(08 Aug 2014, 8:12 pm)aureolin wrote Are Sapphire branded E400s being allocated elsewhere?
You know my feelings on WiFi not working, but I'd be concerned if they were pulling a significant amount of vehicles off road to resolve the issues. If it was down to me, I'd rather fork out for it to be done outside of normal operating hours, or at least on a Sunday.
I agree that one spare isn't enough for that PVR, but I think having the Sapphire spec interior is always going to present a problem. You've either got to have non-route branded Sapphire spares running round on non-Sapphire services if required, or route branded Sapphire spares running round on non-Sapphire services if required. Both arguably cause confusion to the customer, and is far from ideal. I guess the ideal solution would have been to take a page out of GNE's book, and have the spares in fleet livery. Interior would still be 'Sapphire spec', but the customers are on the bus to their destination before the confusion can kick in!
No. When 7491 appeared on the X22 on Tuesday, it replaced a late running 7501 (which came in about 20 minutes late, behind 7509 which was the 1130 from Ashington).
As for an extra spare, I think people need reminding that 'Sapphire' funding comes from Arriva UK's special funding pot, unlike 'MAX' which comes from ANE's own pot. So, the funding for either a brand new spare or to refurbish one of 7514-21 (whichever ones don't get done for the X14/14) would require the Sapphire team to release extra funding for it. And I think that will also count for one being done to Sapphire specification internally (much like 1512 for Stockton).