(19 Jul 2020, 10:57 pm)Storx wrote Yeah get that, tbh when I was talking about having a uniform fleet this is when you badly need it. It works at Blyth as everything Max similar at Ashington as the X21/X22 just work by itself with the X14/15/18/20 doing the same up North which are all Max.

Could understand how it's a bit of a nightmare at Durham though where some are Max, some are Frequenta, some are Sapphire and some are nothing. Similar with Jesmond where you have eco, Sapphire, Max and normal and usually they're just all over the place.

It seems going forward that they've done this now though with the standard livery pretty much being Max - if they ever actually refurbish anything into it.

(19 Jul 2020, 11:19 pm)mb134 wrote The issue with Durham, in my experience at least, is that they don't even seem to make an effort to route brand correctly. With Blyth and Jesmond you can tell in the morning that they've generally tried the best they can (even if it's just the brand, and specific route branding is still all over the place), but throughout the day they prioritise service punctuality levels over anything else. 

Durham always seem to just put out whatever they fancy. When I got the 6 the other day, both 7456 and 7494 were on there - neither even branded, let alone "Sapphire". 7519 and 7521, Sapphire E400s, were on the MAX 48/X46, alongside 7455, ONE(!) X46 B7TL and then a handful of single decks. The X12 (MAX) that day had, from Durham, two standard spec Pulsars (1409/1510), two Sapphire Pulsars (1517/1524) and a Streetlite (1596), and one MAX Pulsar (1482). This isn't one or two incorrectly allocated buses, it's leading drivers and depot management giving the bare minimum and having zero pride in the work they're doing.

Arriva Durham County, generally bar Stockton, have always seemed to operate at a lower standard than Northumbria have - be it in vehicle appearance, driver friendliness or pride in what they're doing. That's by no means to say Northumbria are always good at those things I've mentioned, but from a passengers perspective I always feel more welcomed by drivers north of the Tyne - and that the buses operated by those depots have a bit more TLC.

(19 Jul 2020, 11:19 pm)mb134 wrote The issue with Durham, in my experience at least, is that they don't even seem to make an effort to route brand correctly. With Blyth and Jesmond you can tell in the morning that they've generally tried the best they can (even if it's just the brand, and specific route branding is still all over the place), but throughout the day they prioritise service punctuality levels over anything else. 

Durham always seem to just put out whatever they fancy. When I got the 6 the other day, both 7456 and 7494 were on there - neither even branded, let alone "Sapphire". 7519 and 7521, Sapphire E400s, were on the MAX 48/X46, alongside 7455, ONE(!) X46 B7TL and then a handful of single decks. The X12 (MAX) that day had, from Durham, two standard spec Pulsars (1409/1510), two Sapphire Pulsars (1517/1524) and a Streetlite (1596), and one MAX Pulsar (1482). This isn't one or two incorrectly allocated buses, it's leading drivers and depot management giving the bare minimum and having zero pride in the work they're doing.

Arriva Durham County, generally bar Stockton, have always seemed to operate at a lower standard than Northumbria have - be it in vehicle appearance, driver friendliness or pride in what they're doing. That's by no means to say Northumbria are always good at those things I've mentioned, but from a passengers perspective I always feel more welcomed by drivers north of the Tyne - and that the buses operated by those depots have a bit more TLC.

(19 Jul 2020, 11:56 pm)Storx wrote This not to do with social distancing and trying to get deckers on the more popular routes and singles on the less. I can't answer as I don't know Durham too well but Blyth has been equally as bad lately to the stage that there's a 308 decker going out on the X10/X11 and a X10/X11 decker going out on the 308 at the same time.

It's not as noticeable up here though as everything is Max branded nowadays and tbf it's like this all year round. Never understood why Blyth don't ditch the individual Max branding it's not like they compete against each other at any point bar Cramlington Manor Walks, Haymarket and Blyth bus station.

I was down Durham the way other month thought and was shocked at how mankey some of the buses are it's definitely noticeable that. Remember when the Gemini's ran on the X12 and getting off one of Blyths and onto one of Durham's you'd think the buses we're 10 years apart in age. It's probably why I have very different opinions to Arriva to some on here.

(20 Jul 2020, 12:33 am)scanialover wrote A fact. Finding Arriva drivers who are actually interested in the job they are doing and the customers they are carrying is a bit like looking for rocking horse s***. As for the standard and cleanliness of the vehicles, where does one start ? A complete lack of professionalism.

We've just endured another classic example of what I say. Dormanstown/Whitby allocated 7401 stunk of diesel (inside) when we boarded (X93 journey 1020 16/07/20) then limped painfully to Whitby, coming to a halt twice where the funds got worse. The driver said nothing, nor did anyone at Whitby where no-one would have known to change vehicles if someone hadn't asked ! Shameful but typical

The NSA's on this route rarely operate, indeed you could suggest that NSA's throughout the entire fleet have been a waste of time and money

I could go on.

(19 Jul 2020, 11:56 pm)Storx wrote I was down Durham the way other month thought and was shocked at how mankey some of the buses are it's definitely noticeable that. Remember when the Gemini's ran on the X12 and getting off one of Blyths and onto one of Durham's you'd think the buses we're 10 years apart in age. It's probably why I have very different opinions to Arriva to some on here.

(20 Jul 2020, 10:57 am)Rob44 wrote There is no point in getting all excited for a 69 plate GNE bus when it drive past the bus stop with sorry not in service on the display.... presumably to make up lost time.  Give me a battered, 52 plate, no NSA bus that comes when it says on the time table and get me to where i'm going!

(19 Jul 2020, 8:00 pm)streetdeckfan wrote Yeah, you never know what's going to turn up on the Arriva 6, could literally be anything! 

Honestly, you rarely see GNE run vehicles with the wrong branding, if one of the branded vehicles isn't running, most of the time it's a corporate liveried one of an equivalent spec.
Then again not that long back I seemed to get more OmniDekkas than StreetDecks on the X21!

(20 Jul 2020, 3:35 pm)Big O wrote The average passenger isn't as enthusiastic as you and is probably happy the bus has shown up. Many a time I have had a Cathedral Solo turn up for my X45 in Newcastle during Rush-Hour and it's not to slate GNE but let's not be biased. 

In reference to your earlier post, the B7TL is still a decent bus, well the Wright bodied examples are. Arriva in London have lost far more contracts which affect the cascading of old stock to the provinces, whilst GAL, on the other hand, has gained many of Arriva London's contracts meaning they have fewer buses to cascade. Go-Ahead also lease their buses in London whilst Arriva outright own them. It makes sense to send them to the provinces to make the most money out of them while they can. Saying that following the latest round of tenders and Tfl's ever-changing commitments I'd expect more DB300s to head up North within the next 2 years to oust out any B7TLs.  They're not shiny and sparkling but for the most part, the buses still run on time. 

That awful new group livery shows that Arriva are not interested in providing an exhilarating bus ride but rather a reliable one that is cost-efficient.

(23 Jul 2020, 12:29 pm)James101 wrote Seen elsewhere that ex Flying Tiger Versas have been branded as Sapphire in Yorkshire. Feel like they're just taking the mick now, next up Sapphire Solo?

(23 Jul 2020, 1:06 pm)L469 YVK wrote Arriva should ditch all their current branding and go with the following:

ArrivaX (For EXPRESS routes ONLY)
* Dark blue base coat (don't know about vinyls)
* Civic V3 with extra seating, SmartSeats (ADL only) or coach seats for any routes over 31 mile
* Tables on upper decks & wireless charging
* USB Charging Points & WiFi
* NSA's by Emma Hignett

Arriva Premium (For high patronage & popular non express routes, not branded as premium but different colour scheme)
* Silver & Purple
* Same internal spec as ArrivaX
* Spares for both ArrivaX & Arriva premium would be plain silver

Arriva Local (For secondary & local routes)
* Same teal colour as now
* Some vehicles with free WiFi and NSAs

(23 Jul 2020, 1:45 pm)Storx wrote So assuming you think the X-Lines network is a joke aswell as there's Solos on the X20 or is it one rule for one and one 

(23 Jul 2020, 12:29 pm)James101 wrote Seen elsewhere that ex Flying Tiger Versas have been branded as Sapphire in Yorkshire. Feel like they're just taking the mick now, next up Sapphire Solo?

(23 Jul 2020, 10:38 pm)Jimmi wrote Likely done as they were not far off Sapphire spec to begin with, had Sapphire seats minus logos and WiFi, has wood effect flooring though. No clue what they'll be used on, rumours that the E200 MMCs are coming to the North East but Wakefield depot is also rumoured now too so who knows really.

(24 Jul 2020, 7:03 am)James101 wrote It just seems like confirmation that Sapphire is now just a spec checklist for vehicles, with nothing behind it. When Sapphire was first launched, it was a fully implemented concept - livery & mod cons bus also uniforms, marketing and detail cleaning. Also back then the seating, WiFi & USBs genuinely make Sapphire stand out, like the Darlington 7. Now those features are widely standard, the Sapphire spec should have moved with the times. 2020 Sapphire could have been maybe skylights, at leat phone cradle, push stop & light, tables, wireless charging?

I’d say the only Arriva route I can think of that still carries the ‘spirit’ of Sapphire is the 1 between Chester and Wrexham.

(24 Jul 2020, 9:14 am)Jimmi wrote Been having this discussion on Facebook a few times recently and I can't help but feel many of these Premium brands like Sapphire, Platinum from National Express West Midlands/Coventry or Palladium in Blackpool are a bit outdated now as they aren't particularly special anymore, Blackpool in particular is a case of the whole fleet is Palladium now so where do you go from here? Will just be a case of adding little bits to buses with a brand that doesn't stand out anymore.

There are a few exceptions to where this has been done right IMO, such as Transdev Harrogate's 36 as it looks and feels pretty premium and there isn't a fleet full of identical buses in that area to that spec. I feel GNE somewhat get away with X-Lines particularly as it's currently a newly developed brand and IMO isn't too heavily emphasised on being 'premium' it's more geared towards the express elements of the routes and at least they haven't used a very drab grey colour either.

I'd just get rid of Sapphire now as it's somewhat meaningless in terms of being premium now, it's just another brand, I would ditch it and put everything in the new standard livery which although I'm not a fan of, it would at least look fresh and come across like some effort is being put in as quite a lot of the fleet is at a point where they look incredibly shabby now.

(24 Jul 2020, 9:14 am)Jimmi wrote Been having this discussion on Facebook a few times recently and I can't help but feel many of these Premium brands like Sapphire, Platinum from National Express West Midlands/Coventry or Palladium in Blackpool are a bit outdated now as they aren't particularly special anymore, Blackpool in particular is a case of the whole fleet is Palladium now so where do you go from here? Will just be a case of adding little bits to buses with a brand that doesn't stand out anymore.

There are a few exceptions to where this has been done right IMO, such as Transdev Harrogate's 36 as it looks and feels pretty premium and there isn't a fleet full of identical buses in that area to that spec. I feel GNE somewhat get away with X-Lines particularly as it's currently a newly developed brand and IMO isn't too heavily emphasised on being 'premium' it's more geared towards the express elements of the routes and at least they haven't used a very drab grey colour either.

I'd just get rid of Sapphire now as it's somewhat meaningless in terms of being premium now, it's just another brand, I would ditch it and put everything in the new standard livery which although I'm not a fan of, it would at least look fresh and come across like some effort is being put in as quite a lot of the fleet is at a point where they look incredibly shabby now.

(24 Jul 2020, 11:18 am)James101 wrote I'm not even sure it's a brand anymore. I'd say a brand is validated when it becomes the default reference name to the product by customers. I.E 'The Angel bus (21)' versus 'The Sapphire number 6'? Not sure.  Sub-brand or tag-line may be more appropriate.