Go North East wins National Express contract

News stories are free to read. Click here for full access to all the features, articles and archive from only £8.99.
John Bell, Manager of Go North East’s National Express coaching unit at Chester-le-Street
John Bell, Manager of Go North East’s National Express coaching unit at Chester-le-Street

Go North East has won a £8.5m contract to provide new services for National Express.

Go North East, which has been operating National Express coach services for over 40 years, has won a competitive tender to secure a new five-year contract.

The deal involves providing three new routes in addition to the 14 country-wide services which Go North East runs already. The new services are Ashington to London, South Shields to London and Lichfield to London.

Go North East is purchasing four new coaches for the contract and an additional nine vehicles are being bought to upgrade the existing fleet of 24 coaches.

In its bid, the bus company put forward a number of additional quality standards it will meet, on top of those specified by National Express. These included doubling the frequency of engineering inspections and enhancing staff training.

Managing Director at Go North East, Kevin Carr, said: “This is a big boost for our business.

“We have a healthy track record in running services for National Express and that undoubtedly helped us win the tender. Yet we also pushed ourselves even further on commitments to providing enhanced performance.”