Parent | Go-Ahead Group |
---|---|
Founded | February 1987 |
Headquarters | Gateshead, Tyne and Wear England |
Service area | |
Service type | Bus and coach |
Depots | 7 |
Fleet | 599 (at 28 May 2023) |
Managing Director | Nigel Featham |
Website | www |
Go North East operates both local and regional bus services in County Durham, Cumbria, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear, England. It was previously known as the Northern General Transport Company and Go-Ahead Northern. The company was the foundation of today's Go-Ahead Group, which now operates bus and rail services across the United Kingdom, as well as Germany, Ireland, Norway and Singapore.
In October 1986, at the time of bus deregulation in Great Britain, the company operated from fourteen depots: Chester-le-Street, Consett, Gateshead, High Spen, Houghton-le-Spring, Jarrow, Murton, Percy Main, South Shields, Stanley, Sunderland, Wallsend, Washington and Winlaton.
In February 1987, as part of the privatisation of the National Bus Company, a management buyout led by Chris Moyes and Martin Ballinger saw the purchase of the Northern General Transport Company.[1]
Early expansion saw the acquisition of a number of smaller competing bus operators in the region, including Langley Park-based Gypsy Queen in January 1990.[2]
In February 1990, the company's Murton depot was closed, with the loss of 20 jobs. The remaining 109 staff were redeployed to other nearby depots in Houghton-le-Spring and Sunderland.[3] In September 1990, the loss-making depot at Jarrow, and High Spen, which was making a marginal profit, were closed. Following the closures, a total of 20 jobs were lost, with a further 150 staff redeployed.[4][5][6]
By January 1991, the parent company was split in to five separate subsidiary companies: Coastline, Go-Ahead Gateshead, Go-Ahead Northern, VFM and Wear Buses.[7]
In March 1995, the Go-Ahead Group acquired Bishop Auckland-based OK Motor Services for £5.4 million.[8][9][10][11] Following the acquisition, many of OK's staff, including the general manager, Charles Marshall, became employees of Go-Ahead. OK initially became one of Go-Ahead's locally managed subsidiaries, with Marshall remaining in charge. Go-Ahead later took steps to streamline the business, with several of the group's earlier acquisitions transferred to OK.[12] However, the local identities were soon abandoned, and the OK name disappeared. In January 2012, the OK Motor Services branding was briefly revived to celebrate the company's centenary year.
In August 1998, a new depot was opened on Deptford Terrace, Sunderland. This saw the closure of the nearby Park Lane depot, which was demolished to allow the development of the current Park Lane Interchange, which opened in May 1999, ahead of the introduction of Tyne and Wear Metro services between Pelaw and South Hylton via Sunderland. Additionally, the company's depot at Philadelphia Lane, Houghton-le-Spring, was also closed at this time. The depot remained in situ until the early 2020s, until it was demolished to allow for redevelopment of the area.[13]
In 2005, the company's depot in the seaside town of South Shields was closed, with operations moved to Deptford depot.
In March 2006, the company's depot in Bishop Auckland was transferred to Arriva North East.[14]
Four years later, in March 2010, Go North East's Ashington depot was exchanged with Arriva North East's Hexham depot.[15]
In June 2010, the company was awarded a five-year contract to operate the QuayLink network of services. Award of the contract saw the introduction of a fleet of nine Euro 5 diesel-powered Optare Versa single-deck vehicles.[16][17]
In February 2014, former depots at Sunderland Road, Gateshead and Winlaton were replaced by an £8.5 million "super depot", known as Riverside. The 5.75-acre (23,300 m2) site, located in Dunston has capacity for over 160 vehicles and 500 staff.[18][19][20]
In June 2018, Hull-based East Yorkshire Motor Services was acquired by Go-Ahead, bringing an end to 30 years of family ownership. Following acquisition, the company was rebranded East Yorkshire, and will continue to run as a standalone company within Go North East.[21][22][23][24]
In March 2019, the Stanley depot was closed, after almost 100 years in service. Operations were subsequently moved to a new 2.23-acre (9,000 m2) depot at Hownsgill Industrial Estate, Consett, which is located on the site of the former Consett Steelworks. The £3.5 million depot has the capacity for 63 vehicles and 180 staff.[25][26][27]
In July 2020, a fully-electric zero-emission vehicle trial took place, with a single-deck Optare Metrocity serving a series of routes in Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne and North Tyneside.[28] Following this, in November 2020, the first of a fleet of nine zero-emission single-deck Yutong E10 were introduced on routes 53 and 54, as part of a jointly-funded project between Go North East and the Government's Ultra-Low Emission Bus Fund – at a cost of £3.7 million.[29][30][31][32]
In February 2022, a zero-emission vehicle trial took place, when a zero-emission Wright StreetDeck Electroliner fully-electric double-deck bus was evaluated on route 21.[33][34]
In March 2022, the company's Peterlee outstation was closed, with operations transferred to Chester-le-Street and Deptford depots.[35]
In June 2022, it was announced that East Yorkshire would be split from Go North East, becoming a separate company within the Go-Ahead Group. In the same month, it was announced that the company intended to close Chester-le-Street depot.[36]
Following the departure of Martijn Gilbert in August 2022, the former Go North West Managing Director, Nigel Featham, assumed Gilbert's role at Go North East. At East Yorkshire, former Area Manager, Ben Gilligan, was promoted to Managing Director.[37]
In September 2023, following the closure of Arriva North East's Jesmond depot, Go North East took over operation of a number of the company's routes in Newcastle upon Tyne and North Tyneside, which were subsequently rebranded as North Tyne Rockets. The routes are operated by a fleet of single-deck Wright StreetLite buses, branded in a purple livery.[38]
In late 2023, operations suffered serious disruption, due to strike action by employees. Organised by Unite the Union, the first strikes each took place for a period of one week, beginning 30 September 2023 and 14 October 2023 respectively.
Following this, union members began an indefinite strike on 28 October 2023 – during which no services across the region, with the exception of some school and works services, operated. A limited intra-peak hour service was introduced on certain routes from 14 November 2023.[39][40]
The strike was brought to an end on 1 December 2023, when union members voted in favour of an improved pay offer, with normal service resuming the following day.[41][42] Following the strike, a special promotion was introduced whereby customers were able to travel on the network free-of-charge between 2–8 December 2023.[43]
As of January 2024, the company operates from seven bus depots across the region: Consett (Hownsgill), Gateshead (Riverside & Saltmeadows Road), Hexham, Percy Main, Sunderland (Deptford) and Washington.
As of May 2023, the fleet consists of 599 buses and coaches.[44] The fleet consists mainly of diesel-powered single and double-deck buses manufactured by Alexander Dennis, Optare, Volvo and Wrightbus.
The company also operate a fleet of eighteen fully-electric single-deck vehicles: nine Yutong E10, introduced in November 2020[29][30][31][32], and a further nine Yutong E12, introduced in September 2022.
In 2006, Go North East introduced route branding. The practice aimed to give each service, or group of services, a recognisable identity, colour scheme and logo. Route branding has led to the company adopting a multi-coloured fleet.[45]
From the late 1990s, the standard fleet livery consisted of vehicles branded in a red, blue and yellow colour scheme. In 2013, an updated standard fleet livery was introduced, which saw vehicles without route branding painted in an all-over red colour scheme.
In 2016, the standard fleet livery was further updated, with vehicles painted red at the front, and blue at the back, separated by a white strip, with a tagline and website featuring above the windows on single-deck buses, or below the windows on double-deck buses.
This proved to be short-lived, and in 2019, the latest-style standard livery was introduced. This features a lighter shade of blue at the rear, with the curved white separation strip being replaced with a double white and yellow line.
Coach services operating under contract to National Express are painted in an all-over white livery, featuring the client's blue and red logo.[46] In 2020, a fleet of coaches were repainted into a range of retro-inspired heritage liveries,[47] with a number of single and double-deck buses following later.[48][49]