(03 Jan 2015, 5:50 pm)MarcTheA4 I've only ever used Service 64 between Durham and the Arnison Centre, and vice-versa coming and going from and to both destinations.

I'd say quite a lot of it estate-based on the Durham - Arnison Centre section of the route.

(03 Jan 2015, 5:50 pm)MarcTheA4 I've only ever used Service 64 between Durham and the Arnison Centre, and vice-versa coming and going from and to both destinations.

I'd say quite a lot of it estate-based on the Durham - Arnison Centre section of the route.

(03 Jan 2015, 5:53 pm)mb134 Oh well, completely destroys my suggestion then  It is a bit weird how they've, as Dan said, pretty much got a Sapphire spec bus but not fitted Wi-Fi! 

Edit: Could it be possible they do have Wi-Fi but it just hasn't been turned on or something?

(03 Jan 2015, 5:58 pm)Jimmi Possibly may not have been turned on, if it actually has WiFi.

Also I was in Darlington yesterday and tried to see if the ex demonstrator EcoCitys had been fitted with WiFi but no Arriva network came up when I was stood next to one. Again a case of they may have them but could have been turned off, I don't know.

(03 Jan 2015, 6:00 pm)tyresmoke I know they're in line to be fitted but not sure whether they have achieved it yet.
Several more routes/vehicles will be fitted with wi-fi shortly too.

(03 Jan 2015, 5:51 pm)Jimmi I think all new / refurbished Arriva buses now have e-leather seating.

Not far off Sapphire spec just no WiFi or announcements, I think they should be used in the event of a Sapphire bus being unavailable for the 7 or the 6 when it becomes Sapphire as it's the closet Belmont have to Sapphire spec, downside to that is lower seating capacity.

(03 Jan 2015, 5:26 pm)Dan Having seen them in the flesh, I can't believe how dreadful the application of the Arriva livery is.

It's certainly not unknown for Thorntons to mess up repaints (it irritates me to this day that they painted over the black 'strip' below the windscreen on GNE's South Tyne Versas), but that's just awful. The fact that Arriva accepted them in that state is even more worrying.

(03 Jan 2015, 5:55 pm)tyresmoke Yes e-leather is the standard spec for Arriva vehicles now - several Solos in the Shires area have been refurbished with e-leather (and wi-fi, which these E200's appear not to have?).
Good to see them entering service anyway - wonder where the next merry-go-round of cascades will get us?

(03 Jan 2015, 6:38 pm)mb134 Any idea if more deckers will be moving up from London this year, as has happened for the past two?

(03 Jan 2015, 6:42 pm)tyresmoke Yes there is but its not been confirmed how many yet. I suspect it will be 9 though, with 7436-44 to be replaced.
There is a glut of deckers coming out of London with many more to folllow in the next few months so don't be surprised if the DLA's start getting replaced too. We are currently upto 52/03 reg coming out of London, with some 04 plate DAF's also on the scrap heap!

(03 Jan 2015, 6:42 pm)tyresmoke Yes there is but its not been confirmed how many yet. I suspect it will be 9 though, with 7436-44 to be replaced.
There is a glut of deckers coming out of London with many more to folllow in the next few months so don't be surprised if the DLA's start getting replaced too. We are currently upto 52/03 reg coming out of London, with some 04 plate DAF's also on the scrap heap!

(03 Jan 2015, 6:47 pm)mb134 Great news! Suppose, whatever comes, they'll only be refurbished to a maximum of what the Gemini's were refurbished to? Can't see them giving leather seats and Wi-Fi to a 12 year old bus. 

(03 Jan 2015, 6:54 pm)tyresmoke I'm not sure given the new standard refurb appears to be e-leather seats - as the E200s have been given, so I would expect anything coming out of London will gain that as standard. Wi-fi kit may be on order for the E200s (if not already fitted). I know the kit is on order for the MPD's at Ashington/Blyth and not fitted as yet, so it could be a similar case here.
Therefore I would expect anything refurbished decker wise would be similarly specified.

(03 Jan 2015, 7:12 pm)mb134 Sounds good  Just thinking, if this was the case, it would give passengers the impression that the buses they were getting were newer. As an example I was on one of the B7 Gemini's on an X21, just after it came from refurbishment, and passengers were talking about the "new" bus, quite rightly if I'm honest as it still smelled of paint a bit. It just goes to show what a refurb can do,and if it had leather seating and Wi-Fi it would only enhance this.

(03 Jan 2015, 7:17 pm)tyresmoke A lot of passengers are easily fooled and tend to think anything that looks smart is a "new bus" regardless of age. Interiors are something that has let ANE down in the past - though it is getting sorted with the likes of MAX, Sapphire being implemented. I think the joint management with Yorkshire has also helped to steer things in the right direction as their buses look so well looked after - materially at least, if not mechanically (that MPD [223] we had on loan at Stockton was shot and its no surprise it was binned asap!)

(03 Jan 2015, 7:17 pm)tyresmoke A lot of passengers are easily fooled and tend to think anything that looks smart is a "new bus" regardless of age. Interiors are something that has let ANE down in the past - though it is getting sorted with the likes of MAX, Sapphire being implemented. I think the joint management with Yorkshire has also helped to steer things in the right direction as their buses look so well looked after - materially at least, if not mechanically (that MPD [223] we had on loan at Stockton was shot and its no surprise it was binned asap!)

(03 Jan 2015, 7:29 pm)mb134 I agree that it's great that it looks like Arriva are taking a bit more pride with their fleet, especially cascades from London etc. as they will have had a pretty tough life. What is happening now must surely be the largest refurbishment scheme, if you could call it that, that ANE has ever done, and the results should be rewarding for them.

I think the fact that a great deal of vehicles going their entire lives without being touched internally was a bit of a mistake and a mistake ANE realised, the M and P reg Olympians for example probably deserved something after spending a large amount of their 16 year lives on routes with very high passenger numbers. 7436-44 should also have had something done