(06 Dec 2015, 9:20 pm)tyresmoke wrote X20 and X75/X76 are definitely in the list to be done... X20 buses are being refurbished at present, and X75/X76 are due to be done - with 4652/4/8 being the allocated vehicles (probably looking at February 2016 for that though).

Hopefully be able to tell you all about further MAX conversions soon! 
I don't know whether we'll be having any more Sapphire routes though - maybe we could have another in Northumberland without over-doing it?

We have buses allocated to other routes that haven't been branded yet though with the uncertainty over the future of Frequenta, and further vehicles are expected to be fitted with wi-fi and next stop announcements.

A thought on this;

To me, the X18 is more suited to Sapphire than it is to MAX. It isn't exactly an express service, taking an hour longer than the X15 from Berwick to Alnwick, and 2 hours longer from Berwick to Newcastle. I also think NSA's and power sockets would be pretty useful on the route, especially for the long ones.

If the X20 continues to do well, throw 7529-32 on that, 5 new Sapphire E400 MMCs for the X18, and have 7533 as an additional MAX spare? 7412-15 could then be dispersed across the region as MAX spares.

I would suggest converting the X10/11 to Sapphire, however I can't begin to imagine how bad that would be with the way Blyth allocate. (Thinking about the no-quibble guarantee).