(06 May 2015, 5:03 pm)Dan wrote Andreos1 posted his review of the lower specification Streetlite Micro-Hybrids on the X66 here. Aside from the comments regarding heat from the back of the bus, which appears to be standard on most/all recent new builds (including the Volvo B5TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 and Euro 6 Mercedes Citaro) as well as the lack of leg-room, it was a generally positive review.

How quick the Streetlite Micro-Hybrids are ultimately depends on their set-up. As far as I know, Go North East has had none of the issues Arriva North East had with their similar examples prior to them having work done to improve the performance, so I can only assume that they are set-up to be favourable on power opposed to efficiency, given the heavy endurance nature of the routes for which they have been purchased. What I will say is that I think it ultimately depends on how heavily loaded the bus is, as well as who is driving it. I have been on a Streetlite Micro-Hybrid with just one other person on-board (the driver), and on a Streetlite Micro-Hybrid with a full load including standees in public service. The difference in performance was quite substantial; heading up the bank to the Metrocentre Interchange, the former flew up, whereas the latter seemed to take a bit more time. I think slow acceleration is common on all newer buses, rather than it being a Streetlite issue.

The Streetlite Micro-Hybrids are limited in speed to 50mph, but there shouldn't really be an instance where a bus has to exceed this speed on the 8/78 routes? Obviously what I think is important to note is that you don't know what went on ahead, while the bus was out of sight. The driver of 5409 may have had to stop to let a wheelchair user on himself, or could have encountered an issue that he had to pull up to a bus stop and resolve. It'd be quite short-sighted to assume that just because you caught the bus up, the Streetlite Micro-Hybrid didn't stop and was just awfully slow.

Don't get me wrong, the Streetlites are no Mercedes Citaros (at least not the Euro 5 versions - I wasn't particularly keen on the Euro 6 variant), but I think they're suitable for their purpose within the fleet. Time will tell if that changes in years to come, but for the foreseeable future, I think they should be quite alright.