(08 Sep 2017, 5:57 pm)OrangeArrow49 wrote Thought it would be 32/32A for a Dart. I thought the 32/32A would be operated by Walkergate though, because it runs to Walker and terminates at Byker, I think.  I have never seen a Dart on the X88 before. Usually the Newcastle express services use everything else: Kinetics, MANs, E200s, E300s, and new electric on Sundays, single and double. I thought all the Darts would be scrapped actually, rather then disposed of to another region. 

Makes sense what you say about fleet statistics  cutting the elderly vehicles cuts depot costs and makes the fleet age look good on paper. 

Arriva and GNE have very old vehicles. Stagecoach has a newer fleet by far in many places. Why did Stagecoach take so long to introduce features like Wi-Fi and USB? 

I seriously thought Wi-Fi was onboard one or two Stagecoach buses and they had no interest in upgrading their buses.  Certainly a good thing new Stagecoach vehicles have Wi-Fi and USB as standard, I agree. Disappointing they are not interested in Next stop announcements.

Think Stagecoach were keen on pushing their more luxurious Gold brand with novelties such as Wi-Fi and Plug Sockets etc, keeping their normal spec the same. The gap between standard and more luxurious passenger spec has been narrowing, meaning that passengers expect such additions as standard. Stagecoach just took a while to build on their standard spec!