(13 Sep 2019, 11:31 am)Chris 1 wrote

That's a lot of red.  I still think something is missing from the front end.

Sorry, I meant with the livery.  Personal taste, but the angular front end doesn't help.

(13 Sep 2019, 12:55 pm)Chris 1 wrote

Sorry, I meant with the livery.  Personal taste, but the angular front end doesn't help.

(13 Sep 2019, 1:04 pm)streetdeckfan wrote I do agree, but there's not really much they can do!
I think the whole thing will look better once there's an ad on the side as it'll break up the sea of red

Not with the design of the body there's not, no.

Plenty they can do with the livery though!  There's some genuinely attractive, eye catching liveries out there and this just seems a missed opportunity to me.

(13 Sep 2019, 5:41 pm)TEN 6083 wrote https://news.sky.com/story/boris-bus-maker-wrightbus-in-urgent-rescue-talks-11808861

Hopefully this won’t affect GNE’s order of new buses


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(13 Sep 2019, 7:06 pm)streetdeckfan wrote 6307 is all vinyled up nice inside, shame there is a terrible high pitched rattle coming from the back, and they never bothered to renew the torn up games on the tables

(13 Sep 2019, 7:19 pm)Dan wrote The tables will be changed at a later date (this is a different project as it also affects other buses).

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(13 Sep 2019, 7:24 pm)streetdeckfan wrote I assume they'll be matching the new tables installed on the Cobalts to include wireless charging?
If so, it'll be the third different table we've had!

Also, has anyone actually seen anybody play the games on the tables? Anyone I'm with is always too embarrassed to play

(13 Sep 2019, 7:27 pm)Dan wrote No, just the graphics on the table top.

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(13 Sep 2019, 7:30 pm)streetdeckfan wrote That's probably a better idea.

I don't think I've said it yet, but I do really like the new stickers for the emergency exits and priority seats
The dark grey background makes it look a lot nicer, and dare I say it, posh!

(13 Sep 2019, 7:45 pm)Dan wrote Black backed, where possible, too (means you don't see a great big white rectangle from the outside!)

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(13 Sep 2019, 6:12 pm)streetdeckfan wrote Well bugger, I knew things were bad but I didn't think it was that bad. I wonder if this is why GNE started branching out to ADL for the 97 and X30
If I were that Chinese company looking to acquire them, I'd wait until they fall into administration then acquire them, that way they wouldn't get all the debt

The reason GNE would've went with ADL over Wrights for the X30 & 97 would be as follows......

X30: E400MMC Low Height offered better headroom compared to Low Height StreetDeck bodywork.

97: E200MMC better than StreetLites.

It would be very interesting to see what would happen if Wrightbus did go under. Maybe given the large scale of the operations, the administrators would probably fulfill all new orders then cease afterwards.

(13 Sep 2019, 7:24 pm)streetdeckfan wrote I assume they'll be matching the new tables installed on the Cobalts to include wireless charging?
If so, it'll be the third different table we've had!

Also, has anyone actually seen anybody play the games on the tables? Anyone I'm with is always too embarrassed to play

I saw someone on the X9 yesterday using the tables for a game of poker.

(13 Sep 2019, 11:40 pm)streetdeckfan wrote I wonder if the financial troubles has anything to do with them developing their own chassis for the Streetlite and Streetdeck. Seems like it would be a fairly expensive thing to do.

I think they got the Streetdeck spot on for the most part, but the Streetlite could definitely have been better.

Then again, there are over 1600 Streetlites registered and over 600 Streetdecks, so they're certainly selling and I'd imagine they would have made most of the development cost back by now.

I wonder if Mike Ashley will step in and buy them. He's like me on a late night AliExpress spree at the minute!

(14 Sep 2019, 7:05 am)Dan wrote One of the main reasons for Wrightbus' financial difficulties may relate to the cancelled First Group order.

At £250k per bus, Wrights currently have 60 buses parked up in a field which are now "pre-owned" as dealer stock. £15m worth of assets awaiting sale!

Rotala have picked up a couple...

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(14 Sep 2019, 9:58 pm)TEN 6083 wrote Go North East X-lines 6307 / NK16 BXG by kieron mathews, on Flickr

If it hasn’t been noted already 6307 has re-entered service within the last couple of days on the X21 services now in X-lines livery.


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I had a ride on it last night, and it was rattling like hell upstairs and the rear registration plate was hanging off.

It also has a different vinyl on the back, showing that you can track the bus on the app. Rather ironic since the X21s don't actually show on the app! Also, excuse the terrible quality, I really need a phone that can take photos in the dark!

20190913_204255.jpg (Size 2.18 MB | Downloads 28)

(14 Sep 2019, 10:12 pm)L469 YVK wrote In terms of the StreetDeck allocations, maybe something like this would've been more logical and kept the same specification across particular services:

30x New StreetDecks:
- 13x for X31/X45/X46
- 9x for X47/X70/X71
- 8x for X21

Older StreetDecks:
- 3x for X5/X15 (6305-07)
- 3x spare Consett (6303, 6304, 6333 - 6333 used as first point of call)
- 3x spare Chester Le Street (6301, 6302, 6332 - 6332 used as first point of call)

It definitely would have made more sense, but what Dan said above does also make sense, if they wanted to keep the X-Lines launch on track, then they needed to start the repaints now, and that means mixing batches.

But, I do think it would be possible in the future to move them around, I'd imagine the most expensive part of the paint job would be the metallic gold, which stays the same on all the X-Lines, so it wouldn't really be too costly to repaint the back portion and replace the vinyls at a later date.

Then again, I honestly don't see what the rush was for launching X-Lines, unless it's purely because MG wanted a fancy new bus to take him around to and show off at events!

(14 Sep 2019, 10:22 pm)streetdeckfan wrote

It definitely would have made more sense, but what Dan said above does also make sense, if they wanted to keep the X-Lines launch on track, then they needed to start the repaints now, and that means mixing batches.

But, I do think it would be possible in the future to move them around, I'd imagine the most expensive part of the paint job would be the metallic gold, which stays the same on all the X-Lines, so it wouldn't really be too costly to repaint the back portion and replace the vinyls at a later date.

Then again, I honestly don't see what the rush was for launching X-Lines, unless it's purely because MG wanted a fancy new bus to take him around to and show off at events!

What rush? MG been at GNE for over a year now.....I imagine a lot of planning has gone into this and best solution was found. However why not launch Xlines on X21 when they are receiving new buses. Would be stupid having 2 xlines and Castles Express brand on same route. Probably why repaints started in August

(15 Sep 2019, 12:28 pm)JP6004 wrote

What rush? MG been at GNE for over a year now.....I imagine a lot of planning has gone into this and best solution was found. However why not launch Xlines on X21 when they are receiving new buses. Would be stupid having 2 xlines and Castles Express brand on same route. Probably why repaints started in August

(15 Sep 2019, 11:57 am)Michael wrote Any sign of the new GNE buses arriving?

Any updates on repaints?

Any updates on the Cobalt refurbishments?

Thanks

For the Cobalts, I believe it's just 6115, 6116 & 6117 left to be done.

(15 Sep 2019, 12:45 pm)L469 YVK wrote

For the Cobalts, I believe it's just 6115, 6116 & 6117 left to be done.

(15 Sep 2019, 11:57 am)Michael wrote Any sign of the new GNE buses arriving?

Any updates on repaints?

Any updates on the Cobalt refurbishments?

Thanks