(22 Dec 2013, 2:21 pm)Davey Bowyer wrote I don't know what will happen to the bus because I got told that any bus that is involved in a serious fatal collision is transferred to another depot. 1498 was transferred from Jesmond to Darlington when that was involved in the crash in Gosforth after repair. What could happen is the bus will probably be swapped after repair with another one around the country saying it is a very new bus that has a limited purpose. It would be no good for any other depot in the North East so it would be likely that they would do a swap with the runcorn depot.

(22 Dec 2013, 11:57 pm)Davey Bowyer wrote I don't get Arriva's fleet policy whatsoever. They just hoy on what they want on any given route with no consistency, poor fleet buying decisions, several London cascades and cascaded high floor vehicles from Yorkshire. Arriva have dug themselves a grave thanks to their ridiculous fleet buying policy of buying on the cheap and not thinking about the long run. They don't see the implications of buying cheap buses that are wholly not suited to the purpose that Arriva would want. One example is the E400 purchases and the VDL DB300 Gemini 2 purchases. Both buses come with the same Cummins Engine that is only designed for use in Towns and Cities. Now Arriva could've shelled out a bit more with regards to the Wrightbus orders and purchased the Volvo B9TL chassis instead. If they had've done that instead if buying the VDL chassis with the Cummins Engine, they would now have a very strong fleet across the Blyth and Ashington depots that would give a good 7 to 10 years of reliability and peformance to Arriva. But did they think about that? No, they just buy the cheapest of the lot and run them into the ground. If GNE had've bought the VDL Gemini instead of the B9TL Gemini for the TEN, TTX and Red Arrows, they'd be constantly be VOR and after just a few years, they would require serious maintenance dueto them being used for the wrong purpose. What is Arriva going to do in years to come when the 9 litre Lowlanders have seen better days? The only option they'll have is to buy average Scania E400's that don't quite match up to the standards of the Volvo B9TL.

(23 Dec 2013, 12:59 am)Kuyoyo wrote No, notice that the B9TLs on the X9/X10 have been proving unreliable in the last few months and they are only 16 months old! The DB300s have proved themselves more than capable on the fast express between Blyth and Newcastle as well as on the X1/X2. And actually, Cummins engines are actually quite decent engines, just depends how they are set up. Also you fail to realise as of Euro6, the Volvo decker is the B5TL, so no 9 litre engine anymore (and funny enough, it was the operators that requests the 5 litre engine, Volvo were originally going for the B8TL to go with the B8RLE and the B8R). As do Scania's deckers! you do realises they can be ordered with 3 different BHP ratings (Stagecoach have been ordering the lowest one, the 230, while there is also the 270 and the 310 options).

As for vehicle allocation, it's the same as everyone else - the newest vehicles are used on the most profitable routes, which are the ones that can justify them.

(23 Dec 2013, 11:10 am)tyresmoke wrote Stockton Omnicity 4659 has re-entered service this morning after a few months off having a new engine fitted. It's on X6s today.

(23 Dec 2013, 11:28 am)Roland Pratt wrote Still no repaint since new then?

ANE-1452.JPG (Size 387.27 KB | Downloads 530)

(24 Dec 2013, 8:34 pm)Kuyoyo wrote The second Pulsar to be de-branded at Stockton is 1452, meaning the end of the '29' branding and officially should see the end of Pulsars on the route

(23 Dec 2013, 10:13 pm)nk55 wrote Noticed 1476 also has only offside branding for the captains tale. Why has it not got nearside branding like 1474?, the X1 "the best one" is branded both sides as has the sapphire. I'm gonna look at the X10/X11 when i'm in newcastle next because it is completely baffling.

(27 Dec 2013, 10:44 am)tyresmoke wrote Training coach 9993 is in Stockton yard today which should be 1212 V212DJR but as it's missing a few front panels I've not been able to check yet.

(30 Dec 2013, 9:34 am)tyresmoke wrote Whitby service changes from 26th January 2014
Service 91 will no longer operate
Service 94 will run to a revised timetable with basic frequency cut from every 20 mins to every 30 mins
Service 95 will be revised to run as a service 95/96 in a loop every 30 mins to Sleights. 95 will run to Sleights via Ruswarp, returning direct via Guisborough Road, while 96 will run in the opposite direction each once an hour.
This means the PVR of town services drops from 3 to 2.

From Easter, the new Whitby Park & Ride will start running from the new build site at Crossbutts on the A171 road out to Guisborough. Buses will run every 15 minutes operating via a loop in the town centre, including the bus station giving links with other services. This will be operated by Arriva with 2 vehicles, which is likely to be Solos. The service will run until the end of October between 0800-1900 every day.

Also starting around the same time is the new "Esk Valley Hopper" which will be a new tourist service running from Whitby to Danby via Ruswarp, Sleights, Grosmont, Egton Bridge and Lealholm every hour between 0900-1600. This will run at weekends and every day during the peak summer holiday season (kids holidays basically) between Easter and October. It will be operated by Coastal & Country.

(30 Dec 2013, 1:28 pm)Michael wrote Are these changes good or bad, not sure of the services in Whitby

Their doing a better job than GNE with announcing changes.. lol