(07 Oct 2024, 6:13 pm)streetdeckfan wrote If this is the way thing are going, then I expect passenger numbers to only keep declining.My biggest argument about the 2019 order though and this was before the low height patterns at Consett which didn't exist before covid with just the X30. But from a running cost & fuel economy perspective, why didn't Martijn target then the 56 and 309/310 with StreetDecks with the B9TL's heavily refurbished and used on the Derwentside work?
As the old saying goes, you have to speculate to accumulate, and before the big flu buggered things up, MG proved that it could work.
He ploughed money into the fleet, acquiring higher spec vehicles and refurbishing older ones to a higher standard, and passenger numbers started to increase.
Turns out when buses aren't rancid old bangers like the old farts on here reminisce about, people actually choose to travel by bus!
Surely the fuel savings over a 5 year period would be quite significant on the 56, 309/310 as opposed to routes with hills.