(12 Jan 2015, 5:01 pm)JoshP As I said early last year, I think only town services will remain Arriva with out of town services becoming Sapphire or MAX. That's my prediction anyways.

(12 Jan 2015, 4:57 pm)mb134 I don't know if I've picked this up correctly, so can someone please correct this if it's wrong
Are most Arriva services going to be under some kind of brand from now on, be it MAX Sapphire or high frequency route branded? It just seems like a large majority of services are seeing upgrades or branding.

(12 Jan 2015, 5:19 pm)G-CPTN So what might happen to the 85/685 Newcastle to Carlisle?

(12 Jan 2015, 5:29 pm)tyresmoke It certainly seems like it doesn't it. The North East & Yorkshire operating companies are definitely leading the way at the moment with service delivery & impelmentation of upgrades and everyone else is starting to follow (look how many regions are now using MAX for example!).
Sapphire is a countrywide project by DB to hopefully generate growth on those routes with a big focus on them. Certainly seems to be paying off so far, and it is due to be expanded once again this year.


I think you will likely see this one go MAX at some point - question of course is what will Stagecoach do as it is jointly operated?

(12 Jan 2015, 5:31 pm)Tom Judging by passenger numbers, I don't think the 85 justifies being operated at all, never mind being upgraded to MAX!

(12 Jan 2015, 4:49 pm)ArrivaNE_7522 What do the Max uniforms look like?

(12 Jan 2015, 6:31 pm)MrPottski yet to be confirmed as Scott said, but I would think white shirts and dark blue ties. What should have happened is when the new Sapphire uniforms were ordered, generic white shirts should have been designed, so they could then be used across sapphire and max. Plus, will X1 still have its own or will it fall under max overall? So many choices!

(12 Jan 2015, 5:01 pm)JoshP As I said early last year, I think only town services will remain Arriva with out of town services becoming Sapphire or MAX. That's my prediction anyways. Except for the Eco services using gas busses or 'special' Streetlites. That's my prediction

(12 Jan 2015, 5:29 pm)tyresmoke It certainly seems like it doesn't it. The North East & Yorkshire operating companies are definitely leading the way at the moment with service delivery & impelmentation of upgrades and everyone else is starting to follow (look how many regions are now using MAX for example!).
Sapphire is a countrywide project by DB to hopefully generate growth on those routes with a big focus on them. Certainly seems to be paying off so far, and it is due to be expanded once again this year.

(12 Jan 2015, 8:28 pm)Andreos1 I would love to see the profiling/research relating the impact of branding on passenger numbers.

Not cos I am a cynic or owt, it's just that apart from the initial interest, branding does nowt for me.

Going back to the days of the PTE, ExpressLink (apart from those coach seats), Superliner, Go Gateshead, VFM, Wear Buses etc to current brands, including Gold or Max (yet to do Sapphire) - it just doesn't float my boat at all.

Whether I expect too much, I ain't materialistic enough to indulge, or just enjoy the basics who knows.
Anyone else the same?

(13 Jan 2015, 3:48 pm)forster Blyth's 7607 is still in standard fleet livery, seen on the X10 today.

(13 Jan 2015, 10:39 am)Jimmi This counts as my annoying post for today.

The 1000 X66 from Darlington didn't turn up so now I'm standing at the front of the bus and have to keep moving for people wanting to be on and off on the 1020 journey - joy!

(13 Jan 2015, 5:40 pm)Cock Robin Move down the bus then!!

(13 Jan 2015, 5:40 pm)Cock Robin Move down the bus then!!

(13 Jan 2015, 4:28 pm)forster Travelled on Blyth's 7615 today- I have to say the heaters were working really well- upstairs, where it's normally cooler, even the handrails were warm!