Prior to entering service, this vehicle has received "Black Cats" branding. "Black Cats" is the new brand identity being introduced to encompass a variety of different frequent services in and around the city of Sunderland, promoting the cheap and competitively priced day and weekly tickets available for travel in the city (£3.65 for a day ticket, and £12.15 for a weekly ticket).
In line with the entry into service of new Wright Streetlites on services 2/2A; this vehicle, which was previously allocated to these services and branded as "SimpliCity", has been repainted into Go North East's corporate livery. This example carries the tagline "Recharge your batteries | Many of our buses have power sockets on board"
Following repaint, this vehicle has transferred from Deptford Depot to Riverside. At Riverside, it will operate services 67 (Metrocentre - Wardley) and 69 (Winlaton - Wardley).
This vehicle has transferred from Hexham Depot to Chester-le-Street's Coaching Unit, on temporary loan, to provide extra coaches for the annual Glastonbury Festival.
This vehicle has returned to Go North East following internal refurbishment and repaint into a light grey base livery. The shade of paint is a different colour to the silver previously used on "The Crusader" service 27, with the company moving away from metallic paint colours in favour of standard solid colours, which are easier to maintain and colour-match when panels are damaged and need to be changed. It is currently undergoing preparation for service at Saltmeadows Road Depot prior to allocation to Riverside Depot.
Following completion of annual PSV test; this vehicle has been fitted with free Wi-Fi, and released for internal refurbished and repaint at Bus & Coach World, Blackburn. The extensive refurbishment work includes, but is not limited to, external repaint; deep cleaning of the interior of the vehicle; renewal of floor coverings; cleaning all seat frames and re-trimming seats into leather with USB sockets on the back of every seat; fitting blue accent lighting underneath seats to provide extra light on the gangway; and fitting Next Stop Announcements.
This vehicle has entered service at Deptford Depot on "Black Cats" services 2/2A (Silksworth - Washington) and 39 (Doxford Park - Pennywell). The Optare Versas currently allocated to services 2/2A are in line to be cascaded to another depot, whilst the Scania L94s currently allocated to service 39 are in line to cascade to services 38 and 61 at Deptford.
This vehicle has entered service at Deptford Depot on "Black Cats" services 2/2A (Silksworth - Washington) and 39 (Doxford Park - Pennywell). The Optare Versas currently allocated to services 2/2A are in line to be cascaded to another depot, whilst the Scania L94s currently allocated to service 39 are in line to cascade to services 38 and 61 at Deptford.
Following the cascade of Dennis Dart SLF 4/Alexander Enviro 200s 36461 - 36467 to Hartlepool Depot from South Shields; this vehicle has transferred from Hartlepool Depot to Sunderland, replacing MAN 18.220LF/Alexander ALX300 22215 (T215 TND) as a route-learning vehicle, as part of a scheme to modernise the Driver Training and Route Learning fleets.
Following the entry into service of new Wright Streetlites on "Black Cats" services 2/2A and 39, this vehicle has transferred from Deptford Depot to Chester-le-Street. From Sunday 19th March 2017; Go North East introduced an improved 30-minute frequency to service 13 on Monday to Saturday daytimes, and it will interwork with services 14 and X25. The revised PVR will be 10, and 8 of the vehicles allocated will be single-deck Scania L94UB/Wright Solar vehicles, which are more reliable and will reduce fuel and maintenance costs. With not enough single-decks being available at the time, two Volvo B7TL/Plaxton Presidents were retained, pending the cascade of single-decks from Deptford.
A large number of double-deck vehicles are required over the summer months, due to Go North East being awarded with the contracts to operate additional services for special events and Metro Replacement. As such; this vehicle, which would have otherwise been withdrawn following the cascade of Scania L94UB/Wright Solar vehicles to Chester-le-Street, has instead been moved into a float/reserve capacity at Chester-le-Street Depot, and will transfer between depots where required.
