(23 Apr 2023, 9:02 pm)mb134 wrote You'd like to think that some B8RLEs could be ordered without too much wait time for Teesside. Clearly Arriva see the benefits of the Volvo chassis/engine, otherwise they wouldn't have ordered them for Wales and the NW, and the X4 (as well as other routes, the X66 maybe?) would massively benefit.

Agreed,

The 5/5A/X4/X4A would be the routes I'd pick for the upgrade and then move the Streetlite's onto local work at Redcar and/or Stockton since they're banned from them all pretty much nowadays. The 63 is a route screaming for something better imo, the same as the 7/7A/8/9/15/17/17A at Stockton - obviously not enough to do all but they'd do a chunk of them depending on where they'd rather have the rather unreliable Streetlites nowadays.