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Go North East

Go North East was originally the founding company of the Go-Ahead Group. Today, it operates bus services in Tyne and Wear, County Durham and Northumberland in England. Go North East operates through two divisions; Go North East Ltd. and Go Northern Ltd. However, the only signs of these are the legal lettering on the bottom of the bus. The company was previously known as The Northern General Transport Company and Go-Ahead Northern. The company operates a modern fleet of around 700 buses, 95% that are in regular service are low floor. The first serious trial of low floor buses in the UK outside of London was operated from the Percy Main Depot in North Tyneside. This was with the Wright Pathfinder trial.

Go North East's headquarters are at 117 Queen Street, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear and their central engineering department is at Site 11, Saltmeadows Road, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.

Subsidiaries

Go North East Ltd.

Operates services in and around Gateshead and into Newcastle. This subsidiary also operates services on North Tyneside out of the former Go Coastline Ltd. depot at Percy Main as well as the former Go Northern depot in Stanley. Services that run into Gateshead from South Tyneside that were formerly operated from the now defunct Go Coastline Ltd. South Shields depot are now undertaken by the Sunderland Road depot. Northumbria Buses is a tradeing name of Go North East and their services are undertaken from Ashington.

Depots are located at:

Sunderland Road, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear - 'Sunderland Road'
Rothbury Terrace, Percy Main, Tyne and Wear - 'Percy Main' (formerly Go Coastline)
Cromwell Place, Winlaton, Tyne and Wear - 'Winlaton'
High Street, Stanley, County Durham - 'Stanley'
Jubilee Industrial Estate, Ashington, Northumberland - 'Ashington' (Northumbria Buses)

Go Northern Ltd.

Operates mainly in County Durham, Sunderland and South Tyneside. Operates some services into Teesside. Since losing the Stanley depot to Go North East, Go Northern absorbed the Go Wear Buses operation. Chester-le-Street operates the flagship 'Angel' service between Durham and Newcastle. Washington operate the Wearside to Newecastle 'Red Arrows' Express Services as well as Metrolink serivces linking Wearside to Heworth Metro Interchange. Deptford operate the Gold Standard 'Laser' Between South Shields and Low Moorsley as well as the 'Fab Fifty Six' and 'Prince Bishops' Services.

Depots are located at:

Picktree Lane, Chester-le-Street, County Durham - 'Chester-le-Street'
Deptford Terrace, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear - 'Deptford'
Industrial Road, Hertburn Industrial Estate, Washington, Tyne and Wear - 'Washington'

Bus companies acquired by Go North East

The Venture Transport Company
Stanley Taxis (Local bus services only)
The Langley Park Motor Company
Tyne & Wear Omnibus Company Limited (Immediately sold to Busways)
Carryden Limited (Local bus services only)
Low Fell Coaches
Atkinsons
Shaws Coaches
Star Travel (Local bus services only)
JH Hammell (Diamond)
OK Motor Services
Derwent Coaches (Local bus services only)
Armstrongs of Ebchester
Northumbria Coaches (Local bus services only)
Redby Bus & Coach Ltd. (Local bus services only)

Former depots

Strothers Road, High Spen, Tyne & Wear - 'High Spen'
Jarrow Bus Station, Jarrow, Tyne & Wear - 'Jarrow' (Merged with South Shields)
Park Lane, Sunderland, Tyne & Wear - 'Park Lane' (Replaced by Deptford)
Lady's Walk, South Shields, Tyne & Wear - 'South Shields' (Merged with Deptford)
Bondgate, Bishop Auckland, County Durham - 'Bishop Auckland' (Sold to Arriva, flagsip services transferred to Chester-le-Street)
Philidelphia, Tyne and Wear - 'Philadelphia'

Night buses

Go North East operate a number of night bus services (with an 'N' prefix) throughout the region. The N21 was its first initial trial with plans to roll the service out to more areas if it proved successful. The N56 was introduced on 2 June 2007.

Below is a list of all night services and the areas they serve:

N20 Durham, Gilesgate Moor, Belmont and Carrville
N21 Newcastle, Gateshead, Birtley, Chester-le-Street, Plawsworth and Durham.
N56 Sunderland, Southwick Green, Hylton Castle, Washington Galleries, Concord, Springwell, Wrekenton, Gateshead and Newcastle
N58 Heworth, Leam Lane Estate, Felling Square, Deckham, Gateshead, Newcastle, Coast Road, High Farm, Battle Hill Drive and Hadrian Park
N97 Newcastle, Gateshead, Bensham, Lobley Hill, Dunston Hill, Whickham, Fellside Park and Dunston.

MetroCentre Flyer

Go North East trialled a new network of services across the region to provide direct, express connections to Gateshead's MetroCentre shopping centre. The initial services were:

X22 Chester-le-Street - Birtley - MetroCentre
X40 Newbiggin - Ashington - Stakeford - Bedlington - MetroCentre
X57 South Shields - Chichester - Whiteleas Way - Biddick Hall - South Leam Estate - Calf Close - Fellgate Estate - MetroCentre
X68 Tynemouth - North Shields - Wallsend - Byker - Newcastle Quayside - MetroCentre

The X22 and X57 used yellow Volvo Olympian/Northern Counties Palatine 1's, while X68 used the Spare Route 19 Scania L94UB/Wright Solar and X40 was operated by Northumbria Buses.

Services X57 and X68 were withdrawn in early 2008.

Service X22 now extends to Durham from Chester-le-Street via Great Lumley, Leamside, West Rainton, Carrville, Belmont and Gilesgate Moor.

Route branding

During 2006, Go North East began applying bright eye catching liveries to its vehicles. This is apparently an attempt to increase passenger numbers by increasing awareness of its services. All buses still carry Go North East fleetnames in addition to these new 'brandings' as well as either Go North East, Go Northern or Go Wear Buses legal lettering. The list below shows the services that have been branded so far. Each branded service has its own logo.

Services highlighted in red do not use accessible vehicles.

Route number(s)	Brand name	Standard vehicle type(s)	Depot(s)
1 • 2	Coaster	Dennis Trident 2/East Lancs Lolyne	Percy Main
8 • 8A • X8 78 • 78A	Lime	Volvo B10BLE/Wright Renown	Chester-le-Street and Stanley
9 • 9A	Cross Tyne	Dennis Dart SPD	Percy Main
10	Ten	Mercedes-Benz Citaro	Winlaton
31 • 32 48 • 49 • 49A X11	The Blaydon Racers	Dennis Dart SPD	Winlaton
R19	Route 19	Scania L94UB/Wright Solar	Percy Main
20 • 20X • [N20]	Prince Bishops	Scania L94UB/Wright Solar	Deptford
21 • 22 • X22 • X23 • [N21]	The Angel	Scania OmniCity, Volvo B7TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini, Dennis Trident 2/Plaxton President	Chester-le-Street
26 • 36 • 26A	The Black Cats	Dennis Dart MPD	Deptford
27 • 27A	The Crusader	DAF SB120/Wright Cadet	Sunderland Road
29 • 39	Doxford Clipper	Dennis Dart MPD	Deptford
33 • 42	The Magic Roundabout	Dennis Dart MPD	Deptford
35	The Laser	Mercedes-Benz Citaro	Deptford
40 • 40C • 41 • 41C	Wallsend Links	Dennis Dart MPD	Percy Main
43 • 44	The Diamond	Volvo B10BLE/Wright Renown	Stanley
45 • 46	The Red Kite	Scania OmniCity	Stanley
47	Derwent Ranger	Volvo B7RLE/Wright Eclipse	Winlaton
53 • 54	Saltwell Park	Dennis Dart SPD	Sunderland Road
56 • [N56]	Fab Fifty Six	Scania L94UB/Wright Solar	Deptford
57 • 57A	Fab Fifty Seven	Scania L94UB/Wright Solar	Sunderland Road
58	Citylink	Mercedes-Benz Citaro	Sunderland Road
60 • 61 • 62	The Drifter	Dennis Dart SLF/Marshall Capital	Deptford
71	Lambton Worm	Dennis Dart SPD	Chester-le-Street
75 • 76 85 • 86	The Centurion	DAF SB120/Wright Cadet Dennis Lance SLF/Wright Pathfinder 320	Percy Main
81	Pink Panthers	Dennis Dart MPD	Percy Main
91	Team Valley Clipper	DAF SB220GS/Northern Counties	Winlaton
93 • 94	The Loop	Scania L94UB/Wright Solar	Sunderland Road
95 • 96 • 97 • 98 • X98 • [N97]	The Highwayman	Volvo B10BLE/Wright Renown, Volvo SB120/Wright Merit	Sunderland Road
309	Cobalt Clipper	Scania OmniCity	Percy Main
M1 • M2 • M3	MetroLink	Scania L94UB/Wright Solar, Dennis Dart MPD	Washington
V1 • V2 • V3 • V4 V5 • V6 V9 MC1 • MC2 • MC4	Venture	Optare Solo, Dennis Dart MPD	Stanley
W2 • W3 W5 • W6	Washington Street Shuttle	Dennis Dart MPD	Washington
X1 • 1X X2	Red Arrows	Mercedes-Benz Citaro	Washington
X10	X10	Volvo B7TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini	Sunderland Road
X30 • X31 70 • X70 • X71	West Durham Swift	Scania OmniCity	Stanley
X42 • X43	Bargain Bus	Leyland Olympian/Northern Counties Palatine, Leyland Olympian/Alexander (Belfast) RH	Ashington
X66	CentreLink	Scania L94UA/Wright Solar Fusion	Sunderland Road
Contract Services	Yellow Bus	Volvo Olympian/Northern Counties Palatine	All depots

During restructuring of the service network Go North East has withdrawn a number of their branded services, these are listed below.

Service number(s)	Brand name	Standard vehicle type(s)	Depot(s)	Date commenced	Date withdrawn	Notes
10 • 11	The Blaydon Racers	Dennis Dart SPD	Winlaton	Unknown	14 September 2008	Replaced by new service 10 'Ten'
21 • N21	Twenty One, 24 hour service	Scania OmniCity, Scania L94UB/Wright Solar, Volvo B7TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini, Dennis Trident 2/East Lancs Lolyne, Dennis Trident 2/Plaxton President	Chester-le-Street	1 October 2006	28 July 2007	Rebranded 'The Angel'
40 • 43 • 43A • 43B • 44	Stanley Shuttle	Variety of Dennis Dart SLF's	Stanley	August 2006	25 February 2007	Replaced by The Diamond
30	Thirty	Dennis Dart MPD	Deptford	11 December 2006	4 June 2007	Replaced by former Jayline service 210
305 315 • 316 325 • 326	The Centurion	Dennis Dart MPD Dennis Dart SPD Dennis Lance SLF/Wright Pathfinder 320	Percy Main	2006	29 March 2008	305 - Replaced by 'Wallsend Links' and 'Citylink' 315 • 316 - Renumbered 75 • 76 and rebranded 'The Centurion' 325 • 326 - Renumbered 85 • 86 and rebranded 'The Centurion'
307 • 319	Pink Panthers	Optare Solo	Percy Main	26 March 2007	29 March 2008	Replaced by 81 'Pink Panthers'
321 • 322	Pink Panthers	Optare Solo	Percy Main	13 January 2007	25 March 2007	North Tyneside service network rearranged
D4	Pink Panthers	Optare Solo	Chester-le-Street	2 October 2006	31 December 2006	Service unsuccessful
X20	Prince Bishops Swift	Scania L94UB/Wright Solar	Deptford	Unknown	25 May 2008	Withdrawn to improve frequency on service 20 and replaced with peak time only 20X (Prince Bishops)
X67	Park and Ride	Optare Solo	Winlaton	2007	14 September 2008	Withdrawn due to poor patronage. Partly replaced by service 10.
	Venture	Optare Solo, Dennis Dart MPD	Stanley			Former Stanley Taxis services have, from time to time, been operated under the venture name. This is no longer the case.
W4	Washington Street Shuttle	Dennis Dart MPD	Washington	Unknown	25 May 2008	Washington network reworked
X23	The Red Arrows	Volvo B10M/Plaxton Expressliner 2	Chester-le-Street	Late 2006	23 February 2008	Amount of runs reduced and 'coach' vehicles removed from service. Now part of The Angel brand.

Standard vehicle types

Below is a list of vehicles Go North East bought 'as standard'. Anybody interested in a complete fleet list can visit the Fleet Info section of the Go North East Website.