(02 Dec 2014, 8:45 pm)Jimmi wrote Sapphire - 7 Pulsars all have different landmarks and pretty much all of them are things in Darlington and Durham and one has the Steel Man in Aycliffe.

Non of the StreetLite's have any artwork and I don't think there is anywhere to really put them as the next stop announcement screens take up part of the bit behind the drivers cab.

Ah right okay  
Yeah I suppose single deckers are a bit more limited in terms of where you can put the artwork, as with double deckers you have the stairs 

I don't mind the E400 bodywork, I just don't like the ADL / Cummins chassis for express, rural and long distance work. That chassis is only designed for plodding around on routes like the 62, 63, 38, 39 and the 40. And it may be more fuel efficient for town and city operations on the flats but on hills and on high speed, the economy of the B9TL will match or even exceed a Cummins engined E400 as they operate at a lower RPM than the E400 at higher speeds and on steep climbs. This is what Arriva should've ordered going back to what somebody mentioned the other day:

Main Vehicles:
- 15x Sapphire Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 for the X21 / X22
- 10x MAX Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 for the X15 / X18

Pool Vehicles:
- 7453 to 7456 refurbished to MAX Specification for use on the X14 but with no specific X14 branding and could simply include the tagline 'Morpeth to Newcastle up to every 15 minutes for MAXIMUM service' . However, in the unlikely event that any of the 10 B9TL vehicles for the X15 / X18 went VOR, then these vehicles would be stepped up accordingly.

- The best of 7514 to 7521 refurbished to MAX Specification for use on the X20 but with the tagline 'fast and frequent from Ashington and Bedlington to Newcastle for MAXIMUM impact'. This would give a little bit of flexibility into allocating vehicles for the X20 / X21 / X22.

- The other 4 E400's just in plain Arriva livery but refurbished to MAX specification inside for use on services X14 / X20 / X21 / X22.

And something a little cheesy:

- All next stop announcements for X21 / X22 provided by Steve and Karen with them alternating every few stops. Most stops would simply just say "Next stop, "STOP NAME". However, for Ashington Bus Station, Bedlington Red Lion, Regent Centre, Gosforth High Street and Barras Bridge, they could say, "Next stop, "STOP NAME". Please ring the bell and remain seated until the bus stops".

And before joining the A1 at Seaton Burn or Gosforth Park, they could say, "This bus will soon be travelling at high speed. Please remain seated or if you're standing, hold onto the handrails".

And Arriva could even use Steve and Karen's ideas and play their own games such as Tombola of Doom to promote the service and give away a few prizes.

For example:

- Find out where all the 7 streets within the vicinity of the X21 / X22 route are and a winner will be picked at random
- Prize: Monthly three zone tripple ticket.

(02 Dec 2014, 8:55 pm)DaveyBowyer wrote I don't mind the E400 bodywork, I just don't like the ADL / Cummins chassis for express, rural and long distance work. That chassis is only designed for plodding around on routes like the 62, 63, 38, 39 and the 40. And it may be more fuel efficient for town and city operations on the flats but on hills and on high speed, the economy of the B9TL will match or even exceed a Cummins engined E400 as they operate at a lower RPM than the E400 at higher speeds and on steep climbs. This is what Arriva should've ordered going back to what somebody mentioned the other day:

Main Vehicles:
- 15x Sapphire Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 for the X21 / X22
- 10x MAX Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 for the X15 / X18

Pool Vehicles:
- 7453 to 7456 refurbished to MAX Specification for use on the X14 but with no specific X14 branding and could simply include the tagline 'Morpeth to Newcastle up to every 15 minutes for MAXIMUM service' . However, in the unlikely event that any of the 10 B9TL vehicles for the X15 / X18 went VOR, then these vehicles would be stepped up accordingly.

- The best of 7514 to 7521 refurbished to MAX Specification for use on the X20 but with the tagline 'fast and frequent from Ashington and Bedlington to Newcastle for MAXIMUM impact'. This would give a little bit of flexibility into allocating vehicles for the X20 / X21 / X22.

- The other 4 E400's just in plain Arriva livery but refurbished to MAX specification inside for use on services X14 / X20 / X21 / X22.

And something a little cheesy:

- All next stop announcements for X21 / X22 provided by Steve and Karen with them alternating every few stops. Most stops would simply just say "Next stop, "STOP NAME". However, for Ashington Bus Station, Bedlington Red Lion, Regent Centre, Gosforth High Street and Barras Bridge, they could say, "Next stop, "STOP NAME". Please ring the bell and remain seated until the bus stops".

And before joining the A1 at Seaton Burn or Gosforth Park, they could say, "This bus will soon be travelling at high speed. Please remain seated or if you're standing, hold onto the handrails".

I can't stand the Steve and Karen next stop announcements on GNE buses, I rode the TEN the other day from the MetroCentre to Newcastle and the one announcement I heard was enough to make my ears bleed, also I ignored them telling me to sit down by getting down the stairs just before we reached Eldon Square as it is safer to get down stairs whilst the bus is sat at a red light and stand then try and get down the stairs when it is moving or wait until it has stopped and try and barge past people trying to get on the bus.

(02 Dec 2014, 9:00 pm)DaveyBowyer wrote And Arriva could even use Steve and Karen's ideas and play their own games such as Tombola of Doom to promote the service and give away a few prizes.

For example:

- Find out where all the 7 streets within the vicinity of the X21 / X22 route are and a winner will be picked at random
- Prize: Monthly three zone tripple ticket.

I would play that!

Will the E400's for the 6&7 next year be MMC's?

(02 Dec 2014, 9:11 pm)mb134 wrote Will the E400's for the 6&7 next year be MMC's?

I don't think they will be, as they're due fairly soon (March/April time I think?)

(02 Dec 2014, 9:22 pm)tyresmoke wrote I don't think they will be, as they're due fairly soon (March/April time I think?)

They could be. So far Oxford Bus Company and Reading Buses have recived MMCs, with Stagecoach Machester next in line.

However, given that there is not that many first generation Enviro 400s in Arriva's fleet, then it would make more sense to have the older model for standardisation purposes.

Darlington and Stockton MAX launches on Friday:

Stockton High Street (between The Shambles and Town Hall) from 11am

Darlington (Joseph Pease Place) from 3.30pm

Was on the Spine Road earlier today and noticed two MAX Omnicities following each other round the roundabout at the Bedlington/Bedlington Station turn off, nowhere near Thorntons or any depot, any ideas?
This turn off here: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.138568...,15z?hl=en

They weren't Ashington Omncities as they were both up north on the X15 / X18 this morning. Were they going to / from Throntons?

(03 Dec 2014, 4:19 pm)mb134 wrote Was on the Spine Road earlier today and noticed two MAX Omnicities following each other round the roundabout at the Bedlington/Bedlington Station turn off, nowhere near Thorntons or any depot, any ideas?
This turn off here: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.138568...,15z?hl=en

Good possibility this will be 4643/4646 on their way south from Thorntons back to Durham or Darlington in preparation for the launches on Friday

(03 Dec 2014, 6:21 pm)passenger_10 wrote They weren't Ashington Omncities as they were both up north on the X15 / X18 this morning. Were they going to / from Throntons?

(03 Dec 2014, 6:23 pm)tyresmoke wrote Good possibility this will be 4643/4646 on their way south from Thorntons back to Durham or Darlington in preparation for the launches on Friday

They looked more like they had came off, heading north before going round looking as though they would re-join to head back south?Both were branded, in the same style as Ashington's.
Just thought it looked a bit weird, considering the only reason you would do what they did is if you were heading from say Blyth (or further south and had missed the first turn off) to Bedlington, without going through Bedlington Station...
Edit: Hope this link works, this was what it looked like what they were doing...  https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/55.138...!3e0?hl=en

Just ridden 1301 on the 64 and I ended sat on the seat in front of the fire door at the back where there was so little space I had to put my legs on the other seat but as ever lots of people wanted to get on at the Salutation Inn so I had to sit properly which was impossible so it ended up with my knees pressed right against the seat and then someone sat on the seat in front so the amount reduced even more, thankfully no one sat next to me so I was able to put my legs on the seat again. When it was time to get off the bus I really struggled to get off the seat as there was no room to move, I eventually managed to get up and got off the bus, unfortunately it ended up having a bad affect on my bad knees so I currently can't walk properly and when I got off I had to sit on a ledge outside one of the shops on North Road and people were giving me strange looks because sitting outside a shop stretching your leg out and making noises of pain isn't normal. I really struggled to board the 7 in Durham Bus Station and my knee is still in great pain as I'm typing this on the 7 home and I still have to walk home yet.

I was also not in a good mood before this as I had 1314 to the Arnison Centre on the 62 but thankfully managed to get the backseat, unfortunately though one of the passengers was smoking an e-cigarette and keep giving me evil looks, said person was also on the 64 too which made me even more angry.

(04 Dec 2014, 3:48 pm)Jimmi wrote one of the passengers was smoking an e-cigarette and keep giving me evil looks, said person was also on the 64 too which made me even more angry.

In particular, you must not:-
Smoke at any time in any part of the bus or carry any lit pipe, cigar, type of cigarette, match or lighter on the bus;
this includes e-cigarettes as this may inconvenience other passengers or cause them to think that smoking is permitted on Arriva buses.

The driver should enforce 'no smoking' if you tell him/her.

The driver should enforce 'no smoking' if you tell him/her.

Unfortunately all I can think when thinking about telling the driver is the passenger shouting at me or giving me a bat.

I saw a Max Omnicity on trade plates heading to Faverdale this morning.

Checked out Arriva's Twitter feed and they say tomorrow, Titan the Robot will be in Stockton from 11am, then move to Darlington at 3:30pm!

(04 Dec 2014, 9:30 pm)MarcTheA4 wrote Checked out Arriva's Twitter feed and they say Titan the Robot will be in Stockton from 11am, then move to Darlington at 3:30pm!

Jimmi noted that yesterday

Gary Hunter reports that Optare Solo 2808 has turned up at Durham again, possibly as a temporary measure? It could be covering for Pulsar 1424 which hasn't been sighted for a while...

Arriva North East
2 mins ·
The Titan event at Stockton this morning has had to be postponed until the new year. The Darlington event will still go ahead at 3.30pm at Joseph Pease Place. Sorry for any inconvenience caused and we will get the new Stockton date posted as soon as we have it.

(03 Dec 2014, 6:32 pm)mb134 wrote They looked more like they had came off, heading north before going round looking as though they would re-join to head back south?Both were branded, in the same style as Ashington's.
Just thought it looked a bit weird, considering the only reason you would do what they did is if you were heading from say Blyth (or further south and had missed the first turn off) to Bedlington, without going through Bedlington Station...
Edit: Hope this link works, this was what it looked like what they were doing...  https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/55.138...!3e0?hl=en

When 4653 and 4659 arrived in Ashington, for some reason they went into the bus station. This was probably because they were not Ashington drivers. The same might have happened in your case? Also, I thought the Omnicities were being refurbished at Bus and Coach World, Blackburn? And Ashington aren't supposed to be getting more Max buses until next year...

In other news, there is a temporary service 115 operating on Felton shuttles between Morpeth and Alnwick due to road works that means the normal routes can't go through Felton. 115 is operated by ex-Durham Park and Ride Solos.

I've just looked on Fleet Lists and 1790 is still listed as Original Arriva livery, the livery has been changed to Arriva Interurban within the last two months.

Arriva North East

2 mins ·
The Titan event at Stockton this morning has had to be postponed until the new year. The Darlington event will still go ahead at 3.30pm at Joseph Pease Place. Sorry for any inconvenience caused and we will get the new Stockton date posted as soon as we have it.

So I have come to bloody Stockton for nothing!

(30 Nov 2014, 5:14 pm)GuyParkRoyal wrote I would like to compliment Arriva for a well organised event to launch their MAX service in Morpeth on Friday. Despite the damp weather and the distraction of Black Friday the event was well attended with the square at the junction of Bridge Street and Newgate Street almost full.
From an enthusiast point of view there was only one bus (7532) at the event and it was open for viewing although getting photos from the near side was almost impossible due to the size of the crowd that was present. Entertainment was provided by Titan the Robot which was delivered with some humour to the delight of the two parties of school children that were at the event.
All of the Arriva people supporting the event were helpful, knowledgeable and approachable. Packs were handed out consisting of timetables, fare information, a fold together cardboard MAX bus model and a MAX branded key ring with flash light.
Overall a great event, well done to the team from Arriva!

This sounds like an Arriva press release!

(01 Dec 2014, 7:32 pm)tyresmoke wrote No they're not, 1758-1775 plus 1790/1, 1798-1801 are though. The rest should be leaving the fleet within the next few months.

The end of this year?!

(02 Dec 2014, 6:35 pm)tyresmoke wrote If looked after properly they have plenty of power, the running gear underneath is almost to the standard of the Volvo B10 chassis' in my opinion, shame about the polish bodywork on the top, which just rattle endlessly. They should have no problem handling the X15 running up the A1 all day. Also worth mentioning that some Sunday services were converted to 418s which require a single deck vehicle, so I think the Omnis may work these too. If they were ever to need replacing on the X15 then I am sure we could find a home for them elsewhere, on other MAX routes.

I've never noticed rattles, they seem solidly built. Is it just in the cab? Worst thing is the loud bell that wakes you up on long distance journeys!

(04 Dec 2014, 3:48 pm)Jimmi wrote Just ridden 1301 on the 64 and I ended sat on the seat in front of the fire door at the back where there was so little space I had to put my legs on the other seat but as ever lots of people wanted to get on at the Salutation Inn so I had to sit properly which was impossible so it ended up with my knees pressed right against the seat and then someone sat on the seat in front so the amount reduced even more, thankfully no one sat next to me so I was able to put my legs on the seat again. When it was time to get off the bus I really struggled to get off the seat as there was no room to move, I eventually managed to get up and got off the bus, unfortunately it ended up having a bad affect on my bad knees so I currently can't walk properly and when I got off I had to sit on a ledge outside one of the shops on North Road and people were giving me strange looks because sitting outside a shop stretching your leg out and making noises of pain isn't normal. I really struggled to board the 7 in Durham Bus Station and my knee is still in great pain as I'm typing this on the 7 home and I still have to walk home yet.

I was also not in a good mood before this as I had 1314 to the Arnison Centre on the 62 but thankfully managed to get the backseat, unfortunately though one of the passengers was smoking an e-cigarette and keep giving me evil looks, said person was also on the 64 too which made me even more angry.

Prestiges are/were terrible for that. Insufficient space and the one backrest positioned at a particularly unconfortable angle.

(05 Dec 2014, 11:18 am)Jimmi wrote So I have come to bloody Stockton for nothing!

Seems very odd cancelling one but not the other. No reason given?

(05 Dec 2014, 1:13 pm)Cock Robin wrote Seems very odd cancelling one but not the other. No reason given?

They use more than just one robot. I suspect an issue with the Stockton one...