RE: Arriva North East: Service Suggestions
(26 Jul 2015, 9:43 am)GX03 SVC wrote Now we're getting new ADL Enviro400MMCs?????!!!!
My suggestion was: 9 new buses, rebrand to X41/42 and Sapphire Express, release 7501-9 to 35 route and upgraded frequency with StreetLite refurbishment optional (or StreetLites released to other depots)...
They didn't buy 8 new buses for another route?
The orders would mean the following:
- 11x SAPPHIRE Spec E400MMCs for Ashington with coach seating like what Stagecoach Gold services have.
- 5 additional E400s (7522-7526) alongside 7527 as a 'dedicated' spare could then go to Darlington and Belmont for SAPPHIRE service 7.
- 1x SAPPHIRE E400 (7528) will remain at Ashington as a 'dedicated' spare.
- 1x SAPPHIRE E400 (7518) becomes a floater spare for all double deck SAPPHIRE services covering for long term VOR's and Roadworks etc.
- 6x SAPPHIRE E400s (best of 7501-7509) get NSA's ripped out, seats re-trimed to MAX and allocated to services 35/35A.
- The other three can just be used where and when needed (double deck capacity for X22 when Toon is playing on a Saturday etc).
- 3x Streetlites of the 35 get refurbished to MAX spec (as in suggestion) and with 4 new ones in MAX spec (as in suggestion), these then get allocated to MAX Service X22 during Monday to Saturday daytime. This means that a 20 minute frequency can be maintained without the expense of having to operate deckers and benefiting from the reduced fuel costs that the Streetlite offers. All evening and Sunday services on the X22 use double deckers anyways for operational reasons which isn't a bad thing due to the reduced frequency, the relatively combined frequency with the X21 and if the Toon is playing on a Sunday etc.