(11 Oct 2024, 1:24 pm)deanmachine wrote The fact we're getting more and more ancient hand me downs when we got promised at the election that buses would be taken back under public control. I know things take time, but the areas services need the change now. There's been no mention from the new mayor over what's going to happen with the buses since she got elected.

We’ve always had hand me downs now and then.
Didn’t Stagecoach Newcastle just get a handful of nearly new 400MMCs from elsewhere?
And GNE/ANE/SNE are due to get 84 brand new electrics shortly through Zebra.

I’m not sure what you’re expecting. 
It’s a commercial operation at the moment.

It was made clear that franchising cannot just happen over night.
The Franchise Scheme Assessment (FSA) will take 2.5 yrs (unless Gov speed things up), and then about the same period again before the first franchises are operating. 

https://www.northeast-ca.gov.uk/news/tra...-the-buses