(09 Jul 2015, 4:58 pm)Dan wrote Go North East is supporting this year's LGBT Pride Festival with a specially-designed bus.

Based on the new Quaylink livery, and incorporating the LGBT rainbow, the bus will be at the Pride Festival at Exhibition Park in Newcastle on Saturday 18 July, along with the company's promotional team. Go North East will be bringing along a 'selfie bus', games, and face painting. As usual, there will be a give-away too. The main aim is to have some fun, and the more that come, the better!

Beyond the festival the bus will become a regular sight on the streets of Newcastle and Gateshead, as part of the new Quaylink service.

As an aside, the latest Optare Versas to arrive at Saltmeadows Road for repaint include former "Orbit" branded 8330 (NK11 HDO) and 8331 (NK11 HJX).

Looks like quite a bit of fun was had - by Go North East employees and those attending the Pride event! I asked the driver of the bus about the level of interest in the bus, and I was told that there had been quite a bit of interest indeed, with many commenting on how it was great such a large company like Go North East was showing their support and celebrating diversity. Most of you left a bit too early and as such missed the special destination display that was programmed, showing the new Quaylink logo as well as messages such as "Pride in transport", "Bringing communities together" and "Celebrating diversity" with various coloured squares on the destination to incorporate the LGBT rainbow.

I managed to get a few photographs before being landed with 'the selfie bus' and a white Go North East polo! See below:

Go North East: 8335 / NK11HJF by Daniel Graham, on Flickr

Go North East: 8335 / NK11HJF by Daniel Graham, on Flickr

(18 Jul 2015, 6:33 am)pdiddy wrote For anybody who is interested. ...

The Enviro400MMC is on the 09:05 X21 from Newcastle then 10:34 from Bishop etc.

The StreetDecker will start on the 11:04 X21 from Bishop at 11:04 then 12:35 from Newcastle etc...

I managed to get a few photographs today. I appreciate varying driving styles between different drivers and different loadings making it difficult to directly compare the two demonstrator vehicles, but I could not fault the ADL Enviro400 MMC whereas I wasn't particularly keen on the StreetDeck at all.

I was very impressed with how the former coped on the route from Newcastle to Bishop Auckland. It seemed to be quite quick off the mark and the bus was incredibly comfortable too. The seating is truly first-class (with more than enough leg room) and the tables added an element of luxury too. I overheard quite a few passengers talking about the bus and how it was much better than the buses they usually have to ride on service X21. Although I do think this sort of internal seating layout with tables would work really well, I would worry about the loss of seats.

My return journey on the StreetDeck had a lot more passengers and seemed much slower to pull away. It really needed more power to climb the banks, and I'd suggest that the performance wasn't too different from the normal Volvo B7TL allocated. The bus really did struggle to gain any sort of speed on the A1, and I'd imagine this would have been slightly annoying for the driver when he was joining the A1 from Chester-le-Street. Again, I'm not sure whether this was related to the fact it was literally a full load (very few seats spare upstairs - and as so many older people had ventured upstairs, I guess it was a similar situation on the lower deck too).

I think the StreetDeck could cope for a few years on the X21, but the vehicles would have to move to a much lesser role a lot quicker in my opinion. I personally can't see Go North East moving away from Wrights, as the entire Go-Ahead Group seems to have quite a good relationship with Wrights and show this by continuing to opt for vehicles manufactured by Wrightbus. Only time will tell.

See photos below:

Go North East: 6024 / V324LGC by Daniel Graham, on Flickr

Go North East: 9109 / YY64GWX by Daniel Graham, on Flickr

Go North East: 9119 / SN64CTU by Daniel Graham, on Flickr