(18 Feb 2016, 6:47 pm)mb134 Think I'd still go with the E400, the last time I saw one of the 'Pronto' vehicles, it looked like it wanted to just give up,

Though I agree, Arriva need to take a serious look at the X21/22 stock, Streetlites have been on there for the past three days (and more than one on each day, according to posts on here), which is unacceptable.

(19 Feb 2016, 12:31 pm)Davie 6 branded Sapphire E400 - 23

(19 Feb 2016, 12:31 pm)GX03 SVC Ashington are back at square one with these stupid E400s, approaching 1 1/2 years since the problems started. Thank goodness that there is similar spec vehicles that can be used to keep the service with the standard of WiFi.

The X20 should be fully MAX until tomorrow, after the free vouchers are no longer valid, sadly over the last couple of weeks, this means that long-haul services like the X15/8 suffer when they want a full MAX allocation on the X20.

(18 Feb 2016, 5:28 pm)Cock Robin 1105, 1561,4513 all on 63s.

1105 was on 64s earlier.

(19 Feb 2016, 12:39 pm)biglugs@yahoo.com Oh dear what is on the 6 1595?

(19 Feb 2016, 12:31 pm)GX03 SVC Ashington are back at square one with these stupid E400s, approaching 1 1/2 years since the problems started. Thank goodness that there is similar spec vehicles that can be used to keep the service with the standard of WiFi.

The X20 should be fully MAX until tomorrow, after the free vouchers are no longer valid, sadly over the last couple of weeks, this means that long-haul services like the X15/8 suffer when they want a full MAX allocation on the X20.

(19 Feb 2016, 2:24 pm)mb134 I think its time for Arriva to bite the bullet and buy 9 brand new E400's for the X21/22, to go alongside 7522-8. These reliability issues will just get worse as the 57-reg ones get older (if they're this bad at 8 years old, imagine them in a couple of years!), and that isn't great for a 'premium' service is it?!

It's also time for Arriva to buy vehicles suited to the routes they'll be allocated to. Lets not forget that, soon after the E400's were bought for the X31/2/3, 10+ year old Olympians were still appearing at a higher frequency than they should have been, and for a year or two prior to their withdrawal, they made up pretty much the full allocation.

Oh, and for anyone who doesn't think the X21/22 justifies brand new vehicles, I suggest you take a ride on any of the peak time runs, and try to find a seat.

(19 Feb 2016, 2:46 pm)Jimmi Thought it was a bit silly to put 7 year old buses on a 'premium quality' branded service.

The thing with passenger numbers on the X21/X22 is it probably does very well on the peak time runs but it doesn't seem to carry as much out of peak times based on my experiences of the services, in fact in my experiences of off peak X21/X22's the journeys have often carried less passengers between Newcastle and Ashington than the Sapphire 7 often carries just between Darlington Town Centre and Harrowgate Hill. Mind the same could probably be said for the likes of the X7/X8, X10/X11 and the 308.

The fact that there isn't really anything in the way of appropriate spares for the route doesn't really help matters either, don't know what's worse, a double decker with non of the additional features of the Sapphire buses but has enough seats to carry the passengers or putting the 35 branded StreetLite's on with some of the advertised features but less seats with passengers on the 35/35A getting older lower specification as a result of being allocated elsewhere.

The other issue is where would the Enviro 400's go if they were to take them off the X21/X22? Especially with money being spent on them being refurbished to Sapphire specification.

As much as it is a terrible situation, I think it's just going to continue for a while longer, as I can't see them being taken off the X21/X22 anytime soon. In fact, I think if any service currently in the Sapphire brand within the North East is to receive more new Enviro 400's, it will be the 7.

(19 Feb 2016, 2:59 pm)mb134 I know it was half term this week, but on Monday I used the X21 for only the third time since December, and the amount of passengers surprised me. It would have been the 14:54 from Newcastle, and when I boarded in Bedlington, both decks were at least half full.

In my view, they could use the ones that have less problems as spares, however I've got no clue where the worst ones (7501/4 seem to be the main culprits) would go.

In my experiences, peak time on the X21/22 starts earlier and finishes later than most other services. The amount of passengers that get on/off in Bedlington in peak time surprised me, although I guess that is down to the fact most residents there commute to Newcastle to work, with very little on offer in the town itself?

(18 Feb 2016, 7:33 pm)Stuartphin1639 Eventually replaced 2843

In other news 1906 could have spent it's last day in Darlington today (will confirm tomorrow) as it was replaced by 1414 on the 12/12A around 3pm

(19 Feb 2016, 3:47 pm)John_R 1906 must have been out in service this morning, as it was driven back to Faverdale by a fitter at around 11am.

(19 Feb 2016, 3:46 pm)Lee 1517 & 1595 on the Sapphire 6.

(19 Feb 2016, 3:47 pm)Kuyoyo 1512 replaced 1404 on X66/X67 earlier. 1404 is now on 17s

(19 Feb 2016, 4:34 pm)DanPicken Me and Davie saw 1404 on the X67 earlier heading to Darlington.

(19 Feb 2016, 4:09 pm)Davie Meanwhile 7521? Was on the 48.