(29 Jul 2020, 7:22 pm)mb134 wrote I'd imagine this is likely one of the biggest worries about the X9/X10 at the moment. Going forward, post-Covid, will it be able to justify new coaches a few years down the line once these ones start showing their age (bearing in mind they're already 5)?Coaches have quite a long shelf life compared to normal double deck buses. They're designed for long distance work. I reckon GoNE will keep them until they're at least 10-12 year old.
I'd suspect not, and I also think it unlikely that they'd find 7 in good enough nick on the second hand market as they have this time around. So then it's back to deckers, and I wouldn't like to think what's going to be on the market then - a 1.2 litre engine from a Corsa with 10 turbochargers trying to power a decker seems likely going from the trends of the past decade.
Of course, I definitely believe the coaches going on will improve reliability and it's what the service has been crying out for for years. It's just whether post-Covid there will be sufficient passenger numbers to justify similar investment in the future, especially given the improving rail network along the same corridor.
RE: X9 | X10 - Acquisition of interdeck coaches from Oxford Bus Company