I don't mind the E400 bodywork, I just don't like the ADL / Cummins chassis for express, rural and long distance work. That chassis is only designed for plodding around on routes like the 62, 63, 38, 39 and the 40. And it may be more fuel efficient for town and city operations on the flats but on hills and on high speed, the economy of the B9TL will match or even exceed a Cummins engined E400 as they operate at a lower RPM than the E400 at higher speeds and on steep climbs. This is what Arriva should've ordered going back to what somebody mentioned the other day:

Main Vehicles:
- 15x Sapphire Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 for the X21 / X22
- 10x MAX Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 for the X15 / X18

Pool Vehicles:
- 7453 to 7456 refurbished to MAX Specification for use on the X14 but with no specific X14 branding and could simply include the tagline 'Morpeth to Newcastle up to every 15 minutes for MAXIMUM service' . However, in the unlikely event that any of the 10 B9TL vehicles for the X15 / X18 went VOR, then these vehicles would be stepped up accordingly.

- The best of 7514 to 7521 refurbished to MAX Specification for use on the X20 but with the tagline 'fast and frequent from Ashington and Bedlington to Newcastle for MAXIMUM impact'. This would give a little bit of flexibility into allocating vehicles for the X20 / X21 / X22.

- The other 4 E400's just in plain Arriva livery but refurbished to MAX specification inside for use on services X14 / X20 / X21 / X22.

And something a little cheesy:

- All next stop announcements for X21 / X22 provided by Steve and Karen with them alternating every few stops. Most stops would simply just say "Next stop, "STOP NAME". However, for Ashington Bus Station, Bedlington Red Lion, Regent Centre, Gosforth High Street and Barras Bridge, they could say, "Next stop, "STOP NAME". Please ring the bell and remain seated until the bus stops".

And before joining the A1 at Seaton Burn or Gosforth Park, they could say, "This bus will soon be travelling at high speed. Please remain seated or if you're standing, hold onto the handrails".