Improvements to how we communicate disruptions

From Monday 15th April, we will no longer publish the daily short notice cancellation list.

This follows improvements to the way our app are able to display disrupted journeys, and successful efforts to increase recruitment of bus drivers. 

The short notice cancellation list begun being published daily in 2021 during a time when there was a significant national shortage of bus drivers. This meant that many trips were being cancelled the day before and so we started putting a list of trips on the website to allow customers to plan in advance. 

Now, with bus driver recruitment at Go North East being at an all-time high, largely due to the success of our Elite Bus Driver recruitment campaign, we have very few short notice cancellations due to a shortage of drivers. We may still have the odd occasion where a journey is cancelled at short notice on the day due to a vehicle breakdown or traffic congestion, for example, and these will be reflected in the app as ‘cancelled’ journeys on bus stop departure boards.

Improvements to our app and website mean that we are now able to show clearly when a trip has been cancelled in full or in part. Please see an example of what this will look like below:

Cancelled journeys will now be reflected in bus stop departure boards, and cancelled journeys will no longer show in our journey planners. 

Customers should therefore now use our app or website to check the status of their journey. These will continue to show live times for bus departures, reflecting any delays to journeys. 

We will still publish route or network disruptions in the ‘service updates’ section of the app and website, such as diversions or incidents affecting many services. 

From Monday 15th April, we will also have a dedicated section on our website to update customers about disruptions being caused by the major Tyne Bridge works that started on the 2nd April. This will provide information on how these works are impacting our network. 

These changes will make it simpler for customers to find out information about their journey and represent an improvement to how we communicate transparently regarding disruptions.