Go North East operates both local and regional bus services in

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by national parks, including most of the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. It is one of four co ...

and

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcas ...

, 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 The Go-Ahead Group plc is a passenger transport company based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, with operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Singapore, Norway and Germany. Formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange, in 2022 it was purchased ...

, which now operates bus and rail services across the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

, as well as

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

History

In February 1987, as part of the privatisation of the National Bus Company, a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena o ...

led by

Chris Moyes Chris Moyes OBE (26 July 1949 – 12 September 2006) was one of the founders of Go-Ahead Group, one of the United Kingdom's largest transport businesses. Career Born in Shropshire and educated at Birkenhead School and Liverpool University, Chris M ...

and

Martin Ballinger Martin Andrew Stanley Ballinger (19 November 1943 – 28 February 2007) was one of the founders of Go-Ahead Group, one of the United Kingdom's largest transport businesses. He lived at Bolam Hall in Northumberland. He died in Newcastle upon Tyne ...

saw the purchase of the Northern General Transport Company. 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 and Bishop Auckland-based

OK Motor Services OK Motor Services was a bus company, which operated local and regional bus services in County Durham and Tyne and Wear, England. The company was purchased by the Go-Ahead Group in March 1995. Following rationalisation and rebranding, the OK Mot ...

in March 1995. In January 2012, the OK Motor Services branding was briefly revived, to celebrate the company's centenary year. In March 1989, the company's depot at Murton was closed, with the loss of 20 jobs. The remaining 109 staff were redeployed to other depots. The loss-making depot at

Jarrow Jarrow ( or ) is a town in South Tyneside in the county of Tyne and Wear, England. It is east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is situated on the south bank of the River Tyne, about from the east coast. It is home to the southern portal of the Ty ...

, and the depot at High Spen, which was making a marginal profit, was closed towards the end of September 1990. Following the closures, a total of 20 jobs were lost, with a further 150 staff redeployed. By January 1991, Go-Ahead Northern had split into five companies within the parent company: Coastline, Go-Ahead Gateshead, Northern, VFM and Wear Buses. In 1998, a new depot was opened at Deptford Terrace in

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, which saw the closure of the nearby depot at

Park Lane Park Lane is a dual carriageway road in the City of Westminster in Central London. It is part of the London Inner Ring Road and runs from Hyde Park Corner in the south to Marble Arch in the north. It separates Hyde Park to the west from ...

, as well as Philadelphia Lane in

Houghton-le-Spring Houghton-le-Spring ( ) is a town in the City of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, North East England which has its recorded origins in Norman times. Historically in County Durham, it is now administered as part of the Tyne and Wear county. It is ...

, with a subsequent transfer of operations. In 2005, the company's depot in the seaside town of

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the 20 ...

was closed, with operations moved to Deptford depot. In March 2006, the company's depot in

Bishop Auckland Bishop Auckland () is a market town and civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, northern England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham. Much of the town's early history surr ...

was transferred to

Arriva North East Arriva North East operates both local and regional bus services in County Durham, Cumbria, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear, England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus, which operates bus and coach services across the United ...

. Four years later, in March 2010, Go North East's

Ashington Ashington is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, with a population of 27,864 at the 2011 Census. It was once a centre of the coal mining industry. The town is north of Newcastle upon Tyne, west of the A189 and bordered to the ...

depot was exchanged with Arriva North East's

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden nearby, and close to Hadrian's Wall. Hexham was the administra ...

depot. In June 2010, the company was awarded a five-year contract to operate the

QuayLink QuayLink was a bus service in Tyne and Wear, England, which connected Gateshead and Newcastle upon Tyne, and later North Tyneside, with the Quayside. Funded by the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive, the service was launched on 22 July ...

network of services. Award of the contract saw the introduction of a fleet of nine Euro 5 diesel-powered

Optare Versa The Optare Versa is a low-floor midibus that was manufactured by Optare at its Sherburn-in-Elmet factory. In total 883 were produced between 2007 and 2018. In February 2014, former depots at Sunderland Road,

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Millennium Bridge, The Sage, and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary ...

and

Winlaton Winlaton is a village situated in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear. Once in County Durham, it became incorporated into the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear and Borough of Gateshead in 1974. In 2011 the village was absorbe ...

were replaced by an £8.5million "super depot", known as Riverside. The site, located in Dunston has capacity for over 160 vehicles and 500 staff. In June 2018,

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

-based

East Yorkshire Motor Services East Yorkshire operates both local and regional bus services in the East Riding of Yorkshire and North Yorkshire, England. Prior to acquisition by the Go-Ahead Group in June 2018, the company was known as East Yorkshire Motor Services. History ...

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. In March 2019, the Stanley depot was closed, after almost 100 years in service. Operations were subsequently moved to a new depot at Hownsgill Industrial Estate,

Consett Consett is a town in County Durham, England, about south-west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It had a population of 27,394 in 2001 and an estimate of 25,812 in 2019. History Consett sits high on the edge of the Pennines. Its' name originates in the ...

, which is located on the site of the former Consett Steelworks. The £3.5million depot has the capacity for 63 vehicles and 180 staff. In November 2020, a fleet of nine

zero-emission Zero emission refers to an engine, motor, process, or other energy source, that emits no waste products that pollute the environment or disrupt the climate. Zero emission engines Vehicles and other mobile machinery used for transport (over land, se ...

Yutong E10 fully-electric single-deck buses 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. The circular routes serve

Quayside The Quayside is an area along the banks ( quay) of the River Tyne in Newcastle upon Tyne (the north bank) and Gateshead (south bank) in Tyne and Wear, North East England, United Kingdom. History The area was once an industrial area and busy co ...

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

and Saltwell Park up to every 12 minutes, with vehicles branded in a green and silver livery. In February 2022, a further zero-emission vehicle trial took place, when a zero-emission Wright StreetDeck Electroliner fully-electric double-deck bus was evaluated on route 21. The route runs up to every 7–10 minutes between Brandon,

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

Chester-le-Street Chester-le-Street (), also known as Chester, is a market town and civil parish in County Durham, England, around north of Durham and also close to Sunderland and Newcastle upon Tyne. It is located on the River Wear, which runs out to sea ...

and Newcastle. In March 2022, the company's

Peterlee Peterlee is a town in County Durham, England. It lies between Sunderland to the north, Hartlepool to the south, the Durham Coast to the east and Durham to the west. It gained town status in 1948 under the New Towns Act 1946. The act also cre ...

outstation was closed, with operations transferred to neighbouring Chester-le-Street and Deptford depots. In June 2022, it was announced that East Yorkshire would be split from Go North East, becoming a separate company of the Go-Ahead Group. 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, has been promoted to Managing Director. In the same month, plans were also announced to close the company's Chester-le-Street depot.

Fleet and operations

Depots

As of September 2022, the company operates from seven bus depots across the region:

(Hownsgill),

(Riverside & Saltmeadows Road),

, Percy Main,

(Deptford) and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Vehicles

As of 19 December 2021, the fleet consists of 648 buses and coaches. The fleet consists mainly of diesel-powered single and double-deck buses manufactured by

Alexander Dennis Alexander Dennis is a British bus manufacturing company based in Larbert, Scotland. The largest bus and coach manufacturer in the United Kingdom with a 50% market share in 2019, it has manufacturing plants and partnerships in Canada, China, E ...

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquarte ...

Optare Switch Mobility (originally called Optare) is an English bus manufacturer based in Sherburn-in-Elmet, North Yorkshire. It is a subsidiary of Indian company Ashok Leyland. The company would be responsible for the EV operations of the group with ...

Scania Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skån ...

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

and Wrightbus. The company also operate a fleet of eighteen fully-electric single-deck vehicles: nine Yutong E10 ,which were introduced in November 2020, as well as a further nine Yutong E12 ,introduced in September 2022.

Branding

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. Until 2013, the standard fleet livery consisted of red, blue and yellow. Following this, vehicles without route branding were painted in a red livery. In 2016, a new standard livery was introduced, 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. This proved to be short-lived, and in 2019, a new-style standard livery has been 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. Regional and national coach services operating under contract to

National Express National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...

are painted in a mostly white livery, featuring the client's blue and red logo. In early 2020, a fleet of coaches were repainted into a range of retro-inspired heritage liveries, with a number of single and double-deck buses following later.

Notes

References

External links

*
Go North East Limited
on

Companies House Companies House is the executive agency of the company registrars of the United Kingdom, falling under the remit of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. All forms of companies (as permitted by the Companies Act) are in ...

Go North East
website {{Bus companies in North East England, state=collapsed Bus operators in Tyne and Wear Go-Ahead Group companies Transport companies established in 1987 1987 establishments in England