Does it matter whether the Streetlites will be Euro 5 or Euro 6 or for that matter, ANY bus? As long as the buses ordered are:
- Reasonably efficient
- Reasonably reliable
- To company and passenger requirements
Then that is fine. At least GNE are willing to invest in their fleet unlike Arriva who are happy to use 13-14 year old cast offs from London on their MAX routes and 57 plate E400s on a 'premium SAPPHIRE service' which have been battered during their time at Blyth and Redcar for the majority of them.
And, the only reason that GNE ordered B9TLs for the 47 was because of:
- Their price (end of line discount and kept in dealer stock)
- Commonality with Riverside's decker fleet (TEN and TTX)
- Proven vehicle type
- Streetdeck wasn't proven at the time of the order
- 47 despite being a profitable route and requiring extra capacity, didn't justify the expenditure of all the extra bells and whistles like the TEN, Fab 56, Cobalt Clipper etc although the 45/46 do have the extra bells and whistles
If GNEs Merc engined Citaro's can last nearly 9 year (original Red Arrows batch), then surely the Streetdeck will last as long despite being a little bit slower (or the same depending on setup) than a conventional decker.
