(25 Mar 2015, 7:51 pm)pdiddy wrote 4909, 3804, 6018 and 6036 all been on the pronto today.... as four of the blue deckers were at Chester this morning... knackered yet again. Losing passenger to Arriva 6 due to unreliability 

Can most likely see a new batch of deckers coming next year for the Red Arrows (don't know what type) allowing this to happen:
- 6001 to 6006 to Crook for Pronto service X21 alongside 3943 acting as a spare.
- 6049(T) to Riverside as a TTX spare allowing 6084 to become a permanent TEN vehicle. This would displace 3963.
- 6007 / 6050 to Riverside / Hexham as spares for the TEN. Displacing 3941 / 3942.
- 6051 and 3941 to Deptford as FAB 56 spares allowing the service to be re-increased to every 10 minutes if warranted with a PVR of 16.
- 6052 and 3942 to Percy Main as Cobalt Clipper spares allowing the PVR to be increased to 17 if warranted.
- 6053 and 6054 to CLS for the Angel and fitted with hybrid flywheel technology displacing 3962.
- 6055 to CLS and acting as a spare for the Angel alongside 3965.
- This would then leave 3962, 3963 and 3964.
- 3962 could then transfer to Riverside as a last resort spare.
- 3963 and 3964 (which are both complete and utter goners) could then replace 3866 / 3867 at Percy Main for DFDS work.

I know that it seems daft replacing 4/5 year old buses but, the Red Arrows is due a refresh with new NSAs and could even do with Power Sockets and there have been many unforeseen PVR increases to services such as the TEN and the Angel and if the 12 minute frequency becomes too much of a strain on the Fab 56 or if the Cobalt Clipper needs an extra bus to take passengers from Arriva and tackle congestion issues at Cobalt, then they'd be able to achieve both things without having buses running in threes or being stuck at Cobalt.

And lets not forget that 6001-6006 would be the most suitable vehicles for the X21 compared to the risk of hammering a Cummins or a low capacity Volvo or Daimler engine up and down all the way from Bishop to Newcastle. I know that they could last 3-4 years but anything beyond that and they'd be heading for trouble. 6001-6006 could give 5 years of service with minimal issues bar the typical Wrightbus 'lecky faults'.