(23 Feb 2014, 5:23 pm)Dan wrote I get it.. The Solos must be filled with pensioners at half 9 - covers the costs for the rest of the day and makes a hefty profit.

In all seriousness, we've identified one good area of the route (Blackhall to Hartlepool, as suggested by tyresmoke above)... That must be picking up the pieces for the rest of the route though, and can't be making a great deal of profit overall...

Being the quickest option between Sunderland and Hartlepool helps, and the upgrade to full size buses must be justified otherwise as VolvoMarkII says, Arriva wouldn't invest if the business case wasn't there (or indeed if it would extract revenue from another route dragging the whole house of cards down...).

There's no denying that certain routes don't generate a massive amount of profit but they are slowly being thinned out (see the recent changes on Teesside) but there are a few jewels in the crown which see repeated investment across the region.

Hopefully by 2015 we will have all of the poor quality vehicles left in the fleet ousted, certainly we are expecting to be completely low floor inside the next few months. What's left of the DAF Prestiges will be all gone, as will the older MPD's and hopefully a start can be made on the larger Darts too