(04 Jul 2015, 8:16 pm)South Tyne Lad wrote The Wright Streetdeck will not be bought for the X21 for 2 things, Hills and speed. Its engine is the same in new Solos and heavenly underpowered as demonstrated in this video of Brighton's new Streetdecks, fast forward to around 2:45 to see the hill climbing....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2I9enq7q6A
In my opinion I don't think the Volvo B5TL had a fair trial because it was set up for city streets not the X21 and Toon links and very rural very hilly nature of the north easts roads. My trust would be in Volvo with its heavy duty, lightweight B5TL. I would bet that if GNE got a B5 set up for rural routes, it would definitely impress.
It doesn't have to be on a Wright body but is available on the E400MMC body and MCVs new EvoSeti body which is entering service with EYMS.
I'd imagine they're keeping their options open with that one, otherwise they wouldn't be bothering allocating it to Crook for a period of time. It's been mentioned on here time and time again about the way buses are configured for the work they're doing, and I'm sure the same principals will be applied for an X21 demonstration.