They must be forgetting about the other 19 new vehicles they also got, if they are sulking about this.

Nice to see you're ignoring that only 4 of the 5 due to transfer actually have, due to the other one being VOR. Also, two of those that did make the journey were defective on arrival. It's already back to where they were in August and it's not even been a week. 

Understand the logic of them sending them to Darlington, but you can't try and argue that Ashington should be grateful for Solo's because of their other 19 new vehicles - the Solo's were arguably one of the biggest issues.

Basically the solos are shit,and nobody wants them, i give it a week until 'due to a breakdown' blah blah blah is a regularly occurance, thats if Arriva do that

Would be funny if these E200s started bottoming out on Darlington routes too...

I'm curious to know on where or how they are bottoming out considering similar sized MPDs have been running around the regions roads without issues for over 20 years.

I'm curious to know on where or how they are bottoming out considering similar sized MPDs have been running around the regions roads without issues for over 20 years.

It's nonsense. how could a vehicle with that wheelbase bottom out when Solos and even Pulsars on the same routes didn't...

It's nonsense. how could a vehicle with that wheelbase bottom out when Solos and even Pulsars on the same routes didn't...

I read the Darlington MP kicked up a fuss about them not getting due new buses to replace older unreliable buses in Darlington and Arriva then moved them over to keep him happy, personally i'd of told him where to go given they were bought with the Newcastle Emission Zone coming into effect soon and I doubt Arriva will want to buy more new buses anytime soon.

It's nonsense. how could a vehicle with that wheelbase bottom out when Solos and even Pulsars on the same routes didn't...

The Enviro 200 MMC has a large overhang at the front - the front is curved rather than straight on the darts, the Solo's are wheel forward and the Pulsars curve upwards.

I'm assuming that's the issue as it's a problem - here's one doing it in Mansfield - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js06omVwCUU

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I read the Darlington MP kicked up a fuss about them not getting due new buses to replace older unreliable buses in Darlington and Arriva then moved them over to keep him happy, personally i'd of told him where to go given they were bought with the Newcastle Emission Zone coming into effect soon and I doubt Arriva will want to buy more new buses anytime soon.

Leicester are getting an order of new buses soon and there's a massive order of electrics for Leeds. Arriva are the operator which are investing the most lately and are keeping to their 15 year rule generally unlike other operators (Stagecoach).

That Trent Barton Enviro 200MMC looks as if it's still in the kneeling position.

If it's scraping on speed bumps whilst still in that position, then they going to find they have a worse time in Darlington, they love their speedbumps down there.

I read the Darlington MP kicked up a fuss about them not getting due new buses to replace older unreliable buses in Darlington and Arriva then moved them over to keep him happy, personally i'd of told him where to go given they were bought with the Newcastle Emission Zone coming into effect soon and I doubt Arriva will want to buy more new buses anytime soon.

Thing with that is they're not really required with that in mind now since the withdrawal of the 46/46A and changes to the 51 & 55 which are now seemingly allocated full size buses for the most part and the rest of the mini output in the Newcastle area now (553, 555 as examples) don't touch the CAZ so realistically with the changes in mind it seemed inevitable they would be shipped out to somewhere within the Durham County part of the operation, Darlington argubly making most sense given they had the most of the 08/58 plates to offload and at Darlington they can be allocated to all sorts of work and can be used pretty much all day, every day on likes town work and the newly awarded contract to run the X21 between Sedgefield and Peterlee on a night.

I will say however that it is rather poor form that Ashington lost their examples for the 57/57A and are now being replaced with 13 year Solo's, just 2 months after withdrawing examples which were only about a year older which weren't the most reliable. Can sorta see why they decided go go down this route for standardisation etc but its not the greatest look.

Is Darlington now totally Solo free or are they retaining any of the 11/61 plates?

Looks like Optare Solo 2836 is now the Arriva Walkergate canteen

Seen some max E400s at SNE walkergate passing on the metro, don’t suppose they now having some ops out of there temporarily

Seen some max E400s at SNE walkergate passing on the metro, don’t suppose they now having some ops out of there temporarily

https://www.northeastbuses.co.uk/forum/s...#pid287644

Fleet details of what's working out of there.

Is Darlington now totally Solo free or are they retaining any of the 11/61 plates?

Darlington remains reliant on Solos. There are still around 6 in operation with no current prospect of removal. Other plans must be in the pipeline for replacement.  Many Darlington services are already on reduced frequencies and are operating on temporary 50 % ( or so) timetables. The 2, 4, 9, 10, 13a, 13b are examples.  There is no scope within the current fleet to allow a return normal levels even when driver availability allows.  So,add in the needs of Ashington and Durham and clearly something will have to be done.

Is Darlington now totally Solo free or are they retaining any of the 11/61 plates?

Darlington remains reliant on Solos. There are still around 6 in operation with no current prospect of removal. Other plans must be in the pipeline for replacement.  Many Darlington services are already on reduced frequencies and are operating on temporary 50 % ( or so) timetables. The 2, 4, 9, 10, 13a, 13b are examples.  There is no scope within the current fleet to allow a return normal levels even when driver availability allows.  So,add in the needs of Ashington and Durham and clearly something will have to be done.

According to BusTimes the only ones still in use at Darlington within the past couple days are 2833, 2841, 2857 and 2858. 2860/61/64/65 have transferred to Durham - two of which appear to be tracking as 2850/2851.

2857/58 are in the Reserve fleet - looks like they'll stay at Darlington for the time being. 2833/41 are down to be withdrawn, perhaps being retained because 1593/94 appear to be off road or maybe as repaint floats. 

I would hardly say Darlington are 'reliant' on Solos. 

As for the reduced frequencies, other than the 2/2a, I can see the rest being permanent now or at least semi-permanent, 'normal levels' aren't really a thing anymore, it's been 2 and a half years now. Maybe in the next 12-18 months if driver shortages improve they'll get another fleet of MMC's and re-increase them if they're making that much money and/or the MMC's are at capacity on the current frequencies. But the 08 plate Solo's are done and Darlington is largely Solo free.   

Once all the 08 plates are withdrawn as intended there should only be 
2601-3 - At Walkergate for the 553
2837 - At Walkergate for the 555
2852-56 - At Ashington for the 57/57A
2857/58 - Reserve for use across Durham County
2859-61/64-69 - At Durham for the 49/49A/57/57A
2862/63/70/71 - At Whitby for the 95

The word reliant was used to highlight the need for the Solos to meet daily PVR from Darlington depot. Without the Solos, they couldn't do it. Also, when the service reductions to the 2, 4, 9, 10, 13a and 13b (and incidentally the X66/X67) were made drug 2022, all have been stated as being temporary due to driver shortages. Currently, Arrivas stated intent and actual operational capability do not match.

According to BusTimes the only ones still in use at Darlington within the past couple days are 2833, 2841, 2857 and 2858. 2860/61/64/65 have transferred to Durham - two of which appear to be tracking as 2850/2851.

2857/58 are in the Reserve fleet - looks like they'll stay at Darlington for the time being. 2833/41 are down to be withdrawn, perhaps being retained because 1593/94 appear to be off road or maybe as repaint floats. 

I would hardly say Darlington are 'reliant' on Solos. 

As for the reduced frequencies, other than the 2/2a, I can see the rest being permanent now or at least semi-permanent, 'normal levels' aren't really a thing anymore, it's been 2 and a half years now. Maybe in the next 12-18 months if driver shortages improve they'll get another fleet of MMC's and re-increase them if they're making that much money and/or the MMC's are at capacity on the current frequencies. But the 08 plate Solo's are done and Darlington is largely Solo free.   

Once all the 08 plates are withdrawn as intended there should only be 
2601-3 - At Walkergate for the 553
2837 - At Walkergate for the 555
2852-56 - At Ashington for the 57/57A
2857/58 - Reserve for use across Durham County
2859-61/64-69 - At Durham for the 49/49A/57/57A
2862/63/70/71 - At Whitby for the 95

2833 has been withdrawn the tracking is actually Sapphire Streetlite 1603

The word reliant was used to highlight the need for the Solos to meet daily PVR from Darlington depot. Without the Solos, they couldn't do it. Also, when the service reductions to the 2, 4, 9, 10, 13a and 13b (and incidentally the X66/X67) were made drug 2022,  all have been stated as being temporary due to driver shortages. Currently,  Arrivas stated intent and actual operational capability do not match.

But the Solo's aren't needed to meet the daily PVR...
The MMC's cover the PVR of the 3/3a (3), 4 (2), 9/10 and 13A/13B (7), 12 (2), and 19 (2)
The Ecocity's cover the PVR of the 2/2a (5), X21 (3), X26/X27 (4)
The Omnilink's cover the PVR of the X75/X76 (3)
The Streetlites cover the PVR of the 1/5/5A/X1 (15) and 8/8a (3)
The Sapphire E400's and Pulsars cover the PVR of the 7 (10)
That's not including the standard livery Pulsars as spares. 

If everything is on the road, then they won't need the Solo's. I'd hardly say having two Solo's in a reserve capacity is 'reliant.' 

There's a difference between what has been said to be a 'temporary' service reduction and what will occur long-term. Temporary can mean 6 months or it can mean 2 years. There are no short-term plans to increase the frequencies on any of the town services. At the end of the day if they don't have the drivers what's the point in having the excess vehicles sat around doing nothing - when, or if they re-increase, them however far down the line when they have enough drivers and patronage has recovered, then they'll have to source the vehicles, probably an order of more MMC's.

The point still stands then. The Solos are still needed (or they'd have gone!). Your point is valid in that excess vehicle stocks cannot be maintained. But, Arriva need to be up front with their customers and politically. Temporary is indisputably a variable. However, if as you intimate,it is the case there's likely no intent to recover what has been publicised as a non permanent change, Arriva need to manage their double speak with customers, MPs, councils and the like. Currently their pledge is to improve what have been described as shambolic services in Darlington. They certainly can't progress towards a goal of improvement whilst behind the scenes be stripping out their assets to minimal values. It would be a reasonable supposition that future planning allied to grant support funding applications and the likewill allow service development and increases beyond their current basement and inadequate levels.

The point still stands then. The Solos are still needed (or they'd have gone!). Your point is valid in that excess vehicle stocks cannot be maintained.  But, Arriva need to be up front with their customers and politically. Temporary is indisputably a variable. However, if as you intimate,it is the case there's likely no intent to recover what has been publicised as a non permanent change, Arriva need to manage their double speak with customers, MPs, councils and the like. Currently their pledge is to improve what have been described as shambolic services in Darlington. They certainly can't progress towards a goal of improvement whilst behind the scenes be stripping out their assets to minimal values. It would be a reasonable supposition that future planning allied to grant support funding applications and the likewill allow service development and increases beyond their current basement and inadequate levels.

They may still go...they're reserves for the entirety of Arriva Durham County. Next week they may be operating out of Durham, they go where they are needed. Tbh I think you're being a tad unfair...a fleet of 15-20 odd solo's (as had been the case until last week) is reliance, 2 operating in a reserve float capacity is not. You've got to give them some credit for replacing the vast majority with a fleet of nearly new E200MMC's. I agree they are still needed in some capacity, it was your use of the word 'reliant' I had the issue with - Arriva would still have enough vehicles at Darlington if those two solo's both got written off tomorrow as they're official reserves. Think we may have to agree to disagree on this!

Those service changes were described as 'temporary' in a press release that is no longer available on the Arriva website in any case. The only ones still up there are the 2/2a and Sunday frequencies. Arriva are hardly likely to publicise that they're not going to re-increase the services, technically if they re-increase them in 2024 it was still a temporary change...that lasted 4 years. Not that I think that's a good think! In fairness, they're going someway towards improving the service by providing nearly new vehicles, obviously the next step is to make sure they have enough drivers to operate the services reliably on the current 'temporary' frequencies before even beginning to think about re-increasing them. With the way everything is at the minute I think that's a long way off. You can't blame them for offloading the excess vehicles when they don't have the drivers to run them. While I of course agree they're providing a shambolic service, they're still a business and their hands are tied by the lack of drivers. 

I should also point out, it was actually the Omnicities that were the excess vehicles off-loaded. Arriva withdrew them when the town service frequencies were reduced, pushing the Solo's onto the longer distance services. They did do a swap with some Pulsars from Durham for some 11-plate Solo's which did help. At the end of the day the reduced frequencies have allowed them to withdraw life expired vehicles, at a time when the demand is lower and the driver availability is poor. When things pick up within the next 12-18 months i.e. more drivers, then they can provide a more reliable service, then demand returns, profit increases, and they can afford to buy new vehicles and increase the frequencies. But in the short term it's not going to happen. Having said that it would not surprise me in the slightest if at some point Durham gets more Pulsars from somewhere displacing the E200's onto the 49/49A/57/57A and the 11 plate Solo's end up back at Darlington to re-increase the frequencies. Will remain to be seen I suppose!

2833 has been withdrawn the tracking is  actually Sapphire Streetlite 1603

Does anyone know if 2818 has been withdrawn? It stopped tracking 20th October and started again 31st so thinking it may be one of the transferred Solo's that's tracking as it.

1407/8 have transferred to Durham from Ashington this evening.

Cadet/Merit/Renown type vehicle at Redcar. Tried checking back on here to see what it is. But can't see for looking. 

Tracked last night as 'SP RR' when it appeared on the 62. Too far away (and dark to ID).

Not seen it before. Is it a recent arrival?

Cadet/Merit/Renown type vehicle at Redcar. Tried checking back on here to see what it is. But can't see for looking. 

Tracked last night as 'SP RR' when it appeared on the 62. Too far away (and dark to ID).

Not seen it before. Is it a recent arrival?

2516 - been at Redcar alongside 1923 for about 3 weeks or so now, as cover for the vehicle shortage

Arriva North East 2516 (DK55 FXA) by Tony Kuy, on Flickr

7426 was tracking on the 52/53/54 yesterday on a Walkergate duty, is this a new winter loan or wrong tracking?

7426 was tracking on the 52/53/54 yesterday on a Walkergate duty, is this a new winter loan or wrong tracking?

According to a mate. Its 7509

According to a mate. Its 7509

Yes, I can confirm that. Saw it on the 306 earlier this evening.

Has 7607 ever had a new engine? Dunno if it's a 240/250bhp Cummins ISBe as opposed to 205bhp, but feels rapid almost like a Voith equipped E400 / E400MMC and actually has that Voith whine very similar to an E400 / E400MMC

Sure someone will know but does anyone know what's going on with the Solo's at Ashington (which have been an absolute disaster 'surprisingly'). I'm assuming it's a glitch with the bizarre tracking down in Darlington today but neither of them were in service either (2852/2856, the second being VOR after breaking down, after being pulled the day before for weeks now) and then 2853 is at Jesmond. It's really not working, again, with Decker and Pulsar's on daily.

Not that it's much of a surprise since they just got arid of the last sheds with the exact same problems.

Sure someone will know but does anyone know what's going on with the Solo's at Ashington (which have been an absolute disaster 'surprisingly'). I'm assuming it's a glitch with the bizarre tracking down in Darlington today but neither of them were in service either (2852/2856, the second being VOR after breaking down, after being pulled the day before for weeks now) and then 2853 is at Jesmond. It's really not working, again, with Decker and Pulsar's on daily.

Not that it's much of a surprise since they just got arid of the last sheds with the exact same problems.

Did not realise 2856 had moved back south.

2852/4/5 all appeared on 57/A today, and 2853 (tracking as 2845) has been putting in full shifts on the 553 since it arrived at Jesmond a few weeks ago.