One thing I don't think that's helped Arriva is all the Clean Air Zones being introduced or planned to be introduced, the one in Leicester has ended up in a swap shop of buses between depots and divisions. They are now running into the same issue as GNE with Citaros which can't be made Euro 6 with current supplier (or just don't want to) on Green Line routes so are supposedly getting E200MMCs from somewhere to take their place.

If you think we've got it bad, should see some of the other fleets that are still running older stuff than us, there's still W reg Dennis Trident ALX400s running around Luton and 51 plate MPDs in some areas. Think our problem is the nature of some of our routes are just killers.

One thing I don't think that's helped Arriva is all the Clean Air Zones being introduced or planned to be introduced, the one in Leicester has ended up in a swap shop of buses between depots and divisions. They are now running into the same issue as GNE with Citaros which can't be made Euro 6 with current supplier (or just don't want to) on Green Line routes so are supposedly getting E200MMCs from somewhere to take their place.

If you think we've got it bad, should see some of the other fleets that are still running older stuff than us, there's still W reg Dennis Trident ALX400s running around Luton and 51 plate MPDs in some areas. Think our problem is the nature of some of our routes are just killers.

The Green Line 724 is getting 7 E200MMCs from Maidstone to replace the 7 Citaros at Harlow which are going to Guildford, which then replace 7 Optare Versas which are going to Maidstone. This because the Citaros don't comply with TfL's Euro 6 emissions requirements., The 724 from Harlow to Heathrow enters the TfL area North West of Uxbridge and Heathrow is also in same area.

First Berkshire are also transferring their remaining Citaros to First Midlands at Worcester, which are being replaced by Volvo B7RLEs from Southampton (these are being replaced by StreetLites from Portsmouth following the delivery of a batch of E200MMCs there at the end of 2019). First Berkshire operates three services to Heathrow and one into Uxbridge which these Citaros will not be permitted to be used.

A month after the PVR reduction, which should have seen the 4 Volvos all parked, 3 of the 4 are still being used. 7445 is on the X20 today, with 7446/7484 on the 35/X21/X22 circuit (old B7TLs making everyday journeys sparkle).

7514 was VOR for nearly a month, made it a (nearly) whole two days in service before coming off the road again.

1579 also now been VOR for nearly a month.

4653 has been VOR for the past week, and there's generally at least one off at all times.

7510 hasn't been seen since Friday, but even when it is working it's generally limited to the X30/scholars peak board. Says a lot when the depot staff would prefer to put a 19 year old Volvo B7 onto their premium work ahead of it.

7517 is also enjoying frequent spells off the road.

7530 has been off since Friday, and had been taken out of service 3 times last week.

7553 has been VOR since the 20th Feb.

7556 still hasn't returned from accident repair.

Today, to cover for all the VOR MAX vehicles, 7524/7/8 are on the X15 (7524/7) and X14 (7528). It's a similar story most days with at least a couple of them on there.

A month after the PVR reduction, which should have seen the 4 Volvos all parked, 3 of the 4 are still being used. 7445 is on the X20 today, with 7446/7484 on the 35/X21/X22 circuit (old B7TLs making everyday journeys sparkle).

7514 was VOR for nearly a month, made it a (nearly) whole two days in service before coming off the road again.

1579 also now been VOR for nearly a month.

4653 has been VOR for the past week, and there's generally at least one off at all times.

7510 hasn't been seen since Friday, but even when it is working it's generally limited to the X30/scholars peak board. Says a lot when the depot staff would prefer to put a 19 year old Volvo B7 onto their premium work ahead of it.

7517 is also enjoying frequent spells off the road.

7530 has been off since Friday, and had been taken out of service 3 times last week.

7553 has been VOR since the 20th Feb.

7556 still hasn't returned from accident repair.

Today, to cover for all the VOR MAX vehicles, 7524/7/8 are on the X15 (7524/7) and X14 (7528). It's a similar story most days with at least a couple of them on there.

Just had a look there as was curious, guessing 7510 is broken like the rest.

Seems that 7484 had broken down or it's been swapped at Bedlington station by 7554 at 10am, unusual place if it was meant.

Seems like Ashington are running very short atm, especially now that the Max buses are yet again on the 57/57A, 7512 being on today since 1801 and (as usual) 2809 are off the road. Don't think there's any spares buses now at all so anymore breakdowns will be a cancelled service unless I've missed some buses.

Just had a look there as was curious, guessing 7510 is broken like the rest.

Seems that 7484 had broken down or it's been swapped at Bedlington station by 7554 at 10am, unusual place if it was meant.

Seems like Ashington are running very short atm, especially now that the Max buses are yet again on the 57/57A, 7512 being on today since 1801 and (as usual) 2809 are off the road. Don't think there's any spares buses now at all so anymore breakdowns will be a cancelled service unless I've missed some buses.

Yeah I'm led to believe 7484 failed at Bedlington Station. 7446 also failed in Ashington bus station around the same time but they got that going again and picked up its run an hour or so later on the return leg. 

I've been critical of the lack of investment, but ultimately this looks more and more like it's just shoddy maintenance at Ashington. In the space of a month you'd like to think they'd get to the point where they could meet PVR without having to use vehicles that should be parked up. 7514 being off for a month then being taken off on its second day screams of an incomplete repair and/or inadequate road testing. The amount of times 7530 failed last week equally reeks of engineers patching it, or not being bothered to properly diagnose and fix a problem. Again, with the frequency 7517 is taken off the road I think it's fair to assume it has an ongoing issue - competent management at depot level should be aware of that and demanding answers from engineering staff as to why it is - and getting them to fix it properly. Eventually customers notice the same vehicles having issues, and it starts to look bad on the company. I was on an Elite i up here in September which failed just outside of Aberdeen, one of the regulars got off and you could hear him saying to the driver that it was the second day running the same bus had failed in virtually the same location - punters pay attention to these things when it inconveniences them.

Are there any legal consequences that could arise because of this?

Yeah I'm led to believe 7484 failed at Bedlington Station. 7446 also failed in Ashington bus station around the same time but they got that going again and picked up its run an hour or so later on the return leg. 

I've been critical of the lack of investment, but ultimately this looks more and more like it's just shoddy maintenance at Ashington. In the space of a month you'd like to think they'd get to the point where they could meet PVR without having to use vehicles that should be parked up. 7514 being off for a month then being taken off on its second day screams of an incomplete repair and/or inadequate road testing. The amount of times 7530 failed last week equally reeks of engineers patching it, or not being bothered to properly diagnose and fix a problem. Again, with the frequency 7517 is taken off the road I think it's fair to assume it has an ongoing issue - competent management at depot level should be aware of that and demanding answers from engineering staff as to why it is - and getting them to fix it properly. Eventually customers notice the same vehicles having issues, and it starts to look bad on the company. I was on an Elite i up here in September which failed just outside of Aberdeen, one of the regulars got off and you could hear him saying to the driver that it was the second day running the same bus had failed in virtually the same location - punters pay attention to these things when it inconveniences them.

Yeah I seen 7446 died but didn't know whether it was the tracking breaking again like on 2809.

God knows what's going on there lately, they've got an awful lot of buses off the road though. Wonder if there's something up with Arriva NE and Enviro's tho as it seems there's 6/12 VOR at Durham and Darlo aswell or they're not using them but I believe Darlington has been loaning buses from Stockton due to shortages (or it may have been the other way round). Agreed with the comments about customers noticing though, definitely something very wrong lately.

Be interesting to see if timetables go back to normal next week for the schools going back as Ashington are in trouble if they do due to a lack of buses.

Are there any legal consequences that could arise because of this?

Lost mileage could be an issue.
If it is being recorded and reported accurately. 

It was a lot easier to cover it up in the past and for operators to tell a complaining passenger that 'the bus definitely ran' and subsequently claim for BSOG or other financial incentives. 
With the advent of all the open data and tracking, I'd imagine it is a lot more difficult for an operator to cover up the lost mileage and fraudulent BSOG claims, should DVSA or anyone else start sniffing around in a determined enough fashion.

Lost mileage could be an issue.
If it is being recorded and reported accurately. 

It was a lot easier to cover it up in the past and for operators to tell a complaining passenger that 'the bus definitely ran' and subsequently claim for BSOG or other financial incentives. 
With the advent of all the open data and tracking, I'd imagine it is a lot more difficult for an operator to cover up the lost mileage and fraudulent BSOG claims, should DVSA or anyone else start sniffing around in a determined enough fashion.

I'd imagine this is part of the problem. They're meeting service by either patching stuff and pushing it out, or by using the likes of B7TLs on Sapphire work, so on the surface it probably seems fine as long as all the runs are covered right? But then punters will be pushed away when the same board for weeks on end is allocated whatever they can find at the end of the runout. Used to be the 0735/0755 X22 to Newcastle, which were the last two boards out the depot, think it's now the 0752 35 to Morpeth. I'd imagine those passengers will eventually get quite annoyed when every day they're given a clapped out MAX E400 (any of 7511/2/4-7) or a B7TL instead of a Sapphire E400.

To add further insult to injury today Darlington currently have 1422 and 1423 on loan unsure whether it’s in replacement on 1445/1448 that have been on loan or if there really that short, just seems odd that we’re loaning buses of other depots when there’s load of buses up the depot that aren’t being used

To add further insult to injury today Darlington currently have 1422 and 1423 on loan unsure whether it’s in replacement on 1445/1448 that have been on loan or if there really that short, just seems odd that we’re loaning buses of other depots when there’s load of buses up the depot that aren’t being used

Yeah apparently they have replaced those two.