(16 Jun 2014, 6:46 am)aureolin wrote But is there such a bus on the market? As much as I'd love a fleet of olympians and atlanteans, things have moved on and it's never going to happen. It's Euro 6 from now on, and even in the event of QCS coming in, Nexus are going to fine non compliance in this respect. If a heavyweight decker with no regard of economy is whats needed wouldn't you have thought every company would have screamed for this in consultation?

I do agree with Davey somewhat.

Stagecoach UK are ADL's biggest buyer, and in my opinion, the majority of their work is quite capable of being operated with vehicles similar to the specification of the ADL E400MMC. Operators like Stagecoach will want to have a vehicle with better fuel economy because they don't need vehicles with loads of power.

I don't think many operators would actually think about purchasing an ADL product if they wanted a powerful vehicle which delivers comfort and reliability for intensive long distance service work - I'd suggest that they're more likely to go to Volvo for that.

There are operators who require more powerful vehicles for their more intensive service work (see Davey's post for a list in the North East alone). It's just a shame that they're left in a position whereby they can't actually offer upgrades to these services because there are no suitable vehicles available on the market - with all manufacturers following in each other's steps by going light-weight and economical.