(07 Oct 2019, 10:26 am)Michael wrote Hopefully the older deckers are withdrawn then, i'm not even sure whats withdrawing what, since Wrightbus collapsed, i would imagine they've waited to order the X1 deckers and gone back to the drawing board... but i have a feeling they've ordered E400MMC's for the X1.

We will just have to wait and see, its not collapsed yet and is still trading, just need to find a buyer then full steam ahead

(07 Oct 2019, 10:36 am)JP6004 wrote

We will just have to wait and see, its not collapsed yet and is still trading, just need to find a buyer then full steam ahead

So with it still trading, can GNE recieve the buses already built?

(07 Oct 2019, 10:39 am)Michael wrote So with it still trading, can GNE recieve the buses already built?

I believe so, there are 50 staff still working at wrightbus, however not sure on what positions they are holding. So yes the buses may be ready to be shipped over, however there may not be anyone to deliver them.....

(07 Oct 2019, 9:42 am)JP6004 wrote

The vehicle type will have little effect on their use in the future. It depends on previous exposure to public transport.

Any children who have always been driven round by mammy and daddy will probably never step on a bus unless they have no other option.

Anyway I think a big point that everyone is missing. Prior to 2011 there was almost a decade long gap in the order of new DD (excluding the original Geminis 05/06 reg). Since 2011 new or ex-dealer DD have been acquired every financial year. However a handful have gone to upgrading single deck services to DD (10, 56, 309/310), which has lead to the generally younger single deck age as opposed to DD. No doubt with continued DD investment, it wont be too far in the future where the B9s go into scholars work.

Lets not forget also, a few years ago when GNE had very little school contracts, great swaithes of older DD were withdrawn. Obviously they have had to build up their DD for the new scholars work. But even if GNE were as rich as a Russian Oligarch and could afford to buy new DD for scholars every year, do you think that the short timescale from tenders being awarded to start of new school year is a bit short notice? From order to delivery, do you think they would manage to have them for service at start of new term?

I think if the contracts weren't awarded on a yearly basis then, there may be definite scope for improving scholars, however we have seen how things can change year to year. However surely anything to reduce fleet age should be welcome? Or would we much rather the Vykings to still be kicking round in another 5 years?

Hence referring to the inflexibility of some scholars...

I'd hazard a guess that anyone spending 5/7 years on a school bus that has a tired interior and is prone to condensation, rattling and mildew will be put off public transport to some extent.

There's a reason GNE are increasingly adapting their pricing and marketing towards the younger generations and I would argue that the on-board WiFi, sockets etc are certainly something that is fitted with younger people in mind.

It goes without saying that younger people are the next generation of car drivers.

Surely you would want to give them a taste of something nicer than a 15 year old decker? I'm not sure anyone has said they need to buy a brand new vehicle for a short-term contract either. 

Time and time again we hear about 'workhorses' and 'reliability', 'not missing a beat' or being 'lovely to drive'. 

Thats brill. Lovely.

The drivers aren't the ones sitting paying the fares and being inconvenienced in dragging out a passport for the privilege. 

With regards to the latest Scanias from Brighton, these 5 have had engine modifications to bring them up to a higher Euro level, looking at the photos they have the same additional vents as the Solars that were done around here.

(07 Oct 2019, 11:09 am)Rapidsnap wrote With regards to the latest Scanias from Brighton, these 5 have had engine modifications to bring them up to a higher Euro level, looking at the photos they have the same additional vents as the Solars that were done around here.

Are they Euro 5 or 6?

(07 Oct 2019, 4:40 am)Dan wrote

I mean, the alternative is to not invest at all, like other operators in the region!

Putting any bias to one side; in the current economic climate, the level of investment Go North East is putting into new Euro 6 vehicles, newer pre-owned bus acquisitions and Euro 6 exhaust modifications is commendable.

Out of interest, did the exhaust modifications take advantage of the various grants on offer for such work?

FWIW though, can't fault GNE for the investment.

(07 Oct 2019, 11:06 am)Andreos1 wrote

Hence referring to the inflexibility of some scholars...

I'd hazard a guess that anyone spending 5/7 years on a school bus that has a tired interior and is prone to condensation, rattling and mildew will be put off public transport to some extent.

There's a reason GNE are increasingly adapting their pricing and marketing towards the younger generations and I would argue that the on-board WiFi, sockets etc are certainly something that is fitted with younger people in mind.

It goes without saying that younger people are the next generation of car drivers.

Surely you would want to give them a taste of something nicer than a 15 year old decker? I'm not sure anyone has said they need to buy a brand new vehicle for a short-term contract either. 

Time and time again we hear about 'workhorses' and 'reliability', 'not missing a beat' or being 'lovely to drive'. 

Thats brill. Lovely.

The drivers aren't the ones sitting paying the fares and being inconvenienced in dragging out a passport for the privilege. 

As more is invested and the company goes through the natural churn, higher spec vehicles will eventually end up on scholar services - with sockets and wifi. However, Im pretty sure they travel on more buses than just the scholars. Do they not goo to town/ metrocentre etc. Think they are well aware of the superiority of front line services.

(07 Oct 2019, 11:13 am)Michael wrote Are they Euro 5 or 6?

I would assume Euro 5, they do have the same engine as the L94UBs.

(07 Oct 2019, 11:51 am)JP6004 wrote

As more is invested and the company goes through the natural churn, higher spec vehicles will eventually end up on scholar services - with sockets and wifi. However, Im pretty sure they travel on more buses than just the scholars. Do they not goo to town/ metrocentre etc. Think they are well aware of the superiority of front line services.

I'd hope higher spec vehicles were allocated through churn, but can't see it myself.

More money to be made selling a high spec decker than sticking it on a scholars.

As for being aware of higher spec vehicles, I reckon a proportion will use the bus to the Metrocentre or Newcastle on a weekend.

A proportion will get lifts off mammy and daddy, some will be playing football or some other sports and a proportion won't have a service - cos there's no money to be made on an evening or weekend.

I can purely base that assumption on eldest Constantopolous and his mates. I speak from experience.

Started driving lessons not long after his 17th birthday and passed his test a few months later.

He had been a bus user and had the benefit of his T&W Pop Card to mitigate costs.

Fancy interior or not; gaining independence, convenience and not being at the whims of GNE operational decisions were a priority.

He used a commercial service to/from school (with all the perks it had) until he left.

He's not the first of his group to do this and wasn't the last. I'd hazard a guess that his group aren't unique.

Go North East 6165 / YN54 AOR by kieron mathews, on Flickr

Here’s a photo of 6165 at Hownsgill Depot this afternoon.

Fleetnumbers are as follows for the OmniDekkas:

6162 YN04GJK
6163 YN54AOM
6164 YN54AOP
6165 YN54AOR
6166 YN54AOT


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

When I was in school, I maybe used the scholars the scholars service a few times, and the rest of the time I used the commercial service that went the same route bar going down the hill to the school.

The main reason was because the buses put on the scholars service were awful, they were old, loud, leaky, unreliable, freezing in the winter. And if I'm being honest, if there wasn't a commercial service that went to the school, I probably would have refused to travel by bus!

I mean, I am a bit of a snob when it comes to which buses I get on, I will wait an extra half an hour to wait for a StreetDeck on the X21 rather than get an OmniDekka or whatever other bus they've dragged out the scrap heap to put on the X21 today.

And honestly, it's not like I need to travel by bus, I could easily afford to travel by car, and if they hadn't upgraded the X21 I would probably have a car, and I probably would have ruled out Bishop Auckland as a place to look for a house!

It seems like i'm a bit older than most on here as my first memories of a school bus was getting the Armstrong galley bus to school. It was coach style but dont think it was brand new in any shape or form. Im sure we got a double Decker busways bus on occasion and they definitely were not new. But in the last year Henry Cooper took over and although the bus/coach was by no means just out of the factory it was comfortable, reliable and we even got to watch VHS on the screens on the bus!

The following years i just got the "normal bus" home as the they change the route of the scholars

(07 Oct 2019, 2:16 pm)Rob44 wrote

It seems like i'm a bit older than most on here as my first memories of a school bus was getting the Armstrong galley bus to school. It was coach style but dont think it was brand new in any shape or form. Im sure we got a double Decker busways bus on occasion and they definitely were not new. But in the last year Henry Cooper took over and although the bus/coach was by no means just out of the factory it was comfortable, reliable and we even got to watch VHS on the screens on the bus!

The following years i just got the "normal bus" home as the they change the route of the scholars

Mk1 Nationals and ECW Olympians for me in the main, when I first started.

Operated by Philly and Washington depots and out on service work afterwards, so usually in good nick internally.

Could always work out the shift patterns too. Whoever drove the Oly on a morning, always ended up on the 194 that passed the school just as we came out on an afternoon.

Never worked what the PM runs worked off, as I tended to get a 'normal bus' home.

Well more reminiscing on Am runs we had a dedicated bus that did x65 consett to durham then our school bus followed by rest of the day on consett to Newcastle express. Initially it was 5090 Leyland leopard/willowbrook, on withdrawal it became 5102 Leyland Tiger/plaxton in superliner livery!!! Evening return was Leyland atlanteens definitely not as comfortable as morning journeys.

(07 Oct 2019, 11:39 am)Chris 1 wrote

Out of interest, did the exhaust modifications take advantage of the various grants on offer for such work?

FWIW though, can't fault GNE for the investment.

Largely yes, but it doesn't cover the full cost... As is always the case with these grants, there's some investment required by the operator too.

(07 Oct 2019, 2:02 pm)TEN 6083 wrote  
Fleetnumbers are as follows for the OmniDekkas:

6162 YN04GJK
6163 YN54AOM
6164 YN54AOP
6165 YN54AOR
6166 YN54AOT


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Presumably the fleet numbers allocated for this batch of OmniDekkas is confirmation that the previously expected longer vehicles will not now be arriving, as these five re-use numbers previously reported as intended for the longer examples.

(06 Oct 2019, 9:52 pm)Rapidsnap wrote Only a handful of longer lengths have gone to Bluestar so far.

As for Blackpool etc having newer fleets, I wouldn't be suprised if the vehicles are actually leased rather than owned by the operator in the case of Blackpool, as for Nottingham they did get a lot of green bus funding plus plenty of council backing as they want to reduce emissions in the city.

As for Lothian I suspect most vehicles are owned by them, but the likes of them Green Arrow coaches, I wouldn't be suprised if they were leased.

I think Bluestar are getting up to 9 of the long Omnidekka from B&H -

Not sure if it’s been mentioned already but 5323 is back in service - just seen it on a 93

I heard some rumours yesterday that management had been on the X21 last week and are planning on changing the route around Woodhouse Estate.

Probably something to do with the fact that very few people, especially with the times that it runs the full route. Anyone who works in Newcastle and lives in Tindale (which granted I imagine there are very few) either has to walk into Woodhouse to catch the 06:34 which gets into Newcastle at 8:28 or still catch the more frequent Arriva 6 to Durham then get the 21 to Newcastle.

And as for evenings, the last but GNE has that goes through Woodhouse leaves Newcastle at 16:05, which is absolutely useless for anyone that works a 9-5.

As much as I like the direct connection to Newcastle, I think they should have kept the 18 and X21 separate, the only reason they got rid of the 18 was to close Crook so they could save money

Sent from my LM-G710 using Tapatalk

(07 Oct 2019, 7:38 pm)Ianthegoon wrote

Presumably the fleet numbers allocated for this batch of OmniDekkas is confirmation that the previously expected longer vehicles will not now be arriving, as these five re-use numbers previously reported as intended for the longer examples.

So how about renumbering 6176 to 6170, to tidy up the fleetnumbers of the longer OmniDekkas into consecutive numbers 6167-6171.

Just a thought!

(08 Oct 2019, 3:15 pm)N391OTY wrote

So how about renumbering 6176 to 6170, to tidy up the fleetnumbers of the longer OmniDekkas into consecutive numbers 6167-6171.

Just a thought!

Unless there's more 2nd hand buses coming up from elsewhere in the Go Ahead company, i would think they would just fit in to those numbers.

(07 Oct 2019, 1:04 pm)Rapidsnap wrote

I would assume Euro 5, they do have the same engine as the L94UBs.

Euro 5 indeed, like the long wheelbase examples, so another good reason to introduce them to the fleet (better for air quality, replacing Euro 4).

(07 Oct 2019, 9:08 pm)busmanT wrote

I think Bluestar are getting up to 9 of the long Omnidekka from B&H -

If the plan hasn't changed, I believe Bluestar are in line to acquire 685-688 and 905/9/11-14 from Brighton & Hove. The long wheelbase examples are the 9xx series ones.

Photos have emerged of the new E400's for the X30 and East Yorkshire.

https://twitter.com/DanGrahamGNE/status/...15425?s=19

Thanks to Dan.

(08 Oct 2019, 7:36 pm)Michael wrote Photos have emerged of the new E400's for the X30 and East Yorkshire.

https://twitter.com/DanGrahamGNE/status/...15425?s=19

Thanks to Dan.

I mean, the E400 will never be a good looking bus, but it does look quite sharp in that metallic gold!

Still not sure on the interior, just screams East Yorkshire to me! It's the red walls that I don't like, if they were a more neutral colour I don't think it would look as bad

Just a quick photoshop of what it would look like with grey panels, I think it looks 10x better, a lot brighter

(08 Oct 2019, 7:40 pm)streetdeckfan wrote

I mean, the E400 will never be a good looking bus, but it does look quite sharp in that metallic gold!

Still not sure on the interior, just screams East Yorkshire to me! It's the red walls that I don't like, if they were a more neutral colour I don't think it would look as bad

Just a quick photoshop of what it would look like with grey panels, I think it looks 10x better, a lot brighter

I like the red more tbh.

Wonder if the Streetdecks would of been the same inside, like red inside panels etc

(08 Oct 2019, 8:09 pm)Michael wrote I like the red more tbh.

Wonder if the Streetdecks would of been the same inside, like red inside panels etc

I just think it looks a bit too dark with the red. I would imagine the StreetDecks would be the same, since they have the same design of seat only on V3s instead of ADL SmartSeats

With the ex-EY E400MMC being numbered 6337, does that mean we can assume the E400s will be numbered 6334-37, then presumably if the StreetDecks arrive they'll be numbered 6338 onwards?

If so that means it it'll be:

6301-6307 = 16 plate StreetDecks

6308-6314 = 67 plate B5s

6315-6333 = 67 plate StreetDecks

6334-6337 = 69 plate E400s

6338 on‌wards = 69 plate StreetDecks

Wouldn't it have made more sense to number the 69 plate StreetDecks directly after the 67 plates? That is assuming they even arrive

(08 Oct 2019, 8:22 pm)streetdeckfan wrote

I just think it looks a bit too dark with the red. I would imagine the StreetDecks would be the same, since they have the same design of seat only on V3s instead of ADL SmartSeats

With the ex-EY E400MMC being numbered 6337, does that mean we can assume the E400s will be numbered 6334-37, then presumably if the StreetDecks arrive they'll be numbered 6338 onwards?

If so that means it it'll be:

6301-6307 = 16 plate StreetDecks

6308-6314 = 67 plate B5s

6315-6333 = 67 plate StreetDecks

6334-6337 = 69 plate E400s

6338 on‌wards = 69 plate StreetDecks

Wouldn't it have made more sense to number the 69 plate StreetDecks directly after the 67 plates? That is assuming they even arrive

They've probables put the Enviro 400's in that gap, incase the Streetdecks might not arrive, as you said.

I'm sure i read theres another E400 from EY arriving.

(08 Oct 2019, 8:22 pm)streetdeckfan wrote

I just think it looks a bit too dark with the red. I would imagine the StreetDecks would be the same, since they have the same design of seat only on V3s instead of ADL SmartSeats

With the ex-EY E400MMC being numbered 6337, does that mean we can assume the E400s will be numbered 6334-37, then presumably if the StreetDecks arrive they'll be numbered 6338 onwards?

If so that means it it'll be:

6301-6307 = 16 plate StreetDecks

6308-6314 = 67 plate B5s

6315-6333 = 67 plate StreetDecks

6334-6337 = 69 plate E400s

6338 on‌wards = 69 plate StreetDecks

Wouldn't it have made more sense to number the 69 plate StreetDecks directly after the 67 plates? That is assuming they even arrive

What difference does it make?

(08 Oct 2019, 7:40 pm)streetdeckfan wrote

I mean, the E400 will never be a good looking bus, but it does look quite sharp in that metallic gold!

Still not sure on the interior, just screams East Yorkshire to me! It's the red walls that I don't like, if they were a more neutral colour I don't think it would look as bad

Just a quick photoshop of what it would look like with grey panels, I think it looks 10x better, a lot brighter

TBH I don't think the average passenger will even care about what colour scheme is inside.   Hardly a matter of life or death here is it?