Dear Sir,
Picking up on Tony Knight’s letter, from a previous edition. Sorry to hear about all the trouble he has had with the no. 7 Arriva bus service.
At first, and still ongoing at times, Arriva, as with others, have had two key problems. 1) Covid, both getting it and/or being in contact with people who have it, has had an impact on drivers.
2) Worldwide lorry driver shortages has led to many bus drivers leaving to go to drive lorries, in some cases getting paid twice as much.
The no. 7 had recently reduced its frequency to try and off set this. Although back up to four an hour. Due to this service, intended as a more frequent service, it is easier to take drivers from this service to put them in less frequent services, say only hourly etc.
While these are having an impact day to day as to how many drivers can come in etc, we, of course, feel the impact.
Looking ahead, County Durham (possibly Darlington?) are looking to introduce a new system late this year or maybe early next year. It will be large E-Boards/bus stop posters to replace the normal bus stop posters. They will be able to show more real time info, along with intended service info. Also, if a bus is cancelled this should also be displayed. Therefore, hopefully, when it comes and, hopefully, having the ability to inform every bus stop with these along the route, we should get a better idea of what’s going on. I certainly am looking forward to these changes.
Mark Morris