(11 Nov 2023, 11:08 pm)mb134 wrote Outside of those, you look at the 7 at Durham/Darlington, same with the 1 now the X1 has been cut. Wasn't the 6 also a route which needed deckers when converted to Sapphire? In terms of growth, you'd say even the X66/67 would be a logical route to put deckers onto if the growth on there continues - it's certainly more cost effective than increasing the frequency again. 

The amount of times the X93/4 were single deckers this year is laughable and given 7424-6 are still going you'd think there is no plan in place to replace them for next summer yet, where they'll likely make 1 attempt at an X94, die on a hill, spend 2 months VOR, then plod around on the 62 again.

(11 Nov 2023, 11:29 pm)Storx wrote Probably a bit of a debate about most routes at Durham, Ashington, Darlington and Blyth whether they should have full length single deckers. Most routes at Durham it's either too little capacity, or complete overkill.

As far as I'm aware pretty much everything is having problems. I know there's some very comfortable looking buses on the 5/X26/X27 in Darlington aswell when I've been down there and stuff like the 49, 56, 58 etc they're complete overkill.

(12 Nov 2023, 8:06 am)Storx wrote  
Mind I don't really expect it tbh. Mind I'd be looking at displacing the 67 plate Streetlites out of Darlington. They're too short for the 1/5/7 so are a bit of a problem bus there currently.

6 only really required double deckers because of interworking patterns with scholars, which is no longer required, 865 is now tagged onto the 8/8A at Darlington depot which requires a double decker to be allocated to one board.

I would like to see some investment into the the 1/5 & 7 at Darlington, those short Lites and Pulsars 1514-16 having 4 seats less than their counterparts can show at times, can't say I was thrilled at having to sit in the buggy bay of 1603 for 40 minutes on the 5 home the other evening. Could do with some more deckers at Darlington to cover the required decker boards and also allow more to be allocated to the 7 again as some runs at peak times really do struggle, not unheard of nowadays for people to be left behind in Durham around 16:00 as single deckers can't take the loads.

Think the only run at Durham that requires double deckers (minus the 7) is the X46 and even this is mainly at peak times, naturally to ensure this is met, there needs to be some spares which end up on all sorts of other routes, sometimes dependent on delays or just whatever's avaliable.

X93/X94 really needs something doing with it, the amount of single deckers on it this year was an embarrassment and makes the idea of using it again off putting. The changes of routes at Redcar recently does allow more flexibility into the allocation of double deckers between Redcar/Whitby, so would be nice if more could be left to linger around on the 62 when not required on the X93/X94. Have heard rumours that 7609/10 may not be going on the Whitby Park & Ride next year but unsure how true that is, if at all.