(29 Mar 2014, 8:59 pm)Marcus wrote This is what I think GNE ought to do;
Seeing as 6001-6007 are about two or three years old now, I think they should be given a less major role. You see, although they have a shelf life of 15 or so years, if they are doing a long, demanding route day in day out for the past couple of years, perhaps they should be put onto something less demanding. If they went onto the Prince Bishops, that would be great because although it is one of the companies primary routes, it is not as prominent as the likes of the 21 or 56. If they were replaced by some luxurious head cushioned B5s I will just number 6118-6124, then perhaps one by one 6049-6055 could be debranded and rebranded as the Pronto and sent along to Crook, being replaced by the imaginary 6125-6131.
The reason that the younger ones should go along there instead of their older siblings is because the X21 is, as someone who uses it, (and all of Chester's services) on a regular basis, it needs a good, sturdy vehicle, capable of holding many people, unlike the Presidents who I think have a less seating capacity and rattle like a box of nails after going down the motorway thousands of times, and plus I think with the Pronto, it should be up there with the other major routes as it makes a lot more money than some of the routes that get regular upgrades (eg Crusader) when compared to it, but I don't think they'll get new vehicles because the X1 was the first to get Geminis and will be the first to get a second turn of them if you ask me.
I mean, the way things are being spectulated, I can see something along these lines happening in the coming future, but probably not within a couple of months, and more like sometime toward next year.
Would you not say the 20 is equally as demanding? I'd compare the stretch of the A690 through Houghton cut with old Durham Road for the X1.