Arriva North East: Service Suggestions
Arriva North East: Service Suggestions
(09 Mar 2021, 11:53 pm)mb134 I think my suggestion, vehicle wise, for the Alnwick/Thropton routes would be something along the lines of the following:
X14: Heavy duty single decks (i.e B8RLE, new WrightBus integral single deck, 6-cyl E200 MMC)
X15: E400 MMCs. Preferably Scania powered, though new Cummins powered ones will be more than fine if ZF coupled.
X16: Heavy duty single decks (same as X14)
X18: E400 MMCs, again preferably Scania.
X20: E400 MMCs.
You'd have to sort out the scholars board that one of the X14 boards does in the afternoon, but I'm sure you could find something somewhere for that. Generally the X14 is absolutely fine with single decks, as is the X16. If you get heavy duty stuff it offers more flexibility if you need to quickly sling one onto the X15 due to late running or a failure - Streetlites on the X15 are horrendous. As part of this you'd also move the X16 across to Ashington, again to improve operational flexibility as well as cutting dead mileage.
(09 Mar 2021, 11:53 pm)mb134 I think my suggestion, vehicle wise, for the Alnwick/Thropton routes would be something along the lines of the following:
X14: Heavy duty single decks (i.e B8RLE, new WrightBus integral single deck, 6-cyl E200 MMC)
X15: E400 MMCs. Preferably Scania powered, though new Cummins powered ones will be more than fine if ZF coupled.
X16: Heavy duty single decks (same as X14)
X18: E400 MMCs, again preferably Scania.
X20: E400 MMCs.
You'd have to sort out the scholars board that one of the X14 boards does in the afternoon, but I'm sure you could find something somewhere for that. Generally the X14 is absolutely fine with single decks, as is the X16. If you get heavy duty stuff it offers more flexibility if you need to quickly sling one onto the X15 due to late running or a failure - Streetlites on the X15 are horrendous. As part of this you'd also move the X16 across to Ashington, again to improve operational flexibility as well as cutting dead mileage.