to Friday and will run every 30 minutes during the evenings and on Sundays. There will be no change to Saturday services.
We have also invested in refurbishing our Diamond buses including providing on-board information screens, a bright and fresh interior, and new seating to give you a more comfortable and relaxing journey.
Lime links looking good
We have made real improvements to our connecting services at Consett Bus Station. Passengers arriving on our Red Kite services 45 or 46 will be able to link to Lime service 8 to Castleside within minutes of arriving.
Lime service 8 will also run via Pont Head Estate in the evening and on Sundays in line with the current daytime buses. services, giving the area one, easily recognisable brand. This replaces the current journeys on service 756. Evening and Sunday journeys between Consett and Castleside will also run via Selby Gardens.