'Tis a bit annoying for those of us enthusiasts who have work or educational priorities, meaning that we can't attend weekday daytime launches. It's something which has always annoyed me about Go North East's launches and other marketing stunts too, which are typically held on weekdays rather than weekends. Go North East has started to grasp onto the idea of appealing to a larger audience by having some of the marketing stunts during peak times or on weekends though - hopefully Arriva will follow suit in the near future... After all, it's not just enthusiasts who have work and educational priorities during the day time!

Problem is though some times will be okay for some people but not okay with other people, it is difficult to find ideal times for these publicly events, daytime launches will attract the elderly and anyone who is out shopping with many of the daytime launches being held in Market Places which could attract people doing their shopping to have a quick look at buses whilst they go about their business. Evening launches only really work if it is in the right place, for example when Arriva launched the 306 StreetLite's in Tynemouth on the seafront at around 5pm in autumn in the freezing cold not that many people where there and many of the people who did show up were us enthusiasts and the odd dog walkers so a pretty poor turn out. I think Saturday daytimes are probably the best to do these things but sometimes this is not possible, Arriva probably couldn't have done these MAX X66 launches on Saturday because of the market in Stockton on the High Street which means there is no where to put a bus there and pretty similar story for Darlington where there probably would normally be room for a launch on most Saturdays but with Christmas decorations and possibly some other stuff like a few rides in the Market Place in the run up to Christmas would prevent this happening.