(22 Mar 2015, 8:17 pm)Dan wrote I agree with Robert. Go North East is able to monitor how many passengers get on a bus and which tickets/passes have been issued or used for passengers to board using one of its very many systems. This data was used prior to an order being made, and members of Go North East staff were out from early morning runs to late evening runs in August when single deckers (the Euro 6 Mercedes Citaro and "Drifter" branded Streetlite) to monitor and record loadings. This is on top of the extra Saturday bus being provided by a red Versa (when not required to cover for a branded vehicle on the "Citylink" 58 service) from November 2013 onwards.

According to drivers on the X66 service, Go North East does not expect to see market growth as a result of the new vehicles entering service. The new vehicles will see lower running costs (Streetlites are far more fuel-efficient than articulated Mercedes Citaros and there is no increased rate of pay any more) and hence increased profits, so there was no need to revolve a business case around increased patronage.

It's highly unlikely that the Streetlites would last 15 years on the 8/78 services, but I doubt Go North East intend to use them on said services for 15 years anyway... Sadly, I think it's quite likely that most bus operators will look to purchase light-weight vehicles and cascading them to lesser roles quicker than they ordinarily would have done with a heavy-weight vehicle. DaveyBowyer has told us plenty of times about how there is so little on offer for a heavy-weight double decker now, and that's because the majority of the market has been in favour of light-weight double deckers instead so that they can reap the rewards (lower running costs) in doing so. I think it's quite likely that the same will end up happening with single deckers, too.