(13 May 2020, 9:34 pm)streetdeckfan wrote A new vehicle isn't necessarily a better vehicle from a passengers perspective though. I'd much rather have a 5 year old GNE Streetlite than a brand new base spec E200
Do GCT spec the likes of WiFi and USB on their new vehicles?

I'd agree with that, but only a mere 3% weighting of the bid is around 'enhanced customer experience' - which gives some indication of how little Nexus values these extra features. You could have the fastest Internet connection in the world, reclining seats and a sauna on board, but it would still only achieve a maximum of 3% of the weighting.

One thing that is rarely mentioned is the impact on effectively taking away next stop announcements from a service. I wonder if Nexus (or an operator for a commercial service) carry out any kind of equality impact assessment on this, as it would be interesting to see what the perceived impact is... comes back to making travel attractive, doesn't it? 

(13 May 2020, 11:10 pm)Andreos1 wrote Aye, remember them having it for a year or two. Might be wrong, but I'm sure GNE then made it commercial for a bit, before they then said it wasn't sustainable and got Nexus to fund it again.

It was the Concord to Heworth section that GNE kept commercially. They eventually replaced it with an increased service on the 4, which I think has now been reduced again?

The arrangement was that the Arriva M2/M3 would wait for the GNE connection at Concord for onward travel, and vice-versa.