(14 Mar 2015, 7:57 pm)Tommy_1581 wrote The condensation worries me.

I'm surprised that a bus hasn't burned yet with power sockets and condensation. (57-reg ones)

(14 Mar 2015, 6:53 pm)Dan wrote As someone who loves branding and the benefits to both customers (and to a degree, the bus operators themselves, if branding assists in increasing the amount of passengers who use a service), the downsides to "Sapphire" and "MAX" are beginning to show as more and more services are converted to this specification. The issue I have is the inconsistencies between each "MAX" service, for example. The half-hearted refurbishments mean that you can step off one "MAX" specification service and onto another and the specification is completely different. I completely understand the reason why they're not having a full refurbishment as, at the rate of these services being converted, the cost would be huge, but when the presentation of the fleet is improving vastly, it's a shame attention to detail is lacking. As "MAX" is set up primarily for interurban services, wouldn't you expect high backed seating as standard, providing customers with a more superior level of comfort than a standard specification service? Sadly, Arriva is not providing high backed seating on all "MAX" services.

Features of "Sapphire" and "MAX" are being cherry-picked and placed on to standard specification services. Power sockets (on Durham's ADL Enviro200s), Wi-Fi (on many standard specification services), Next Stop Announcements (on some of Darlington's Pulsars), leather seats (on a number of vehicles), etc. This is another of my gripes.

Perhaps it's just me being picky and maybe "ordinary" customers wouldn't give a toss, but I think there's room for improvement. It'd be good if Arriva could start learning from their mistakes.

(14 Mar 2015, 7:20 pm)mb134 wrote I've gave up with Arriva customer service to be honest, even if I did raise it I'm nearly 100% sure that I'd get a "we'll pass your comments on to the depot manager" and see nothing done about it. They don't care at all, and I can't wait until I can learn to drive so that I don't have to get their late, cold and disappointing buses every morning. 

The management of Ashington must be the worst (except maybe Redcar, although it seems that they've improved), the allocation is shocking, the drivers clearly don't care about being on time, and the presentation of the vehicles is terrible. Now I know there will be exceptions, some drivers seem to do everything to ensure they're on time for example. So even if customer services do pass on my comments, I highly doubt Ashington will do anything to rectify it, as it seems they just don't care. 

(14 Mar 2015, 9:02 pm)mb134 wrote aureolin- Is the email address the same as the one they use to reply (if they ever decide to) via the website complaint form?

(Sorry, didn't want to quote all of that!  ) 

(14 Mar 2015, 9:08 pm)aureolin wrote csnortheast@arriva.co.uk

(14 Mar 2015, 10:02 pm)Racer_Experience wrote http://www.route-one.net/industry/orders/arriva-announces-2015-orders/

(15 Mar 2015, 8:31 am)MrPottski wrote aureolin
I'm lad to believe to replace the green flooring in the Omnicities, it would have cost more than the whole refurb, just to do it. The problem is, the covering goes all the way up to the roof at the back of the bus, and up to the windscreens and windows and all over the drivers cab at the front. To replace it, all the seat frames and windows would have to come out and I don't think that would have been cost effective for 10 year old buses with nearly 1,000,000km on the clock. Admittedly the black covering on the CX05 reg ones is way better, but you can't have everything!

(15 Mar 2015, 10:35 am)Tommy_1581 wrote I don't see how Arriva could have just created a brand new corporate livery and have all the NSAs, wifi and power sockets in there. Of course with leather seats but black.

MAX and Sapphire just don't make sense. Why cherry pick routes to have so called "posh" and "sparkle" included in them. Sapphire, if it really wants to sparkle, should have staff who care if the wifi doesn't work and take the bus off when a change appears and replace it with a Sapphire spare. Seats which offer more comfort (of course 2x2 seating), no matter how much it costs.

(15 Mar 2015, 10:48 am)aureolin wrote If that's the case, then no, not cost effective, but they shouldn't have been increased to MAX spec. Brand consistency is important, and these examples just look like a half arsed attempt.

(15 Mar 2015, 10:54 am)mb134 wrote I think you do need a hierarchy of services, now especially, because you can't justify WiFi, power sockets, NSA's etc. on every service. WiFi I suppose is a given pretty much, but some council funded routes definitely don't deserve it.

The cost of having everything on every bus and to refurbish every vehicle to the same standard, would be extortionate. 

If you look at MAX and Sapphire, they are extremely similar, the only real difference is the lack of power and next stop announcements (on some), which you could probably live without. The difference then to the normal specification again isn't huge, no headrests and that's about it isn't it? So for all there is a much needed ranking the overall product between Sapphire and MAX, then between MAX and standard isn't huge.

(15 Mar 2015, 10:59 am)Tommy_1581 wrote I see that all new buses are getting WiFi and leather seats - basically MAX - but why are routes being branded MAX, when the likes of the 35 get green StreetLites with the same "added extras".

If Arriva promise power and WiFi on my bus, and it's not provided, I'll certainly be getting my "no quibble money back guarantee".

(15 Mar 2015, 10:59 am)Tommy_1581 wrote I see that all new buses are getting WiFi and leather seats - basically MAX - but why are routes being branded MAX, when the likes of the 35 get green StreetLites with the same "added extras".

If Arriva promise power and WiFi on my bus, and it's not provided, I'll certainly be getting my "no quibble money back guarantee".

(15 Mar 2015, 11:04 am)aureolin wrote eLeather seats aren't a luxury. They're more cost effective to operators, as they can be cleaned in seconds. For fabric seats, they should be shampooing them at least once a month, given the amount of use they get. I'd bet most haven't been shampooed since they've been in the fleet, as it'd take a good few hours to do a bus.

(15 Mar 2015, 11:04 am)Dan wrote This is the problem I have, like I said yesterday.

As a brand, I associate "MAX" with buses fitted with e-leather seating that feature the provision of free Wi-Fi. Services which aren't even branded as "MAX", yet are to this specification, are presented in a better light than some "MAX" specification services / vehicles.

(15 Mar 2015, 11:30 am)Dan wrote I'm not going to quote Jimmi's post because my post would end up being humongous...

I was actually on service X66 yesterday, and, believe it or not, two old women were discussing the interior colour-scheme. Although they weren't comparing the colour-scheme to another "MAX" service, they were commenting on how ghastly the green interior is and how the light blue headrests stuck out like a sore thumb. It's no coincidence that this debate has started up again shortly after my ride on the X66 from Darlington to Stockton! I know from past experience of waiting for the X93, customers have discussed how they connect to the service at Middlesbrough by using the X66 service. This means that customers are using two "MAX" specification services to get to their destination. If a customer is travelling from Bishop Auckland, they could be using three "MAX" specification services to get to their eventual destination in this instance, and I'd imagine that the Streetlites destined for use on the X1 service will be of a higher standard than the Volvo B9TLs on the X93, for example! One offers high-backed e-leather seating (which is marketed as being "comfortable"), while the other offers sub-standard e-leather seating. This is why the problem is becoming more apparent, because a greater number of services have now been converted to this specification.

I've covered your Go North East related statement in a previous post. The older vehicles in the fleet are merely having their seats re-trimmed to increase book value prior to sale whilst increasing passenger comfort before this occurs. It adds a bit more value to the vehicle, as dealers or other operators don't necessarily have to bother doing it themselves. As you can imagine, Go North East can do this cheaper than a small independent operator! These vehicles are all in Go North East's corporate livery and are of a reserve capacity. They don't form part of a brand, so there's no inconsistency between each vehicle held in that brand. Imagine if half of the "Tyne Tees Xpress" branded vehicles had e-leather seating and had a complete interior overhaul compared to what the allocated vehicles have at the moment? Customers would instantly see the difference...

(15 Mar 2015, 11:38 am)Jimmi wrote Don't some of the TTX B9TL's have fabric headrests and some have e-leather headrests?

Again I admit the Omnicity interior isn't pretty but don't think it's offensive although some people are more fussy than me about interiors, I'm just happy the seats are more comfortable than they were before referb, wasn't pleasant sitting on an Omnicity for up to 45 minutes with the metal holding the seats in place prodding your backside.

(15 Mar 2015, 11:46 am)mb134 wrote I can't find a picture on Flickr to prove it, but I'm sure that the new X18 Enviro's have different coloured seats to the rest of the MAX vehicles, I think the headrests might be blue?

I know this is a bit picky, but customers will notice if they get off one bus and go onto another that is duller etc.

(15 Mar 2015, 11:49 am)aureolin wrote Exactly. It's not about being 'fussy'. It's about wanting consistency. 

There's be no end of complaints if GNE painted one of their Prince Bishops buses a different shade of purple, because it isn't consistent with the rest of the brand. 

(15 Mar 2015, 12:21 pm)Tommy_1581 wrote My #1 was running 6 minutes late.

On the Sapphire E400 refurbs, the plastic seats have different amounts of cushion inside also the lack of the lighter blue on the side.

7518 has Traveline and Easy Access stickers still adorning its windows and also yellow legals, meanwhile 7525 has "Welcome aboard this Sapphire service X21 to XXX" once it leaves Ashington bus station. 7507 has yellow "EMERGENCY PULL/PUSH DOOR TO OPEN" lettering on its doors.

(15 Mar 2015, 12:25 pm)mb134 wrote I think they need to have a look at it, because the livery is applied differently on different vehicles as well.

---

Does it still smell of wine (think that's what it was) upstairs? 

(15 Mar 2015, 12:30 pm)Tommy_1581 wrote Don't know - was on 7525 today.

I'll find 7507 and I'll have a good smell of it lol

(15 Mar 2015, 12:33 pm)mb134 wrote Ah okay, I was on it on Thursday (I think, can't completely remember!), and upstairs stunk of whatever it was, there had also been some quantity of it, as when I got off there was a dried stream.of it coming from the drainage hole. (So it had been there for a bit) 

Edit: Does 7525 still have that hideous replacement panel?

(15 Mar 2015, 12:21 pm)Tommy_1581 wrote My #1 was running 6 minutes late.

On the Sapphire E400 refurbs, the plastic seats have different amounts of cushion inside also the lack of the lighter blue on the side.

7518 has Traveline and Easy Access stickers still adorning its windows and also yellow legals, meanwhile 7525 has "Welcome aboard this Sapphire service X21 to XXX" once it leaves Ashington bus station. 7507 has yellow "EMERGENCY PULL/PUSH DOOR TO OPEN" lettering on its doors.