(13 Jul 2020, 8:17 am)mb134 wrote Christ some of this is cringe worthy to read. 

Arriva are, by no means, outstanding at fleet presentation, however to say that their best vehicles are equivalent to GNEs worst is laughable. The first bus I got this morning through to town - 17 plate MMC, far better in internal and external condition than any of GNEs native stuff pre circa 2013 (and of a similar standard to the more recent stuff). 

I like how you also leave out GNEs second hand vehicles. I was on 6941 the other week and it was an absolute embarrassment. On the other hand, I had ANEs 7484 on my way home the other night - 18 years old, interior is still fresh and it's smartly presented externally as well. 

Then the point about the branding of old vehicles - does your memory not stretch back to the Pronto X21? The X46 B7s have been refurbed with WiFi, Civic V3 e-leather seating and (I believe) USB charging on at least some of them. 

By all means, criticise Arriva for repainting buses every time there's a new ice age, or inconsistent route branding. However the constant rhetoric by some on here that Arriva are essentially sending out some sheds on wheels is rather tiresome (as is the idea that GNE churn out the bus equivalent of a Rolls Royce on every trip).

See, every time I've used Arriva's MMCs I could have sworn there was a drummer sitting upstairs with the amount of rattles and crashed, one of them was so bad I had to get off and change buses.
And my reason for only excluding GNE's second hand vehicles is the majority of the offenders (such as 6941 that you mentioned) shouldn't really be out and about in service and were acquired specifically for event and scholar work. 

As for the X46, all Arriva have done is put lipstick on a pig with those ALX400s, they're still bloody awful to travel on, which I unfortunately have to do from time to time (I really miss when GNE ran some X46 services!).

I'm not saying GNE are perfect, just that they, for the most part at least, keep the interiors of their vehicles much nicer, I can't remember the last time I travelled on a GNE bus that had ripped seats or holes in the back from where they've been melted with a lighter, but they seem to be a regular occurrence on Arriva buses, at least in Durham.