(22 Feb 2020, 11:32 am)Big O wrote I know I've asked before but are the B9TLs due to transfer to another Arriva NE garage and if so, where?

(22 Feb 2020, 3:42 pm)scanialover wrote Thanks for the heads up regarding the BTL9's. Interesting about the X15/18. Not from that area so don't really know the implications.

(22 Feb 2020, 3:47 pm)tyresmoke wrote From the last conversation I had with people in the know, they're looking at replacements for both the X18 and X93 as both are equally demanding and high mileage routes with a strong focus on seasonality. There certainly won't be anything in place for summer 2020 but maybe through the next winter season they'll replace the fleet? The X93 fleet will be 6 years old and X18 5 years old by that point.

(22 Feb 2020, 6:34 pm)scanialover wrote Anyone got any ideas as to what sort of mileages these vehicles make in an average week / year ?

(22 Feb 2020, 7:17 pm)Citaro5338 wrote When will 7510 get put on Ashingtons Express routes

(21 Feb 2020, 11:09 pm)Jimmi wrote Some 6 boards interwork with scholars services that require double deckers so only really be able to move them around in the summer holidays.

(23 Feb 2020, 7:53 am)scanialover wrote Having done some quick (ish) calculations now it's kinda scary to see just how much mileage, thus how hard our vehicles are worked. I took the X93 peak timetable as my example and if, I'm open to being corrected. my figures work out, it's in the region of 70,000 a month, give or take. From looking at our BTL9's and their live so far, am I right in assuming these vehicles have done in excess of 4 million miles ?? Maybe I'm wrong? It's a Sunday challenge for anyone interested.

(23 Feb 2020, 10:29 am)scanialover wrote I could be, and happy to stand corrected here. How I got to my figures - a round trip M'bro to Scarborough is just over 100 miles, then a short - Whitby to Scarborough, which forms part of the X93 is equal to approximately 20 miles. From there I picked up the peak season X93 timetable and made it that there are/were 15 through journies and 15 short. That gave me a daily mileage, operated across the timetable and involving a number of vehicles, of just over 2000 miles a day; the rest in terms of weeks, months and years should (??) be academic. I wasn't trying to look at the one vehicle, just the timetable overall. Like I said, I could be wrong!

(23 Feb 2020, 10:28 am)tvd wrote While they do put in a lot of miles, here in this patch we dont have many services operating from as early in the morning till as late as some other parts of the country.  Check out the Arriva app's live map sometime, you see nothing up here at 5 AM but loads in Arrivas other divisions, and the same late evenings too.

So I dont think the buses get as flogged to death as people might think, any issues are more likely down to the desire to buy as cheap and lightweight vehicles as possible.

I'm not knowledgeable about all the different types out there, but would whatever buses Coastliner use for their services not be a good idea for Arriva on the X15/X18/X93's?  They have similarly long routes.  But even then they replace and cascade their buses after a few years.

(22 Feb 2020, 10:54 pm)L469 YVK wrote Don't know if I'm being biased here but after using the Coast Road services for the first time since GNE's Cobalt & Coast services were changed and observing loadings, it wouldn't surprise me if Arriva did the following:

- 306 & 308 reduced to every 20 mins each Mon-Fri.
- 306 & 308 reduced to every 60 mins each evenings (after approx 8.00pm Mon-Fri and 7.00 Sat & Sun) .
- Sunday daytimes unchanged.
- 51A extended to Marden Estate Mon - Sat.
- X6 withdrawn.

In fact, given the discussion about potential orders, it would fit in perfect as the PVR would only be 13x meaning that if new vehicles were ordered for the X21 / X22, the new PVR of 13x would be mostly covered using 7541-52 with the 13th vehicle being in the form of a 14 plate Sapphire E400.

In terms of dead mileage from the timetable I've produced,  there would be no 'cross route' dead mileage (306's running light from Tynemouth to Blyth or 308's running light from Blyth back to Jesmond).

I will upload the timetable / running board I've produced but struggling to upload from my laptop (maybe due to it being Windows  7 I guess??)

(23 Feb 2020, 11:11 am)mb134 wrote B5TLs on the Coastliner, same as GNE are using on the X9/X10. 

Volvo chassis, though smaller engine than what is on offer from ADL. That GNE are trialling buses on the X9/X10 may indicate that they're looking into replacing the B5s on there within a couple of years - and the Transdev order announced the other day for E400s on The Witch Way and CityZap indicate that they're not too hot on the Volvo/Wright option. 

In fairness to Arriva they didn't buy on the cheap for the X93, with the B9TL likely the best option at the time. Equally ADL E400s, at least the later ones, have proved to be solid buses.

(23 Feb 2020, 6:41 pm)scanialover wrote The X9/10 has rarely had vehicles that are suited to the demands of the route, the predominance of which, as we know, is on the A19. I've experienced at all levels; back in the day when Tees ran it as a joint operation with a collection of elderly vehicles being literally hammered between Middlesbrough and Newcastle right through to now with these B5's which look the part but aren't suited to the route. I never got to ride on the Panther, only saw it at M'bro Bus Station when it was on trial; it sure looked the part and would be a great advert to promote the service, whether these could cope with the non-motorway sections of the route I don't know.

(23 Feb 2020, 6:41 pm)scanialover wrote The X9/10 has rarely had vehicles that are suited to the demands of the route, the predominance of which, as we know, is on the A19. I've experienced at all levels; back in the day when Tees ran it as a joint operation with a collection of elderly vehicles being literally hammered between Middlesbrough and Newcastle right through to now with these B5's which look the part but aren't suited to the route. I never got to ride on the Panther, only saw it at M'bro Bus Station when it was on trial; it sure looked the part and would be a great advert to promote the service, whether these could cope with the non-motorway sections of the route I don't know.

(23 Feb 2020, 12:23 pm)Storx wrote I don't understand your obsession with decreasing the frequency of the 306 and 308. There have been no changes anywhere in the area which would result in passengers in using other services so if the numbers are down then they have more than likely moved to driving not to mention they've been every 15 minutes since forever.

(25 Feb 2020, 7:01 pm)mb134 wrote See I think this is something that is hugely overlooked when it comes to Arriva, at least the Northumbria operations. Since the huge service changes at the start of the last decade, virtually everything has remained the same in terms of routes and frequencies. 

While there have been some alterations, such as the X20 up to Alnwick, the Blyth X30, 43 to Morpeth, by and large the (main) routes are the same. 

Then with frequencies, people know that if you're wanting to get from Morpeth to Newcastle there's a bus every 15 minutes, Bedlington to Newcastle every 10, Blyth to Morpeth/Ashington every 20 etc. While passenger numbers are falling across the country, this network stability is something that they need to take advantage of. If people know where the buses go and how often they are, improving vehicle quality on more of them may be the final push to get more people out of cars.

(28 Feb 2020, 6:31 pm)scanialover wrote Nick Knox and his shoddy company in the local news again? Dormanstown operated service 81 making the headlines. If, as Mr Knox claims "he takes pride in the network of services his company" what does losing a couple of quid matter?

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And then being to Newcastle today and isn't the operation by GNE just so much better than what we have down here on Teesside. New buses, branding everything about it.