With "Toon Link" service 12 being upgraded with the former "Blaydon Racers" branded Mercedes Citaro 0530N/Mercedes Citaro vehicles, now internally refurbished and repainted into a plain black base livery, this vehicle has transferred from Riverside Depot to Stanley. Upcoming service changes in May will see the "Toon Link" brand encompass services 6, X30/X31 and X70/X71 with a mixed allocation of Scania OmniCitys and Scania OmniDekkas (the latter of which are currently undergoing repaint). This vehicle's sub-branding for service 12 is planned to be stripped and replaced with new branding imminently.
Following the completion of modifications at Thornton Brothers, Ashington, this vehicle has returned to service within Riverside's Driver Training fleet.
Following the completion of modifications at Thornton Brothers, Ashington, this vehicle has returned to service within Riverside's Driver Training fleet.
Pending commencement of the new X55 service; this vehicle has entered service at Sunderland Depot, where it will be trialled on service X24 (Sunderland - Newcastle). The purpose of the trial is to allow Stagecoach to gauge whether coaches would be an improvement over the current single-deck Scania K270UB/Scania Omnilink buses which operate on this express route. During the trial period, it will also allow Stagecoach to undertake maintenance on 24001 - 24003, which have suffered reliability issues as of late. This vehicle is expected to remain at Sunderland until 12th May 2017.
This vehicle has been treated to a partial repaint into Go North East's new corporate livery. The new livery design is a a lot more eye-catching and features a two-tone base livery, with the traditional key colour of red towards the front of the bus, and non-metallic dark blue towards the back. This example carries the tagline "Never miss your stop | Many of our buses have next stop screens and announcements"
Having previously carried "SimpliCity" branding, this vehicle has been repainted into a plain blue base livery. From Saturday 3rd June 2017, the operation of "See it, Do it, Sunderland" service 36 will transfer from Deptford Depot to Chester-le-Street. As Chester-le-Street do not have any Mercedes Citaros at the moment; service 36 will instead be allocated Optare Versas in a new blue base livery (albeit with amendments to the branding), which will standardise the vehicle types at each depot.
This vehicle has been temporarily withdrawn from service at Riverside Depot and released for internal refurbished and repaint at Bus & Coach World, Blackburn.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 returned to Go North East following internal refurbishment and repaint into a plain black base livery. It is currently undergoing preparation for service at Saltmeadows Road Depot prior to allocation to Riverside Depot.
Following the completion of modifications at Thornton Brothers, Ashington, this vehicle has returned to service within Riverside's Driver Training fleet.
In line with the gradual cascade of Scania L94UB/Wright Solars 4961 - 4965 to Riverside's Driver Training fleet following the completion of modifications at Thornton Brothers, Ashington, this vehicle has been withdrawn from service.
