(11 Jan 2015, 12:05 am)JoshP I rarely use these services so can't really comment. BUT those darts I have to admit are great on town services. London tired them out and the 7 destroyed them but on the 9/10 they're great and they are better than Solos on the 2/11/12. Hey don't diss MPD's they are my absolute favourites

(11 Jan 2015, 12:27 am)JoshP Nah they're the 2005 modern darts, I really like the old darts, like 1701-1740's MPD's! God I miss them haha! Used to catch them on the 30/31 to and from school and the 22 from town! The old days when busses ran on time and were generally great!

(10 Jan 2015, 10:52 pm)aureolin I think it's Lolynes or Presidents that have much smaller ones? But I know at least the Chester ones do have them.

With the new ETMs being in since that article was written, I'd be surprised if they haven't taken over the function? Surely capable of syncing with a time server.

(11 Jan 2015, 1:49 pm)mb134 Just had a look on the Arriva live map, to see if my bus looked like it would be on time and I noticed a couple of things. I can't find any X18's that have tracking, and they're all going around in pairs!? Seems pretty strange... 

(11 Jan 2015, 1:57 pm)aureolin I can see that too. Very strange.

(10 Jan 2015, 4:54 pm)MrPottski I don't see what use branding achieves. Outside of the Sapphire and max, most customers don't really care what colour it is, they look at the destination to see if it's the right one. Plus arriva don't tend to stick to correct brand allocation anyway, and then it only gets us lot in a flap when, say, a Sapphire ends up on the X66 or similar. Surely to god, all companies should just go for a clean, well maintained, well presented fleet and cut out the gimmicks. Don't get me wrong, I think Sapphire has worked, especially on the 7, but when you start ending up with a fleet that resembles Josephs Technicolour Dreamboats (I'm looking at you GNE!) then it's just daft. I genuinely don't think Max will attract any more people in Darlington, bit we'll have to wait and see.

(11 Jan 2015, 3:44 pm)upt50k I agree and believe growth would still have been achieved on service 7 with 10 new pulsars and most of all a team of drivers who wanted success Service X1 was a success with 4 of the oldest pulsars in the fleet with a minimum of branding but a dedicated team who overcame the challenge of OK!

(11 Jan 2015, 5:58 pm)MarcTheA4 The OK Expressway wasn't really a challenge...?

From what I gather, Arriva had the upper hand pretty much all the way through.

(11 Jan 2015, 3:44 pm)upt50k I agree and believe growth would still have been achieved on service 7 with 10 new pulsars and most of all a team of drivers who wanted success Service X1 was a success with 4 of the oldest pulsars in the fleet with a minimum of branding but a dedicated team who overcame the challenge of OK!

(11 Jan 2015, 6:08 pm)Dan Then you compare this to the current situation on the Tyne Valley...

Go North East introduced "Tynedalexpress" services X84/X85 following the withdrawal of "OK Expressway" service OK1, using the same vehicles albeit in a different colour, and these services are a commercial success. Granted, service X84 directly replaced service 684 (and hence the market was already established), but service X85 was a completely new service.

Service X84 departs five minutes prior to Arriva's service 685, and Arriva's 685 often leaves Eldon Square with very few passengers as a result. Go North East's X85 departs ten minutes prior to Arriva's competing X85 on evenings, and again, Arriva's X85 leaves with very few passengers as a result.

Branding may have contributed to the success of the "Tynedalexpress" services on the Tyne Valley, but a bus being 5 minutes in front of the 685 is the main reason why these services are so commercially successful... Wasn't this the case up in Bishop Auckland for Arriva, too? Certainly doesn't take a 'dedicated team' to time a service five minutes in front of a service it competes with!  

(11 Jan 2015, 6:08 pm)Dan Then you compare this to the current situation on the Tyne Valley...

Go North East introduced "Tynedalexpress" services X84/X85 following the withdrawal of "OK Expressway" service OK1, using the same vehicles albeit in a different colour, and these services are a commercial success. Granted, service X84 directly replaced service 684 (and hence the market was already established), but service X85 was a completely new service.

Service X84 departs five minutes prior to Arriva's service 685, and Arriva's 685 often leaves Eldon Square with very few passengers as a result. Go North East's X85 departs ten minutes prior to Arriva's competing X85 on evenings, and again, Arriva's X85 leaves with very few passengers as a result.

Branding may have contributed to the success of the "Tynedalexpress" services on the Tyne Valley, but a bus being 5 minutes in front of the 685 is the main reason why these services are so commercially successful... Wasn't this the case up in Bishop Auckland for Arriva, too? Certainly doesn't take a 'dedicated team' to time a service five minutes in front of a service it competes with!  

(11 Jan 2015, 6:17 pm)Kuyoyo More a day ticket that could be used all day (as it's also valid on 1/1b) plus for the fare paying passengers, a guaranteed daily service from the provider helped more than merely being timed 5 minutes in front.

(11 Jan 2015, 6:21 pm)Dan The majority of customers on the X1 were (and possibly still are) OAPs. The reason the X1 got these passengers was because the X1 was timed five minutes in front, and this was therefore the main reason why the X1 was successful.

Arriva had the upper-hand with the onward connections in Darlington, which is why they had more fare-paying customers anyway... Go North East got the ones who could come in on a Go North East bus into Bishop Auckland, and the ones who wanted a direct bus to Middlesbrough.

(11 Jan 2015, 6:29 pm)Jimmi The Middlesbrough bound OK1's left Darlington and Middlesbrough 5 minutes in front of the X66 but it wasn't a success.

There is a fair amount of fare paying custom on the X1 now, or at least there has been when I've been on it.

Like you say Arriva has many connections in Darlington which didn't help the OK1 as it had none in Darlington.

(11 Jan 2015, 6:29 pm)Jimmi The Middlesbrough bound OK1's left Darlington and Middlesbrough 5 minutes in front of the X66 but it wasn't a success.

There is a fair amount of fare paying custom on the X1 now, or at least there has been when I've been on it.

Like you say Arriva has many connections in Darlington which didn't help the OK1 as it had none in Darlington.

(11 Jan 2015, 6:21 pm)Dan The majority of customers on the X1 were (and possibly still are) OAPs. The reason the X1 got these passengers was because the X1 was timed five minutes in front, and this was therefore the main reason why the X1 was successful.

Arriva had the upper-hand with the onward connections in Darlington, which is why they had more fare-paying customers anyway... Go North East got the ones who could come in on a Go North East bus into Bishop Auckland, and the ones who wanted a direct bus to Middlesbrough.

(11 Jan 2015, 6:33 pm)Kuyoyo If the X1 if mostly OAPs - explain why it's getting new buses rather than just simply refurbishing its present allocation for its 'MAX' upgrade? The X1 is now the premier service from the Wear Valley into Darlington since they extended it to Tow Law and cut the 1 back to Bishop Auckland during the day.