(10 Nov 2014, 4:21 pm)Drifter60 wrote I think GNE always seems to try and buy Deckers if they can justify it, as Dan said. Cobalt clipper, Fab56, Red Arrows are some examples of this happening. I'm confident if/when Prince Bishops is upgraded (I'm thinking 2015) the replacement vehicles will be deckers of some sort. Laser, Crusader, Toon Link could all justify deckers too in my opinion if/when new stock is bought. X66 is an exception due to such a short route.
For this years orders, I'd say they looking at a couple of priorities; Withdrawing of Olympian, B10BLE's & Ciatro Artics. Th
Therefore;
Lime Investment is pretty much guaranteed. An order may be already placed on this one? StreetLites?
X66 Investment is a likely order. Versas/StreetLites seem like obvious choices. I'd like to suggest the former although it could be the latter.
Pronto or ToonLink Investment could be possibility. Mainly for the reason of cascades. Deckers for both will be the vehicle choice I should think. Presidents from X21 could then replace just about all of the remaining Olympians, which can be withdrawn. While investment on the latter group of services would see the B10's withdrawn/cascaded to replace older vehicles and the B7RLE's onto another service such as Pulse services.
Fab57 may be an option, this could tie into the new brand and new vehicles on its sister service, Fab56. This will also free up the last remaining branded B10's.
This only accounts to approx. 50 vehicles.
So I can see scope for another service to be invested in.
I'm wondering if GNE will upgrade another minibus service? I'd say the Venture Solo's have went down very well with passengers. So I'm thinking could East Durham or North Tyne Links receive investment. Be roughly 18 vehicles or 12 vehicles.
This would then mean around 62/68 vehicles.
Let's not forget about the height restriction - I'm led to believe that even the "Loop" branded Scania L94UB/Wright Solar vehicles cannot use the Centrelink due to the low bridge! This is the main reason why double deckers will never be ordered for the X66 service...
It has been suggested for quite a number of months now that all articulated vehicles should be removed from the fleet due to this financial year's planned investment, with all Volvo B10BLE/Wright Renowns new in 1998 being removed from the fleet too. I don't think it has been explicitly said that the Volvo Olympians will be withdrawn from the fleet, but I think it's somewhat obvious that their time in the fleet is limited now that they are supposed to be limited to scholars capacity.
I'll repeat what I already have done given that it has seemingly been missed... No orders have yet been placed for Go North East. Whilst I am doubtful that specific details of the company's will emerge on the public domain soon after they're ordered, I do think that there will be a confirmation of an order being made to give us a rough idea of when buses may start arriving.
With regards to the number of vehicles being ordered this year... Don't expect it to be high. The traditional timeframe for vehicles to arrive when only a low number had been ordered in that financial year is within the first four to five months of the year (January - May). When a higher number of vehicles have been ordered, they typically arrive from August onwards. August, September and October have now passed, and no orders have yet been made... What does this suggest?
Some of us may wish to cling on to the '80 new buses' prediction in the company's Quality Contracts Scheme response, but the fact that it's looking more Quality Contracts will be implemented in 2017, it could be argued that the company's financial plan may have had to be altered slightly.