(08 Aug 2014, 8:37 pm)mb134 Thank you so if Arriva have given two spares for a route with a PVR of 18 why not give a route with a PVR of 15 2 spares also? Especially when more than half the vehicles are nearly 7 years old...

(08 Aug 2014, 8:45 pm)Dan Having just two spares for a PVR of 18 is also pushing it, if you ask me. I appreciate it can be difficult to finance spare vehicles, but this is where corporate liveried spares to the same interior specification as branded vehicles comes in - which Go North East cleverly did in their orders last year for the Citylink, Fab56 and Cobalt Clipper, as aureolin pointed out above. This way, the vehicles can be allocated to other services, but their first point of call is to act as backup for the service for which they were ordered for.

I understand that having two different 'pots' of money will also make this difficult, but is perhaps something Arriva UK ought to have thought about. 'Sapphire' delivers what is allegedly a 'unique' public transport experience, with it also being marketed as upmarket and high quality. If vehicles which aren't to Sapphire specification are regularly cropping up due to the lack of spare vehicles, then a lot of customers are going to be very disappointed (although the lack of Next Stop Announcements makes this one debatable! ), and this upmarket brand is being heavily diluted in the process.

(08 Aug 2014, 8:48 pm)mb134 Just as a suggestion, would it be a possibility if ANE bought two new Sapphire spares (using their own "pot")however these could float throughout the region and help out, when they are launched, all four Sapphire routes?

(08 Aug 2014, 8:24 pm)Kuyoyo No. When 7491 appeared on the X22 on Tuesday, it replaced a late running 7501 (which came in about 20 minutes late, behind 7509 which was the 1130 from Ashington).

As for an extra spare, I think people need reminding that 'Sapphire' funding comes from Arriva UK's special funding pot, unlike 'MAX' which comes from ANE's own pot. So, the funding for either a brand new spare or to refurbish one of 7514-21 (whichever ones don't get done for the X14/14) would require the Sapphire team to release extra funding for it. And I think that will also count for one being done to Sapphire specification internally (much like 1512 for Stockton).

(08 Aug 2014, 8:02 pm)Dan Sapphire hasn't worked particularly well at Ashington, with vehicles that aren't to Sapphire specification being allocated daily. This is, of course, in addition to the fact vehicles were launched without branding, and some with issues to

I don't know if the issues where Wi-Fi and power sockets weren't working have been fixed or not, but I'd definitely hope so, given that normal corporate liveried vehicles are appearing so frequently. I'm doubtful that the vehicle with destination display issues has been fixed either, which is also quite irritating, as this should have been fixed before it entered service.


ADL Enviro400 7504 is yet to enter service as far as I know, so that's Ashington's spare bus VOR...

(01 Aug 2014, 9:45 pm)Andreos Constantopolous Would have thought the 17.10 would be busy, with it being peak time.



Obviously with it being fb, everyone knew who everyone was.
There wasn't a mask of anonymity to hide behind.

The discussions were certainly enlightening - a certain fella in a little village off the a1 in Northumberland made the FPF campaign looking tame in comparison!

(09 Aug 2014, 7:08 am)VolvoMarkII Yet a few miles down the region, a shared Sapphire service of 10 PVR copes very well? The 7 only has 1 spare between two depots, which logistically must be worse than Ashington?

I suspect Ashington just have no handle on the service and simply allocate whatever they feel like. Typically.

Its a a bit like when Sapphire goes to Stockton & Redcar. I suspect Stockton will be on top of it, but Redcar will allocate Sapphire all over the place and wrong types turning up on X3/X4 left, right and centre.

If the existing mind set for ensuring correct allocation isn't there now, no amount of branded buses will change it.

(09 Aug 2014, 7:08 am)VolvoMarkII Yet a few miles down the region, a shared Sapphire service of 10 PVR copes very well? The 7 only has 1 spare between two depots, which logistically must be worse than Ashington?

I suspect Ashington just have no handle on the service and simply allocate whatever they feel like. Typically.

Its a a bit like when Sapphire goes to Stockton & Redcar. I suspect Stockton will be on top of it, but Redcar will allocate Sapphire all over the place and wrong types turning up on X3/X4 left, right and centre.

If the existing mind set for ensuring correct allocation isn't there now, no amount of branded buses will change it.

(09 Aug 2014, 9:16 am)mb134 Durham and Darlington recieved brand new vehicles for their service though, whereas some of the E400's Ashington have got have been used on the X93, X15 and X18 for a few years of their lives. Since 7504 is off the road they have no option but to allocate "Whatever they like" if one other vehicle is also off the road, surely?

(09 Aug 2014, 9:16 am)mb134 Durham and Darlington recieved brand new vehicles for their service though, whereas some of the E400's Ashington have got have been used on the X93, X15 and X18 for a few years of their lives. Since 7504 is off the road they have no option but to allocate "Whatever they like" if one other vehicle is also off the road, surely?

(09 Aug 2014, 1:18 pm)mb134 True but some problems may not present themselves until a few days in service, not all problems would show themselves on the short journey from Thorntons to Ashington depot

(09 Aug 2014, 12:20 pm)Roland Pratt They've had plenty of time to prepare them though.

(09 Aug 2014, 1:24 pm)mb134 I'm sure they would have done what they could, they aren't stupid. Whatever has kept 7504 off the road for the past week and a half must be pretty serious, if it wasn't it shouldn't take this long to repair it. The overheating problem with 7501's gearbox probably wouldn't have shown on the short journey from Thorntons to Ashington depot either

(09 Aug 2014, 7:08 am)VolvoMarkII Yet a few miles down the region, a shared Sapphire service of 10 PVR copes very well? The 7 only has 1 spare between two depots, which logistically must be worse than Ashington?

I suspect Ashington just have no handle on the service and simply allocate whatever they feel like. Typically.

Its a a bit like when Sapphire goes to Stockton & Redcar. I suspect Stockton will be on top of it, but Redcar will allocate Sapphire all over the place and wrong types turning up on X3/X4 left, right and centre.

If the existing mind set for ensuring correct allocation isn't there now, no amount of branded buses will change it.

(09 Aug 2014, 1:58 pm)Philly rf When the x93 b9s come what will happen to the b7s

(09 Aug 2014, 2:51 pm)mb134 I think someone on here the other day said that some will go back to Northumberland