(28 Apr 2015, 3:55 pm)DaveyBowyer wrote As long as the bus is clean and reliable for the route served, that is what matters most. I'd rather take a B9 over a B5TL or Streetdeck anyday.
And infact, I've grown to like E400s bar the 57 reg batch at Ashington and with the exception of the TTX, the only reason why 'Cummins' breakdown for is either due to poor maintenance or wrong setup (putting economy before power). GNE do neither wrong and would look after them well. I remember one person in the days of Arriva bod when 7501 - 7506 (2 1/2 year old at the time) were at Blyth and he mentioned that the engine bay was a disgrace on them and this was when they were only tiddling up and down the Coast Road at the time.
You feeling alright??
Must agree though, although I don't find 7511/2/3 that bad (might be because I spend less time on these, and they don't turn up 10 minutes late in the morning on my route!!).
Something I would say, with regard to your last point, is that could this be something to do with the depot, rather than vehicles, majority of the Blyth Gemini's I got in the holidays were awful, gutless lumps of metal??