(11 Jan 2020, 9:13 pm)OrangeArrow49 I kind of like that livery for some reason. X1 will be red, I guess X84/X85 will be orange, we currently have purple, blue and green versions of the livery and the black/grey spares livers. What else is going X-lines? X88 just going to use spares livery?

(11 Jan 2020, 10:02 pm)GNE6312 I would say the X88 will stay corp as it seems pointless branding buses for a route that runs only on weekends and bank holidays.

(11 Jan 2020, 12:13 pm)ne14ne1 A few bus stops may need street furniture moved, many wouldn’t. 

Living and working in the Newcastle Gateshead urban core and travelling at peak times I’d certainly see a benefit from centre exits doors. Several of the journeys I make have standing room only. Having centre exits doors not only would make for more standing room & a more spacious open feel to the lower saloon, but obviously allows for easier alighting too - and in turn reduced dwell times as people boarding wouldn’t have to wait at all for those alighting to get off.

Newcastle/Gateshead is a city/metropolitan area so not sure why you say London’s buses being designed for city running would be unsuitable here?
I wasn’t implying all buses be dual door. Obviously express/limited stopping services would be better suited to having single door buses so they had an extra 2-4 seats, however many local stopping city type services (not just GNE’s) could benefit from dual door buses.

(11 Jan 2020, 11:05 pm)S813 FVK A reply to the B5 refurbishment tweet:
https://twitter.com/keithhenson3/status/1215790773981143041?s=21

He ties himself to the company in his bio so I think we can assign a decent amount of credibility to it, paired up with the conversion of Lothian, EY and Reading E400s in the last couple of years or so. 

Presumably the cost of converting is cheaper than battery renewal?

(11 Jan 2020, 11:09 pm)Rapidsnap Wonder if they use the oppotunity to repaint the vehicles, and finally paint 6069 out of that horrid mix and match livery.

Additionally when is 705 going in for repaint.

(12 Jan 2020, 10:54 am)pbjd I have heard 705 is on borrowed time andwill remain indiGo.

(12 Jan 2020, 10:21 am)S813 FVK Now confirmed properly (though branded as a 'trial' for now), although it seems the OP has been a bit naughty in tweeting it in the first place!
https://twitter.com/martijngne/status/1216302174461886465?s=21

(12 Jan 2020, 12:14 am)S830OFT Can the Bellingham 680s use Double Decker vehicles?

(12 Jan 2020, 11:59 am)Michael Seems a good move tbh, he also mentions Euro 6, so maybe those are getting Euro 6 upgrades?

(12 Jan 2020, 1:54 pm)Stanleyone Would be wise with the CAZ, and the coaster buses going through it

(12 Jan 2020, 1:59 pm)Michael Aye defo, seems the right move, MG confirms they're having problems with the batteries now, as they're near end of life.

(12 Jan 2020, 3:40 pm)deanmachine Would be quite sad if so, shows that electric power still isn't very justifiable for commercial services, what happens when the Yutongs warranty is finished? Are they just going to scrap them?

(12 Jan 2020, 4:05 pm)streetdeckfan What you have to remember is the EV tech in those is a decade old. EVs have come a long way since then, particularly when it comes to battery technology. There are Tesla's driving round with over a million supercharged miles with surprisingly little degradation

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(12 Jan 2020, 4:55 pm)Andreos1 And the technology in the Yutongs will get to 10 years old and will be dated by then too... Assuming the tech continues to develop at the same rate.

(12 Jan 2020, 5:00 pm)streetdeckfan It will, but the technology now is at a point where it won't have to be removed in 10 years. It's proven reliable, unlike the technology that are in the hybrids

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(12 Jan 2020, 5:07 pm)Andreos1 How do you know what the situation will be like in 10 years?
Will electricity even be the fuel of choice?