(16 Mar 2014, 6:37 pm)robisdave wrote And that's true! The X93 will always be the same until Arriva wake up and address the issue. The E400's - wholly unsuitable for the demands of the route and ridiculous operating / timetable constraints - were brought down not to ease the overcrowding issues but because Arriva are too greedy to provide the logical solution of extra, and suitable, vehicles. Their record is frankly appalling and reliability has driven customers and consequently revenue away. It is difficult, given a similar situation, that this latest attempt will prove any different.
On a similar theme. What is the point in providing Sapphire spec service / vehicles on services 5/5a and what prompted the decision, after 50+ years to remove the M'boro-Guisborough-Loftus-Whitby services? At the expense of providing those living in Redcar and Saltburn with a direct link? More shortsighted, greedy thinking!
The 5/5A are heavily used services and therefore introducing the Sapphire brand to those is a reflection of their profitability and shows the potential for growth on that corridor.... There is very little cross-Loftus traffic to Whitby and the few that do originate mainly from Brotton. Nobody uses the coastal route from Middlesbrough, Ormesby and Guisborough because of the journey time, which is why the X93 offers a more direct route.
I can see the potential in a coastal link from Redcar and Saltburn to Whitby which explains why the Loftus-Whitby section was linked up with the X4. It will be interesting to see how that fares in the summer season, especially with the potential growth when Sapphire arrives on that service too.
There is a PowerPoint presentation on the web somewhere produced by North East (& Yorkshire) Managing Director Nick Knox which explains that the conversion of a route to Sapphire standard is expected to see 6% growth in year one, with an extra 3% in year two. I am told that the route here in the North East is achieving this, even with it being situated in more of a "challenging area" compared to the other 3 test routes, economically speaking.
The expansion of Sapphire in the North East this year will take it into new territory both physically and economically, however with the growth produced by the other test routes is encouraging. Other routes to gain the brand in 2014 include the 575 Bolton-Wigan, 110 Tamworth-Birmingham and the 12 between Rhyl and Llandudno, all different in their make up and areas in which they operate.
The X93 is a difficult service to solve with numerous issues, however the Enviro 400s came down to operate in summer 2012 with no major issues so nobody foresaw the major issues in 2013. They have spent a minor fortune on the route recently, not just with the engineering capacity for the E400s (one has had a brand new engine fitted recently for example) but also the spare buses to cover them on the X93 itself...
As we have seen though there is no buses specifically suitable for that route in the North East fleet, so its a case of finding the "best of the rest" so to speak. Which is why we've seen the trial of the VDL Gemini and now the Volvo B7TL Gemini. Hopefully in the future there will be a business case for investment in vehicles which are specified to handle the X93 and its unique challenges.
There are a number of "timetable constraints" which should hopefully be sorted for the 2014 season too, it will be interesting to see what the final timetable looks like. Everyone seems to think the heaviest loadings are out of Middlesbrough, and while this is true in part, there are some major issues between Whitby and Scarborough too. This saw at least one journey having to be duplicated last summer I understand because an E400 wasn't big enough to carry everyone! Obviously the issues with the E400s exacerbated the loading issues somewhat.