(24 Sep 2023, 7:40 pm)Malarkey wrote The state of the fleet is a shambles and in some services are crying out of investment in new buses now but that looks highly unlikely with Go North East who appear now only willing to purchase new buses if it's supported by Government Grants such as ZEBRA, we might see something from Zebra 2 but that would mean potentially no new buses until 2024 and I don't think we can wait that long.
I'd say order the following:
95 New Deckers - Angel 21 / Cobalt & Coast 307/309 & X-Lines Services
35 - Electric Buses (Angel 21 /Cobalt & Coast 307/309) under Zebra 2
60 - New Deckers (X-Lines)
41 (Streetdeck's), 7 (B5TL Gemini 3), 20 (E400MMC), 17 (B9's) free'd up to be allocated to other routes, 12 remaining (B5LH's) withdrawn, latter 2 by other cascades.
This would see the likes of the Tyne Valley 10's, Durham Diamond 16's, Crusader 27, Red Kite Ranger 47, City Rider 56 & upgraded with the B9's replacing older deckers in the fleet.
56 New Single Deckers - Connections 4, Prince Bishops 20, Go North East 5/24/26/49's/96, Drifer 60 & Tynedale Links 74/680 & 684
This would see off the 10/11 & 63 plate Versa's, 63 Plate Streetlites & 63 Plate Citaro which would all be withdrawn, services in Sunderland such as the 2/2A & 35 would be upgraded to 16 plate Streetlites.
9 Electric Mini Buses - Tynedale Links under Zebra 2 (Rural Services)
Solo SR's would be cascaded elsewhere within Go-Ahead.
It'll just not happen nowadays. Until GNE can return to profitability, then I can't see investment being anything other than the bare minimum. The money group are giving them go cover losses, which is some of what should be being spent on the fleet.
They're also competing with Manchester, who under franchising are very likely subject to penalties related to service performance and specification. Whereas they can run anything in the North East and get away with it.
Remember than even with ZEBRA, there's an outlay required by operators. The parent group may be more willing to support that, if it demonstrates good value for money.
(24 Sep 2023, 7:52 pm)Ambassador wrote It’s a nice sentiment but GNE don’t have a pot to proverbially piss in. Everything is done one the cheap from engineering to marketing to service.
We’ll probably see more go ahead group cascades. From a passenger pov they could look at taking care of the interior. Ripped seats, tables peeling with sharp edges, floors peeling etc etc minor things but easy to fix on a low budget. Stagecoach get longevity and value out of their fleet, GNE seem incapable of it.
Outside of zebra I don’t think we’ll see anything new until the new mayor starts dishing out the cash
I think you're right, and apart from the bare minimum, we'll not see anything spent until the inevitable announcement of franchising come May's election.
Plenty of time to give the begging bowl a good polish before then, though!
Sent from my SM-S916B using Tapatalk