(15 Feb 2021, 8:02 pm)Storx wrote Seems like the problems at Ashington aren't getting any better even with the reduced service levels.

Noticed 1800 has been allocated to the X14 all day today and it's not a swap neither - https://bustimes.org/vehicles/190847
Also 1768 has appeared be doing some Ashington runs aswell - https://bustimes.org/vehicles/189613

Yep, as a surprise to absolutely nobody 7511/2/4/6/7 all VOR today (7512 emerged for a PM peak). 4653/9 both failed at some stage this morning, the former resulting in 7510 having a day on the X20 (my condolences to whoever got given that, with it's max speed of 40). 1579 has also been VOR for nearly two weeks. 

7445/84, two weeks after the service reduction, were in use on the Sapphire cycle today - nothing screams premium more than a 20 year old ex-London B7TL. 1768, which was also on the Sapphire cycle (actually, this is possibly even worse than the B7TL?), was replaced prior to the evening peak with 7524 which had been pulled off the X18 on Friday night. 

As far as I can tell the issues boil down to this: 7511/2/4-7 are horrendous. Their poor reliability means the vastly more capable 7524-8 are getting used on the Alnwick side more and more regularly, which is both impacting their reliability as well as meaning stuff like 1768 has to fill in for them on the X21/22. The horrendous condition of 7511/2/4-7 means that 7529-33 and 7553-6 are the main allocation on X18 boards which stay out until midnight, Mon-Sun, with 7524-8 also frequently appearing on these. In turn this means that they're all getting hammered 7 days a week, as the 57/09 plates are simply too unreliable (not to mention the Scanias) to put out on Sundays/evenings - though obviously this is sometimes a necessity, especially if a couple end at Alnwick on a Saturday night. Eventually it gets to here, where everything is dropping to bits because you've had to accomodate the shocking reliability of 9 of your MAX buses (incl. Scanias) for what is a number of years now. The decision to cancel those deckers due last year is looking worse by the day.

You'd hope that if upper management were in any way competent at their jobs, new vehicles would be in the pipeline. However given the overall condition of the fleet recently, especially in terms of presentation and reliability, I think we'll sooner see pigs fly than see competence from Mr. Peace and co.