(09 Dec 2022, 9:29 pm)Unber43 wrote I know this has been brought up recently and I think it needs its own thread, so I went to Newcastle today and got 6334 or 6335 (can't remember), and an E400, and tbh the state of the buses were awful, tables sticky (it was like the second route the bus had been on for that day), penis drawn on "cream" leather, and 6334 or 6335 that a disgrace, the headrests they were black, i've dropped some screenshots about how they looked.
Aswell heating seems to be a massive issue on the entire fleet, I understand it takes time to warm up however on 7 of the buses I went on today I couldn't feel the heat on 6 of them.
Thats why you never put nice buses on school routes.
This sort of vandalism is why Arriva opted against headrests for their new orders. It costs a ridiculous amount of money for a new headrest, and given how many are slashed/drawn on it just isn't worth it. I would say that the cream headrests were always a ridiculous design choice though, they looked good for about 5 minutes but unless you're going to clean them properly every night then they generally look very scruffy - absolutely zero desire created!
To be honest, while that damage could have been from school routes, it's just as likely to have been from any regular service. I know ANE, Ashington anyway, used Sapphire vehicles in the past on school work with very little issue compared to what they were getting on evening X21 & 35 runs.