23 Feb 2020, 6:49 pm
#201
(23 Feb 2020, 6:41 pm)scanialover The X9/10 has rarely had vehicles that are suited to the demands of the route, the predominance of which, as we know, is on the A19. I've experienced at all levels; back in the day when Tees ran it as a joint operation with a collection of elderly vehicles being literally hammered between Middlesbrough and Newcastle right through to now with these B5's which look the part but aren't suited to the route. I never got to ride on the Panther, only saw it at M'bro Bus Station when it was on trial; it sure looked the part and would be a great advert to promote the service, whether these could cope with the non-motorway sections of the route I don't know.
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.
