CityTransport

16/11/2024

Tomorrow morning (Sunday 17th Nov) sees Network Rail undertake engineering work in the area. Grand Central Rail, Northern and Tyne and Wear Metro services will all be replaced by buses that morning until approx lunchtime.

We will be operating buses from to (calling at all Northern Rail stations) at 09:12, 10:10 and 11:08 and from Newcastle to Hartlepool at 07:18, 08:19 and 09:19. At Hartlepool there will be connecting trains to/from Middlesbrough. Through trains resume late morning. We intend to provide extra passenger capacity (over and above that which has been requested) on the first two from Hartlepool.

Other bus operators will be running direct buses Sunderland to Hartlepool (to connect with Grand Central trains to London) and South Hylton to Pelaw via all Metro stops.

Please note that the Metro is running at into Newcastle throughout the morning. Road traffic congestion will be expected from Heworth to Newcastle due to the Tyne Bridge works. Most Northern Rail tickets on this line to Newcastle are also valid on the Heworth-Newcastle Central bit of the Metro.

From Sunderland, the first thing running on metal rails towards Newcastle is a metro at 12:17 followed by a train at 12:30 - all earlier departures being buses, from Fawcett Street.

Please purchase travel tickets from station ticket machines or apps in the normal way.

North East Coastliners fyi, Incidents on Teesside & County Durham fyi, North East Alert fyi

08/11/2024

Lovely to see 45118 pass the office window just now. Should go south around 4pm. Please savour from a responsible place and do not trespass on the railway.

06/11/2024

26/10/2024

We made CityTransport history today. For the first time, we have delivered on a rail closure where we have provided the entirety of the scheduled rail replacement service between Darlington and Northallerton.

Thank you so much to everybody on our team for making this happen, and to our client and their TOC for believing in us.

Tomorrow we are back supporting in the Thornaby area along with some other operators.

08/10/2024

Little visit to South Hylton to support the risk assessment process for potential emergency Tyne and Wear Metro deployments North East Combined Authority

Ironically the vegetation here may pose an issue to double-deck vehicles but less so these versatile high-capacity, high-specification articulated vehicles.

Thank you also to the lovely residents there for their consideration when parking.

29/09/2024

Late night rail replacing....

Bus southbound to Middlesbrough currently at Seaham (on time).

Other bus currently between Wetheral and Brampton (a little later than the schedule created) running all stations EASTBOUND to Newcastle.

19/09/2024

And it's Darlington this evening for covering 2D72 for our friends at Northern

13/09/2024

Ourselves and lots of other bus/coach operators will converge on the ECML this weekend and all remaining weekends in September for a planned closure from Newcastle to Edinburgh while Network Rail undertake various works.

If you are a member of the public needing to make a journey, please check the various apps and websites of London North Eastern Railway, TransPennine Express Trains, Lumo, Northern and CrossCountry trains as your journey will either be a diverted train or a bus, and in either case will take longer. Note that either a valid LNER or an 'any permitted' ticket will be needed to travel on the diverted trains, which will travel via Hexham and Carstairs and that a seat reservation is recommended.

A couple of polite requests for the bus enthusiast community:
-as a matter of policy we do not communicate in advance where our vehicles or people may be or what services they might work. First and foremost we are there to meet our client requirements, which are to transport their customers but also comply with various policies and so on.

-secondly, please feel very welcome to take general photos from a distance. Please however appreciate that everyone (whether ground staff, or drivers) is there to work, and you are politely asked to give space to passengers and staff as everyone will likely be very busy. Put simply, the time to ask what engine variant is in one of our vehicles is on the occasions when we attend enthusiast events, NOT while staff are collectively trying to load four coaches with people and luggage. Worth adding that photos out in the beautiful Northumberland, Berwickshire or Haddingtonshire countryside would look much better than ones taken outside Central or Waverley stations.

-finally do please appreciate that a valid rail ticket is required for travel and that there are likely to be railway staff at one end of the journey or both to scan these. For the avoidance of doubt members of our 'fans' group also need a train ticket if they wish to travel. There will be a 'bus enthusiast' trip next month which would be a much more appropriate occasion to enjoy our fleet.

01/09/2024

A busy Sunday for

25/08/2024

Sadly three trains in a row from Newcastle to Hexham and Carlisle are cancelled this afternoon.

Trains at 11:54 and 15:55 (from Newcastle) appear booked to run (both four cars).

We have been booked to provide a bus (all stations to Carlisle) leaving Newcastle at 14:00 booked Hexham time 15:21 and Haltwistle 15:49.

This could change so do refer to info at the station and on the website.

Tyne Valley Rail Users' Group - TVRUG and Tyne Valley Community Rail Partnership and The Hexham Courant fyi

19/08/2024

Parts collected this morning from Volvo Trucks UK and Daimler Buses UK for our fleet.

11/08/2024

Lovely to support our friends at Stagecoach Stagecoach North East at their depot open day today.

We must've had over 100 children in the driving seat, and three dogs, so far.

10/08/2024

Fyi https://www.facebook.com/100063640897287/posts/1003108875153800/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v

Extra Late Night Return Train From Edinburgh for Edinburgh Festival

TPE will be running an extra train to Alnmouth Morpeth & Newcastle, departing Edinburgh 23:00 (Monday to Fridays only).

31/07/2024

Last couple of hours to vote for us and other nice operators.

https://www.route-one.net/livery-competition/voting

We are in Best Coach Livery - Small Operator

Thank you!

Vote for your favourite liveries in the routeone Livery Competition. Winners will get the chance to win a full vehicle respray!

21/07/2024

First blue and yellow bus stop

12/07/2024

Some recent gigs that the Special Events & Rail team here at CityTransport have supported. Last weekend Silverstone, tonight Becky Hill, and the third picture is Bryan Adams last month.

If you hold a PCV licence and would be interested on some occasional weekend work with then please do get in contact.

A couple of points before you do though:
-work is occasional and not guaranteed
-the yard is Birtley DH3 and if you don't know where that is, please wait until our 2025 expansion has occurred and we have something nearer to you.
-our work probably won't fit alongside another vocational driving job
-we only seek the best people; there are other operators for those of you who have regular crashes or who can't deal effectively with the public or with our clients
-people with expired medicals or DQC are very welcome; your experience and interest is valued here
-you need to be able to rock a shirt/blouse and tie/cravat without looking like a fish out of water
-we normally look for two years PCV driving experience although this can flex; proficiency with at least a 12metre rigid saloon vehicle is a pre-requisite
-not every day is in the VIP area at a gig; if Middlesbrough railway station has a VIP lounge we haven't found it yet.

Please email [email protected] in confidence, and tell us a little about you.

12/07/2024

What is the plural of please Buses UK

We think citaræ but should it be citaros? What about the collective noun?

05/06/2024

Forever known as the model train (to those of us of a certain age, anyway), 156443 of our client Northern passes the window of the new CTG office.

(This was the unit that Lima encapsulated in provincial livery, with I think 156501 in Strathclyde). Staying with models, the BTMRS - Blyth & Tyne Model Railway Society have a model railway exhibition in North Shields 15th/16th June; if you look hard it may just be possible to see a CityTransport bus on one of the layouts. Their link in the comments.