There have been numerous articles in North East Bylines recently about transport, both past and present. With this and much needed improvements in mind, I asked a recently retired bus driver in the region for their thoughts about what has been going wrong with bus services in the North East.
His reply was very interesting…
A bus driver speaks
“The first thing that sprung to mind was how those things that were meant to be protected after deregulation have gradually been eroded. For instance, for a long time after deregulation, the service numbers of buses had to be preserved. For example, the ‘Number One’ route was operated by Busways (now by Stagecoach) and everyone knew it went from Slatyford through Scotswood, Cruddas Park, into town and then on to Sandyford, Heaton and finally to Cochrane Park. Other bus companies in the region could not have a service ‘Number One.’
“However, at some point that changed; now we have three service ‘number ones.’ One is operated by Go North East and goes from North Shields through Newcastle to the Metro Centre, while another one operated by Arriva, which goes to somewhere up the Great North Road.
“As a result, you can no longer give someone directions telling them to take the ‘Number One’ say to Heaton for instance, because if it’s the wrong ‘number one’ they could end up anywhere. Is that meant to be progress?”
The role of the Traffic Commissioners
The driver wondered how much I knew about the Traffic Commissioners? They oversee everything to do with the bus industry. They even have the power to remove operating licenses. Every bus company has many licenses, one for each bus. If companies do not run to the timetable which they advertise, then the Traffic Commissioner can revoke their licenses. It was argued that a company that can’t run to its timetable has bitten off more than it can chew. Thus, they are helping it by taking a few licenses away, so they must reduce their operation and run fewer buses.
Therefore, that could help bring about change to the timetable, towards something that can be sustained. The driver knew that this has happened to a few small operators, and Arriva were in trouble about ten years ago, but they might only have had a warning.
It was noted that at present none of the companies in this area are operating to anything near their proper timetables, but the traffic commissioners don’t do anything about it. The driver thinks that this is something to do with Covid and giving them time to get back to normal; but really it is a poor excuse. Every bus company in the region is short of drivers so if a driver is not available, then the bus doesn’t run. This is where the traffic commissioner should get involved, but for some reason they are being extremely lenient.
Shortage of spare parts and repairs
As far as Go North East is concerned, it was claimed that there is another reason for buses missing and that is: a shortage of spare parts, and repairs not being carried out to a reasonable standard. The companies don’t carry enough spares, because that would eat into their profits. They would rather patch things up over-and-over for weeks and only buy parts as a last resort. Again, it was argued that the Traffic Commissioner should be investigating, and issuing fines if necessary. So, the Traffic Commissioners were seen as a large part of the problem.
Go North East
One other thing that was stated about Go North East: they seem to put passengers for Newcastle off the bus at Gateshead Metro, and tell them to catch another bus into Newcastle, because the one they are travelling on is running late. They can then spin the bus round and put it back on time. It was argued that this would be alright if it didn’t inconvenience passengers, but it leaves passengers in Newcastle waiting for a bus that isn’t coming.
Once more, it was argued that the Traffic Commissioners should be cracking down on this. Buses should complete the journey to the terminus unless there is a fault with the vehicle.
“I always hoped someone would refuse to get off at Gateshead in this situation, so I could show up the management, but it never happened.”
Interestingly the retired bus driver finished by saying:
“The public are too compliant.”
Comment from Vicki Gilbert of North East Public Transport Users Group (NEPTUG)
“We hear often from our members about issues affecting bus services across the region, with buses not turning up, or struggling to run to schedule. We recognise that the job of a bus driver is not an easy one, balancing the safety of passengers with the pressures of staying to time on increasingly congested roads. Added difficulties of driver shortages, and now difficulties obtaining spare parts certainly don’t help.
“There are certainly things that could be done to help bus drivers. Taking the commercial incentive out of bus operations and running them for people rather than profit would help. Franchising may go some way to achieving this, but we would like to see full municipal control of our bus services like in Nottingham and Edinburgh. Local authorities could help too – the North East authorities have received millions of pounds in government funding for bus priority measures like bus lanes which they have failed to spend. This means services are stuck in traffic congestion and drivers face a battle to stick to schedule.
“We thank the Secret Bus Driver for their work, and fully support their fight for better conditions and better services for passengers.”
