23 Feb 2020, 8:09 pm
#223
(23 Feb 2020, 6:49 pm)Dan In terms of a bus, I don't think there's anything out there on the market that's suitable for the X9/X10 that won't require replacement after a few years. In recent years, Go North East have had 5-litre, 7-litre and 9-litre engined buses running on these routes, and all after a few years have started facing reliability issues.
It's not too bad a business model to have - run buses for a few years on the X9/X10 then replace them once they start having issues (cascading onto less demanding routes). Ensures X9/X10 always stay at the forefront of innovation and other services reap the benefits too.
The only thing that could feasibly operate the X9/X10 services without issue would be interdeck coaches, which are a) very expensive, and b) unsuitable for the 'local' sections of the route.
Realistically I don't think Go North East would be considering replacement of these buses this year if it wasn't for the Newcastle CAZ coming into effect from January 2021. It's unusual to see more than one of these buses off the road, and now there's two dedicated spare buses (6334 & 6335), one would presume the allocation of single-deck buses will be a lot less frequent.
Continuing on from the discussion over on the Arriva discussion...
You mention that they wouldn't be considering replacement if it wasn't for the CAZ, am I right in thinking that would that be because the B5s will need replaced shortly anyway and it makes more sense financially to update them early to cascade the B5s elsewhere rather than update other routes that need it with new vehicles and be stuck with the B5s once they're replaced later down the line?
