(11 Jan 2015, 6:41 pm)tyresmoke wrote You know as well as I do that a business case has to be built for investment into a service. A brand new service launched in Feb 2012 in response to a competitive move by another operator would never justify brand new vehicles straight away. The fact that it has grown from nothing into a solid commercial operation justifying investment in just 2 years from its inception would suggest that it has done very well. Of course it had to be launched with half decent stock, which is why 4 Pulsars were sourced and not something of a lower value...
(11 Jan 2015, 6:42 pm)Kuyoyo wrote Well, it does - the X1 has changed since the OK1 died a death. The reorganisation that has benefited it and increased its standing as the premium service from the Wear Valley into Darlington happened in October 2013 - after the OK1 was withdrawn. Hence why the new buses are coming now - 3 years after the X1 started (by the time they arrive) - and not when the OK1 was operational. So, the commerical success the X1 made while the OK1 was operational has since been boosted to the point where it justifies investment in new stock as Scott said above.
It goes without saying that a brand new service which was designed to compete with another operator's similar offering would not be able to justify brand new vehicles immediately, and I certainly wasn't suggesting that this should have been the case, either. There's no denying that a business case has to be built to justify the capital expenditure needed to form the investment into a bus service, but it cannot be argued that the business case to provide new buses on the X1 service has been made following the withdrawal of the OK1 service.
The OK1 was operational from January 2012 until August 2013, and Arriva's competing service was operational from February 2012 onwards. During its time, the OK1 did attract some customers away from Arriva's competing services, however few in number they were (especially towards the end - leading to the OK1's withdrawal), with these customers primarily being those who were able to purchase a Go North East day ticket at the Bishop Auckland end, or those who wanted a direct service to Middlesbrough.
The problem with competing services is that neither do as well as they could have done, whilst the other service is still operational. If the X1 was so much of a commercial success whilst the OK1 was operational, Arriva could have justified upgrading the X1 service to newer stock. This did not happen. In my eyes, the commercial success of the X1 is primarily due to the fact that there is no longer another service which competes, which has allowed Arriva to re-organise their network to provide a better service.