(18 Jan 2017, 9:26 pm)Tamesider wrote Thanks.

Is it fair to assume no more will be added to the 2016/7 order? In particular, none for Manchester. From the company's point of view, I can't see any reason why they would allocate any more to Manchester in the near future. Service cuts from 29 January, should free up the remaining Euro3 E400s for cascade, meaning no 'deckers in the (active) fleet would be more than 9 years old. There are still a few MANs more than 12 years old, but the issue with that type seems to be more to do with reliability. Then there is the accelerated decline in bus use locally, combined with the uncertainty of Franchising. Albeit, said decline and other actions around the county have made Franchising all but inevitable unless we get a Trump like shock in the Mayoral elections.

Is there any more news on the additional 2016/7 orders? 
Gillmoss have reportedly received three or four regd SM66 VAx & VBx series, but the fleet numbers are way off those reported originally. The lowest number is 10826, leading to a suggestion that they might not now be getting 10811-25. Meanwhile, rumours that Manchester are getting up to 22 (a much lower figure has also been quoted), have strengthened following suggestions that the B7RLEs inherited from First at Wigan, are to be disposed of, along with a number of MANs - including the E300s that only arrived from Scotland about 3 months ago. If/when they do arrive, I would guess they will be '17 regd.