(05 Aug 2018, 6:28 am)RobinHood wrote I dont think that was ever the plan. As far as I know, the brand was refreshed, but there was never a mass repaint/relogo plan. It was all proposed to be done as and when - which could take decades!

(05 Aug 2018, 12:33 pm)GNE6312 wrote Does anyone know uf 4512 has been withdrawn yet?

(05 Aug 2018, 12:13 pm)Adrian wrote Really? Seems a little pointless paying someone to refresh the brand then.

(05 Aug 2018, 12:38 pm)omnicity4659 wrote Would you prefer more older vehicles being reinstated to enable larger batches to be sent in for repaint?

They're always repainting buses into the new livery at Thornton's, however cost and fleet availability keeps this down to about two at a time. At present, the Geminis are having additional work done (interiors) so this will lengthen the process.

The new Arriva brand is already rolled out on a huge scale across the UK and Europe, however the North East faces the above issues.

(05 Aug 2018, 12:35 pm)S830OFT wrote Ages ago.
4523 is only one left now.

(05 Aug 2018, 2:10 pm)Andreos1 wrote Other operators and divisions manage re-paint programmes.
There are ways and means.

The photo GPR has uploaded of the 24 branded decker appearing on the X12 couldn't have been timed better.
That odd coloured front part could have quite easily gone on in the correct scheme.

(05 Aug 2018, 12:38 pm)omnicity4659 wrote Would you prefer more older vehicles being reinstated to enable larger batches to be sent in for repaint?

They're always repainting buses into the new livery at Thornton's, however cost and fleet availability keeps this down to about two at a time. At present, the Geminis are having additional work done (interiors) so this will lengthen the process.

The new Arriva brand is already rolled out on a huge scale across the UK and Europe, however the North East faces the above issues.

(05 Aug 2018, 1:35 pm)S830OFT wrote These are the buses in need of a repaint and refurb at Belmont:
1412, 1413, 2811, 2814, 2818, 2819, 2820.
They've been untouched for atleast 10 years.

(05 Aug 2018, 3:42 pm)mb134 wrote "at least 10 years"

1412/13 aren't even 10 years old...

(05 Aug 2018, 4:29 pm)S830OFT wrote Soon to be...
Just get my point, Belmont are the most lazy depot within the region.

(05 Aug 2018, 8:04 pm)Adrian wrote I wouldn't say the lack of a repaint makes a depot lazy. Whilst I think the way that depot is ran leaves a lot to be desired, it is clearly a lack of corporate priorities, if a bus can sit for 10 years without a lick of paint. As somebody else has said earlier, quality is a huge issue...

(05 Aug 2018, 5:26 pm)9920up wrote Interesting comments about liveries and repaints etc. The point here is about customer service. Currently the customer seems to not count. Arriva are keen to sell their product but the customer doesn't know what the product  or its standard is. Vehicles are turned out in a range of liveries. Beneath that is a range of brands and then labelling for routes beneath those brands. However, arriva consistently and regularly mix these up running incorrect brands and route brands on incorrect routes. We all get the need for maintenance and that vehicles fail but if the company can't adhere to it's own brands, why bother in the first place. All that you get is customer confusion .Arrina fare very badly in this area and were it not for the lack of competition would lose out badly when fighting for customers .

(04 Aug 2018, 6:02 pm)Pulsar wrote Has anybody done the X18 sightseeing tour and is it any good? I have been trying but have failed on 4 attempts as 7529 (with both screen and speakers) as well as 7530 (with speakers only) were not working and 7532 does not have either the screen or speakers installed. I was also on 7517 which does not have the equipment.

(06 Aug 2018, 4:14 pm)Dan wrote I've not done the tour, but I've heard that only certain buses were retrofitted with the Next Stop Announcement system. Seems a bit of a bizarre thing to do, and really limits the amount of buses which can be allocated to the X18 to give this 'guided tour'. After a bit of digging of photos online, I found that 7530 had a TFT monitor upstairs originally but seems to have been removed, and 7532 has never seemingly had one fitted.

Also heard that the speakers are only upstairs, not downstairs, with the justification that locals sit on the bottom-deck who don't want to hear next stop announcements and any tourists would always go to the top deck.

I'm told the reason why the guided tour may not have been available on buses which are fitted with a Next Stop Announcement system is down to the drivers inputting the wrong destination - apparently they have to select code 'T18' in the destination list opposed to 'X18' as normal, which mightn't have been communicated to all of the drivers.

(06 Aug 2018, 4:14 pm)Dan wrote I'm told the reason why the guided tour may not have been available on buses which are fitted with a Next Stop Announcement system is down to the drivers inputting the wrong destination - apparently they have to select code 'T18' in the destination list opposed to 'X18' as normal, which mightn't have been communicated to all of the drivers.

(06 Aug 2018, 6:24 pm)Jimmi wrote Arriva are pretty useless when it comes to this sort of thing, I've noticed many times that the evening & Sunday X66's often get blinded up with the daytime X66 display instead of the via Hartburn & Stockton display which means no stops are announced between Stockton and Great Burdon, although the Sunday service is primarily allocated EcoCity's without NSA equipment.

(05 Aug 2018, 8:45 pm)S830OFT wrote Arriva Whitby lead the way with clean buses, 2828 has been White, Silver and now blue Arriva whilst 2818 has remained in it's cream livery for 10 years now!

(07 Aug 2018, 12:53 am)BeachBoy99 wrote Just a quick question since I've seen some recent replies about them: are the Frequenta and MAX brands now classed as defunct?

If so, how are they when Frequenta is still prominent in Darlington and MAX in-and-around Newcastle?

(07 Aug 2018, 9:34 pm)tyresmoke wrote There is also an option for a Frequent and Express versions of the normal livery but nobody has used them yet

(11 Aug 2018, 3:59 pm)S813 FVK wrote Disappointed to see that 7634 has now gained 308 branding (retains the Pride swoop). Looked much better previously.

(11 Aug 2018, 3:59 pm)S813 FVK wrote Disappointed to see that 7634 has now gained 308 branding (retains the Pride swoop). Looked much better previously.

(11 Aug 2018, 4:10 pm)Kuyoyo wrote Glad I’m not the only one who thinks that. Should have left 7634 as the unbranded spare

(11 Aug 2018, 4:10 pm)Kuyoyo wrote Glad I’m not the only one who thinks that. Should have left 7634 as the unbranded spare