Does anyone know when the new electric buses for the 21, 58 and X66 are arriving?

Anymore info on the new E400MMC's for the 56 too?

(22 Jun 2025, 8:46 pm)Michael wrote Does anyone know when the new electric buses for the 21, 58 and X66 are arriving?

Anymore info on the new E400MMC's for the 56 too?

X66 getting single or double decker electric buses? Thanks.

(22 Jun 2025, 9:16 pm)OrangeArrow49 wrote X66 getting single or double decker electric buses? Thanks.

4 single deckers ordered for the X66, 7 double decks for the 58 and 18 for the 21.

new orders... perhaps companies should start considering these 16 seaters

https://www.theguardian.com/business/202...production

(22 Jun 2025, 8:46 pm)Michael wrote Does anyone know when the new electric buses for the 21, 58 and X66 are arriving?

Anymore info on the new E400MMC's for the 56 too?

Don't think it will be long before they're Delivered as Go South Coast (Morebus/Bluestar) and Brighton & Hove are currently getting there's delivered for various services down south. 

Hopefully there is more new buses on order other than the E400's for the 56/EV's for the 21/58 & X66.

(27 Jun 2025, 6:14 pm)Malarkey wrote Don't think it will be long before they're Delivered as Go South Coast (Morebus/Bluestar) and Brighton & Hove are currently getting there's delivered for various services down south. 

Hopefully there is more new buses on order other than the E400's for the 56/EV's for the 21/58 & X66.

As Wright StreetDeck Electroliner deliveries for other parts of the Go Ahead empire a reported as arriving in the next few months, I can't see GNE's arriving until towards the end of the year.

(22 Jun 2025, 9:19 pm)Iamtheone8483748 wrote 4 single deckers ordered for the X66, 7 double decks for the 58 and 18 for the 21.

The latest issue of Buses magazine has landed in my letterbox this morning - and in the 'Fleet News' section it reports the Go Ahead Handbook from British Bus Publishing has 25 Wrightbus Electroliners on order for Riverside numbered 6801-6825, with seating capacity of 39 upstairs and 29 downstairs.

Let the "where the vehicles displaced from the 21" chatter commence, i already have a feeling though where they'll end up

(15 Sep 2025, 5:20 pm)V514DFT wrote Let the "where the vehicles displaced from the 21" chatter commence, i already have a feeling though where they'll end up

Well it's not going to be the 56.

Percy Main and to some extent Deptford's B9TLs have been well treated and as heavy duty vehicles with a lot of life left in them, they'll be extremely useful on the X5/X15, 16/16A, X45, 47 - displacing older E400 classics and ex-London/GAG or battered B9TLs previously ragged up and down the A19.

This would also sort the E400MMC issues out at Consett allowing all 16x to be kept for the X30s and X70s.

Likewise, the StreetDecks will offer good fuel savings over the B9TLs, especially on the 307 which just potters around the doors for the most part and the misc/planned 353/354/355/356 workings that the Cobalt deckers are known to do.

(15 Sep 2025, 5:35 pm)L469 YVK wrote Well it's not going to be the 56.

Percy Main and to some extent Deptford's B9TLs have been well treated and as heavy duty vehicles with a lot of life left in them, they'll be extremely useful on the X5/X15, 16/16A, X45, 47 - displacing older E400 classics and ex-London/GAG or battered B9TLs previously ragged up and down the A19.

This would also sort the E400MMC issues out at Consett allowing all 16x to be kept for the X30s and X70s.

Likewise, the StreetDecks will offer good fuel savings over the B9TLs, especially on the 307 which just potters around the doors for the most part and the misc/planned 353/354/355/356 workings that the Cobalt deckers are known to do.

imo the 51/52/93/94 is still the best route for them. Extremely easy routes all pottering around the doors with the 56 B9TL's going to Consett instead.

The Streetdecks are a downgrade over the B9TL's on the 307/309 imo, in both performance and customer quality especially since the B9TL's have had a full refurb since the introduction of the Streetdeck's which haven't had a penny spent on them in the last 8 years and it's showing. It's just a downgrade in every way imo.

(15 Sep 2025, 6:10 pm)Storx wrote imo the 51/52/93/94 is still the best route for them. Extremely easy routes all pottering around the doors with the 56 B9TL's going to Consett instead.

The Streetdecks are a downgrade over the B9TL's on the 307/309 imo, in both performance and customer quality especially since the B9TL's have had a full refurb since the introduction of the Streetdeck's which haven't had a penny spent on them in the last 8 years and it's showing. It's just a downgrade in every way imo.

I've never felt the 51/52/93/94 has ever needed Double Deckers other than at Peak Times when existing frequencies are not enough to cope with the demand, certainly would be better suited to Single Deckers with the odd Double Decker added into the Peaks for me, Go North East really need to order some New Single Deckers to cover the 49/49A/51/52/57/67/69/93/94 & 96.

Personally whilst reliability isn't the greatest on these Angel Streetdeck's perhaps once the Electroliners arrive get them off the road and give them some much needed Mechanical TLC/Repainted. I'd place some of them onto the The Crusader 27 replacing the B9's as these are approaching 14 Years Old and should be taking a back seat within the operational fleet, the others I would send to Washington to cover additional PVR for the October Changes with the proposed Service 14/50 Interworking Pattern.

How viable would it be to put them on the 301, it was done in 2018 after the 21 got the Streetdecks which displaced the 62 plates, they then went onto the 1 (back then) which then displaced the Omnicities onto the 11, but the 301 is a very tempermental service, sometimes its packed and needs DD's, then othertimes its dead

(15 Sep 2025, 8:09 pm)Malarkey wrote I've never felt the 51/52/93/94 has ever needed Double Deckers other than at Peak Times when existing frequencies are not enough to cope with the demand, certainly would be better suited to Single Deckers with the odd Double Decker added into the Peaks for me, Go North East really need to order some New Single Deckers to cover the 49/49A/51/52/57/67/69/93/94 & 96.

Personally whilst reliability isn't the greatest on these Angel Streetdeck's perhaps once the Electroliners arrive get them off the road and give them some much needed Mechanical TLC/Repainted. I'd place some of them onto the The Crusader 27 replacing the B9's as these are approaching 14 Years Old and should be taking a back seat within the operational fleet, the others I would send to Washington to cover additional PVR for the October Changes with the proposed Service 14/50 Interworking Pattern.

Hopefully this happens but I doubt it, they'll go for a repaint and then back out on the road and will continue with the problems they have.


I think they'll stay at Riverside too.

Did my eyes deceive me earlier or have they changed the parking layout at Riverside so buses are now facing towards engineering in the main parking area? Presumably to accommodate the charging infrastructure ?

(15 Sep 2025, 8:09 pm)Malarkey wrote I've never felt the 51/52/93/94 has ever needed Double Deckers other than at Peak Times when existing frequencies are not enough to cope with the demand, certainly would be better suited to Single Deckers with the odd Double Decker added into the Peaks for me, Go North East really need to order some New Single Deckers to cover the 49/49A/51/52/57/67/69/93/94 & 96.

Personally whilst reliability isn't the greatest on these Angel Streetdeck's perhaps once the Electroliners arrive get them off the road and give them some much needed Mechanical TLC/Repainted. I'd place some of them onto the The Crusader 27 replacing the B9's as these are approaching 14 Years Old and should be taking a back seat within the operational fleet, the others I would send to Washington to cover additional PVR for the October Changes with the proposed Service 14/50 Interworking Pattern.

Sorry didn't reply, thought I did. 

Must admit I don't know those routes too well, but wonder if an mixed allocation would work on it? I'm surprised there hasn't been more of it yet as Feetham had loads of routes doing it under his watch at Arriva; the X7/X8, 306, 6 (Durham), 7 (Durham), 22/23/24, just to name some. 

Now that everything isn't painted in magical colours it should be easier to do as I'm sure there's a few routes which could easily fit that bill; the 50, these routes and 301 being three instantly coming to mind. 

I seen someone mention the 301 above, maybe they could be split between the 50/51/52/93/94/301(X39) with the rest of the boards being Streetlite's being displaced out of Percy Main in the opposite direction. They're all 16/66/17/67 plate so a similar age to each other.

(17 Sep 2025, 11:48 am)Storx wrote Sorry didn't reply, thought I did. 

Must admit I don't know those routes too well, but wonder if an mixed allocation would work on it? I'm surprised there hasn't been more of it yet as Feetham had loads of routes doing it under his watch at Arriva; the X7/X8, 306, 6 (Durham), 7 (Durham), 22/23/24, just to name some. 

Now that everything isn't painted in magical colours it should be easier to do as I'm sure there's a few routes which could easily fit that bill; the 50, these routes and 301 being three instantly coming to mind. 

I seen someone mention the 301 above, maybe they could be split between the 50/51/52/93/94/301(X39) with the rest of the boards being Streetlite's being displaced out of Percy Main in the opposite direction. They're all 16/66/17/67 plate so a similar age to each other.

That was me, i brought it up, because i thought back to the last time the 21 got investment, the Hybrids got displaced on to the 1 (now 301) and lasted like that until the Streetlites got put on there, the 301 though is tempermental, sometimes it needs DD's, but other times its dead

When a single deck runs on the 50, it can get rather snug in places.

(17 Sep 2025, 11:48 am)Storx wrote Sorry didn't reply, thought I did. 

Must admit I don't know those routes too well, but wonder if an mixed allocation would work on it? I'm surprised there hasn't been more of it yet as Feetham had loads of routes doing it under his watch at Arriva; the X7/X8, 306, 6 (Durham), 7 (Durham), 22/23/24, just to name some. 

Now that everything isn't painted in magical colours it should be easier to do as I'm sure there's a few routes which could easily fit that bill; the 50, these routes and 301 being three instantly coming to mind. 

I seen someone mention the 301 above, maybe they could be split between the 50/51/52/93/94/301(X39) with the rest of the boards being Streetlite's being displaced out of Percy Main in the opposite direction. They're all 16/66/17/67 plate so a similar age to each other.

Had thought about the 301 myself but I don't they'd handle the long distance nature of the route plus some of the climbs around Wickham/Swalwell with how unreliable those Streetdecks can be, I think a frequency increase on the 301 to Every 15 Minutes would probably be more beneficial to those who use the service.

I had also thought with the B5's potentially coming off of the X20 that these with some TLC/Repaint could go to Washington for use on the 50 then the 16 plate Streetdecks could be displaced elsewhere within the fleet.

I agree that some other routes could possibly benefit.

But Percy Main's B9TLs are not only overkill for their current work (307/309), but also in VERY good condition considering their age.

If the Angel StreetDecks end up on the 307/309, you'd have something like


StreetDeck:
- 6301-03 - Washington
Spare (x3)

- 6304-07 - Percy Main
Spare (x4)

- 6315-29 - Percy Main
307/309 (x15 if 309 PVR increases)

- 6330-33 - Washington
34 (x3)
Spare (x1)

- 6356-76 - Washington
14/50/X1 (x21)


B9TL:
- 6043-44 - Consett
Spare (x2)

- 6045-48 - Various depots
Spares 

- 6086-6108 - Consett
16/16A/47/X5/X15/X45 (x23)

- 6109-17 - Riverside
X21 (x8)
Spare (x1)


B5TL:
- 6308-14
X20 (x3)
Spare (x4)


E400MMC:
- 6336-51 - Consett
X30/X31/X32 (x5)
X70/X71/X73 (x7)
Spare (x4)

- 6378-91 (TBC)- Deptford
56 (x14)


That all means for decker frontline work:
- Consett = E400MMC or B9TL
- Washington = StreetDeck
- Percy Main = StreetDeck
- Deptford = E400MMC or B5TL
- Riverside = B9TL, E400, E400MMC, EV (TBC)

A hell of a lot more simple too. Consett's issues pretty much sorted and E400MMC can be prioritised on the X30s and X70s. No voyager, ex-London, ex-Tyne Tees Xpress or GAG tat doing frontline work for the most part. The Durham Diamond E400's could have some use on the Gateshead local work.

Percy Main practically all StreetLite and StreetDeck. Deptford have enough decker spares - I doubt GNE will order a spare E400MMC.

All the 20/70 plate StreetDecks kept together at Washington and trusty B9TLs doing the X21.

Also, got to take into account that at the moment, GNE are using heavy duty B9TLs on planned 353/4/5/6 workings - StreetDecks will not only save a lot more fuel on the 307/309, but will also save fuel especially on any Nexus secured trips or trips interworking off the 307/309.

And for brownie points, I'm sure NECA would support more efficient StreetDecks operating on a corridor with known high levels of pollution.

(17 Sep 2025, 11:21 am)Chris 1 wrote Did my eyes deceive me earlier or have they changed the parking layout at Riverside so buses are now facing towards engineering in the main parking area?  Presumably to accommodate the charging infrastructure ?

Yes, parking lines have been repainted to acccommodate the charging points

Does anyone have any idea when we will start to see the new buses arrive and are new buses confirmed for the 56?

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