(23 Aug 2017, 4:20 pm)Jimmi wrote I'd say that the X26/X27 & X75/X76 are somewhat similar in terms of demands for routes although the X66/X67 are a bit more duel carriageway road blastings, the Middlesbrough - Saltburn stretch of the X3/X4 routes would probably be a better comparison and whilst the StreetLite's can sit at 50mph easily enough,  I think you would maybe have to add a little bit of extra running time to these services to ensure that they have enough running time, even the worst Omnicity's branded for the X66/X67 allocation can manage about 55mph, so I think a bus limited to 50mph may not be the best fit, EcoCity's manage 52mph, unsure about E200 MMC's but think it may me more than both of them? 

One thing I will say about both demonstrators, just because they are trialing them, doesn't necessarily mean any will actually be purchased, no Optare Versa's or Mercedes Citaro's were purchased for Arriva North East after trials at North East depots in the past.

Yeah this is a good point. If you look at the routes 4653/9 are allocated onto at Ashington, the main place they can make up time is along dual carriageway stretches. If you suddenly allocate buses that can only just keep to time along those stretches, you're asking for trouble.

I definitely agree that just because they're on demonstration doesn't mean that we'll see Streetdecks and Streetlites in next year's order, but the fact they've decided to trial the Streetdeck on the Alnwick expresses is concerning.