I've received an update on a replacement bus service connecting Station Town to Sedgefield scheduled to take place from Monday 1 November.
Please see below for details:
Dear Councillor,
As you will be aware local bus service 239 that operates in
the evening between Easington Colliery, Peterlee and Sedgefield has been
suspended between Station Town and Sedgefield in recent weeks due to
anti-social behaviour including abuse of drivers and missiles being thrown at
the bus.
The police have been involved throughout but operator Go
North East feel they have not received sufficient reassurance from that
engagement to ask the Unite union to recommend to its members they return to
the route.
Furthermore, Go North East’s contract with the Council to
operate the service expires on 31st October and they indicated they
did not wish to extend the contract for a further 12 months, as is being done
with other contracts, and the consequential retendering exercise produced no
bids for the service in its current form.
In the light of this we have been exploring what other
options are available and I am pleased to be able to confirm we have been able
to find a local minibus operator – John Crake of Trimdon – who will be
providing an hourly service in the evening. Unfortunately due to prior
commitments he is unable to start until Monday 1st November.
The service has been revised to operate in two sections, with
John Crake operating between Sedgefield and Wingate, connecting at Station Town
Newhouse Estate bus stop with a revised Go North East service that will operate
Station Town – Peterlee. Through fares will be available between the two
sections, with all fares at a simple flat rate of £1. (This reflects the
current offer on all GNE evening services.) Arriva and Go North East season
tickets and return fares will be accepted.
John Crake will be using a 16 seater minibus. That does mean
boarding and alighting will include a step, so will be less convenient for some
passengers and it will not be able to carry passengers using wheelchair, but
I’m afraid that we have had no other option at present.
The Go North East part of the service will no longer operate
between Easington Village and Peterlee via Easington Colliery and Horden as
this is duplicated by Go North East’s relatively new service 62 though we have
arranged for an additional journey on the 62 to run north from Peterlee at 2116
to provide a service slightly later than present. The full timetable for the 62
can be found here https://www.gonortheast.co.uk/services/GNE/62?date=2021-10-30&direction=outbound