(14 Oct 2021, 10:09 pm)Dan wrote If you 100% agree with that statement, do you care to elaborate further on your reasoning?While the buses may not be that different in spec wise. The care that they get is just lower than the rest of the other fleet. 56 doesn't even have working plug sockets. Veras's don't have USB (yet), neither does EDE 65 but I think they are getting them. While the rest of the fleet are getting refurbishment. The old Saltwell parks and don't even have Wifi on 1 hour long routes, same with Drifter they should have USB's. They should have been retrimmed. The new livieries just look like the second thought and the liverys are different to what has happened with the Connections 4, with the front of the bus. I definitely think that Sunderland gets the left overs. they are losing a lot of the high spec streetlights. They don;t have enough double deckers most the time. Really S&D is just a cheap way to get passengers would help if they were allocated correctly.
In my previous post I have outlined some reasons as to why I disagree with Acky81 (as someone who lives in Sunderland, and uses the buses Go North East run in the city). I am keen to hear the counter-argument to the points I have raised, if there are any.
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To go back to the liveries compared the Red Kite Ranger to S&D Blue, or really any of them. And some of the names of the brand...I can think of better ones. Mercedes are 13 years old, yes some are 11. And when Euro 6 thing is brought in Deptford will chance to get all the older OmniCity's/OmniDekkas when the 15 plate are going. Sunderland needs serious investment in new buses. Yes they have just branded 13 year old buses, but how long will they last. I give S&D Brand 2 years.
Just Disappointing.
(14 Oct 2021, 10:07 pm)Dan wrote Given the time taken for the branding to be applied after the 5 September changes when these buses started being allocated to service 39, I don’t think it was a rushed job.By rushed job I think he means the branding is too small in places, the destination list should have more locations, just seems like its wrong.
The buses are grey in colour and have been named Graphite to match the colour (like all the other services in Sunderland) - haven’t Apple just released their new iPhone 13 with the same colour description?
I am also confused as to why this change of vehicle type on service 39 renders it a ‘second class’ service now? The Solos are of an identical specification to the Streetlites previously used, and arguably provide a better customer experience (fewer rattles etc).
Concerns were raised on this forum regarding passenger loadings on the 39, but this does not seem to have actually been an issue that has materialised?
Elsewhere Streetlites have been replaced by Versas and Citaros of a near identical customer specification (Wi-Fi, USB, next stop announcements). Aside from the age of the vehicles, there isn’t really much of a downgrade on any of these services. I recently travelled on the 2 service and an elderly customer referred to the seats being far more comfortable on the recently refurbished Versa. Clearly this is just the perception of them being a different colour and in different material (moquette instead of leather) as they are the same type of Esteban seat.
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