(31 Aug 2014, 7:37 pm)Dan wrote Yes, I know the X15 was down to be a split allocation too, but had assumed it was mainly linked to the fact that it wasn't originally planned to give the services cascaded vehicles and the resources they had available were therefore limited.Yeah I guess, as a customer, I would prefer consistent allocation however, in the case of the X15, recently they've never really had a consistent allocation, with coaches, E400's and B7's being allocated during the last few month.
From a capacity perspective, double decked vehicles for service X15 are more appropriate. On all of the occasions I've used service X15, I've had a full coach (or a double decker with a reasonable load). The OmniCitys do seem a lot more powerful and are able to cope with the more demanding nature of the route better, however.
I know Go North East have recently tried to avoid split allocations wherever possible, because customers become familiar with a specific vehicle type (single or double decker).
The times I've photographed service X1 outside of peaks arriving/departing at Durham, Stockton and Middlesbrough, single deckers would cope fine. During peaks, that's where the issues start, at least in my experience. Obviously service X2 carries fresh air most of the time, so there's no issues there(!) Arriva obviously have a better idea of the loadings and passenger trends than I do, but from a customer perspective (not an enthusiast perspective), I'd prefer to see a consistent allocation.
Also if Arriva always allocate single deckers to those boards that carry less passengers, the customers that use the same bus every day will get used to this vehicle and to them at least it will be consistant (but bearing in mind this is Arriva in Northumberland with the X15, this has 1% chance of actually happening)