They're not all that bad, both of the Hybrids I was on today had them on the front window and, at least from where I was sitting four rows back, they didn't block any views and were pretty transparent.

1767 has completed it's move to Blyth. 
It was on the 1 today. 

Don't think all the Arriva drivers seem to know the Chester-le-Street diversion, we seemed to ended up going for a longer tour of Chester on the X2 I got back to Durham this afternoon.

Something you don't see every day. Nexus supervisor having to separate two drivers about to lay into each other at Haymarket!

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Something you don't see every day. Nexus supervisor having to separate two drivers about to lay into each other at Haymarket!

@Jimmi

Where did you end up?


Heading south - under the viaduct, left at first junction after Tesco, left onto The Avenues, left at the mini roundabout and arrive at the top of Front Street/Ropery Lane.

(19 Feb 2015, 10:12 am)Andreos1 wrote @Jimmi

Where did you end up?


Heading south - under the viaduct, left at first junction after Tesco, left onto The Avenues, left at the mini roundabout and arrive at the top of Front Street/Ropery Lane.

Instead of turning left onto the Avenues it went straight down the road until we got to a roundabout then turned left and then we were on the 50 route towards the Front Street.

Will the Darts be at Jesmond for the foreseeable future?

Eventually I've got to ride on these X reg darts, and they are completely vile. It hasn't stopped rattling, and the legroom space is terrible! I'll be happy to get off.

(20 Feb 2015, 2:16 pm)Tom wrote Eventually I've got to ride on these X reg darts, and they are completely vile. It hasn't stopped rattling, and the legroom space is terrible! I'll be happy to get off.

Be lucky you never had to ride them on a regular basis, I had them on the 7 for 17 months and also another 7 months on the 64 so you can see how I can hate them so much.

(18 Feb 2015, 11:08 am)aureolin wrote 7618, 7619(?), and 7620 all appear to be out on the road still, without a max refurbishment. Does anyone know if plans have changed? Seems to be dragging out this refurb...

7619 was VOR last week, apparently with its engine ceased AGAIN!!  It's now been moved from inside the depot so presumably it's gone away to be fixed and maybe refurbed at the same time.  7610 has completed its transfer to Belmont and was undergoing prep yesterday.

(20 Feb 2015, 2:40 pm)palatine3833 wrote 7619 was VOR last week, apparently with its engine ceased AGAIN!!  It's now been moved from inside the depot so presumably it's gone away to be fixed and maybe refurbed at the same time.  7610 has completed its transfer to Belmont and was undergoing prep yesterday.

Thanks. Was unsure about 7619, but there's certainly a 3rd Gemini on the road.

(20 Feb 2015, 4:02 pm)aureolin wrote Thanks. Was unsure about 7619, but there's certainly a 3rd Gemini on the road.

There was 4 out on the X12s yesterday, so presumably 7619 the missing one.

I see Arriva have changed the WiFi connection page to MAX on Darlington's Omnicity's, also had to fill in a small questionnaire and if I wanted to receive updates from Arriva (via email) don't know why I bother putting yes because when I've signed up for the WiFi on various Sapphire services and 23/306 StreetLite's and I have never had anything.

7518's seats were better than expected;

Normal high-back seat: Firm, but comfortable.
Rear seats: firm, but comfortable.
Moulded plastic seats: more cushion than other refurb moulded seats, missing the light blue, slightly comfortable.

7/10

One for the Newcastle lot (if you can reach Regent Centre or Great North Road for 10 to 9 on a Saturday morning), the X20 that arrives in Newcastle at 0903 is booked for a Sapphire E400 as it then worked the 0904 X22 to Ashington, as noted this morning.

Quick note to say that, following the news update earlier today, the fleet lists have been updated... I hadn't updated them in a while, so had quite a bit to catch up on.

• All of the latest transfers have been noted, as per all of the fleet news recorded this month.
  
• All "Coastliner" branded vehicles have received a note to reflect the new contravision branding added.
  
• All of Blyth's Volvo Hybrids have had their bodywork amended to show "Wright Eclipse Gemini 2" opposed to "Wright Eclipse Gemini".
  
• All of the Temsa Avenues have had their bodywork amended to show "Temsa" opposed to "Temsa Avenue", reflecting the fact they're an integral structure.
  
• Similarly, all of the Optare Solos have had their bodywork amended to show "Optare" opposed to "Optare Solo", allowing for continuity throughout the fleet lists, with the Optare Solos in the fleets of Go North East and local independents showing this.
  
• The notes section of the "MAX" branded ADL Enviro400s was cut off half way through - I've now fixed this.
  

EcoCity 4804 was on the 1B today, so it seems like EcoCitys are now going to be the allocation for Sundays.

Not sure what the 76A had today but it also had an EcoCity allocated last Sunday.

Also services 5A, 7, 8, 21 and X66 may be experiencing delays today due to temporary 3 way traffic lights down North Road, Darlington - no idea why there is lights there because NOTHING!!! was actually going on!

Nobody else has put a list on so here's this weekends Metro allocations

Saturday
7445, 7446, 7458, 7466, 7471, 7474(7467), 7475, 7476, 7485, 7494
On loan were T318FGN, T421GGO, LT02ZZJ/ZZL/ZZM/ZZO

Sunday
7445, 7446, 7467, 7471(7476), 7473, 7474, 7480, 7485, 7488, 7494, 7507, 7517, 7521, 7611, 7617, 7623

(22 Feb 2015, 9:24 pm)tyresmoke wrote Nobody else has put a list on so here's this weekends Metro allocations

Saturday
7445, 7446, 7458, 7466, 7471, 7474(7467), 7475, 7476, 7485, 7494
On loan were T318FGN, T421GGO, LT02ZZJ/ZZL/ZZM/ZZO

Sunday
7445, 7446, 7467, 7471(7476), 7473, 7474, 7480, 7485, 7488, 7494, 7507, 7517, 7521, 7611, 7617, 7623

Did you have anything interesting this weekend? Or was it more B7's? 

Interesting that Ashington sent both 7507 and 7517, surely they should have sent 7519/20 instead? 

(22 Feb 2015, 9:51 pm)mb134 wrote Did you have anything interesting this weekend? Or was it more B7's? 

Interesting that Ashington sent both 7507 and 7517, surely they should have sent 7519/20 instead? 

I had 7494 yesterday and then 7471/7476 today, nice to get a go of the DLAs again, propping the service up where the B7s fail... Apparently they've been "dropping like flies" - only 3 out yesterday (7488 was on 43/44/45) and today. 7521 also came from Ashington. 7519 was on X18 today so may have been at Alnwick.

(22 Feb 2015, 10:00 pm)tyresmoke wrote I had 7494 yesterday and then 7471/7476 today, nice to get a go of the DLAs again, propping the service up where the B7s fail... Apparently they've been "dropping like flies" - only 3 out yesterday (7488 was on 43/44/45) and today. 7521 also came from Ashington. 7519 was on X18 today so may have been at Alnwick.

Which do you prefer to drive, if you dont mind me asking? 

Good to hear that the DLA's are still pretty reliable/can be relied on, haven't been on one for ages!

Aye I saw in your original post that 7521 went, so was just a bit confused as to why they decided to send MAX and Sapphire vehicles, although your second point probably answers that

Three things... When are the E400 Sapphire 7's due, the MAX X1 Streetlites due (both Darlo) and when are the next stop announcements going to start on the X66/X26/X27?

(22 Feb 2015, 10:11 pm)JoshP wrote Three things... When are the E400 Sapphire 7's due, the MAX X1 Streetlites due (both Darlo) and when are the next stop announcements going to start on the X66/X26/X27?

A photograph of one of these was shared on the "Arriva 2015 Order" thread, so it shouldn't be too long before they start arriving... I'd imagine it was being tested around the yard, and this usually happens about a month in advance of the new buses arriving into the fleet.

(22 Feb 2015, 10:05 pm)mb134 wrote Which do you prefer to drive, if you dont mind me asking? 

Good to hear that the DLA's are still pretty reliable/can be relied on, haven't been on one for ages!

Aye I saw in your original post that 7521 went, so was just a bit confused as to why they decided to send MAX and Sapphire vehicles, although your second point probably answers that

I have to say I'm a fan of the DLA's, tons of power despite their age - and they're still immaculate inside! The VLWs were beautiful to drive too, but they do seem to be rather fragile. Either that or Jesmond can't look after them! They seem to do ok with 7445/6 mind so maybe give them a few months, especially as they've been thoroughly tested on the X93 for the best part of a year.

I'd have just said that's typical of Ashington's allocation, sending one of each. Having said that they did ok today - although I did see a few wrong allocations, but no more than Blyth or Jesmond had.

The X1 Streetlites are in build now, if not already completed (I know one was seen completed in Northern Ireland the other day, photo as Dan says in the Arriva 2015 order thread). The Sapphire E400s I have a feeling will be due soon, on the end of Yorkshire's order which is being delivered at the moment.

Some of the Scanias at Darlington have working announcements already I believe. Unsure whether that's just on the X66 or the X26 also.

(22 Feb 2015, 10:13 pm)Dan wrote A photograph of one of these was shared on the "Arriva 2015 Order" thread, so it shouldn't be too long before they start arriving... I'd imagine it was being tested around the yard, and this usually happens about a month in advance of the new buses arriving into the fleet.

If they've got next stop announcements they'll be tested on the full route first, I've got a photo of 7522 and a Max E400 being tested around Ashington depot with their destination blinds on.

7525 has had a nearside panel replaced. Looks horrendous wrong shade of blue, no branding.

(23 Feb 2015, 11:56 am)Tommy_1581 wrote If they've got next stop announcements they'll be tested on the full route first, I've got a photo of 7522 and a Max E400 being tested around Ashington depot with their destination blinds on.

I believe the X1 StreetLite's will have next stop announcements to go along with the Pulsars on the 1/5/5A and MAX Omnicity's which also have them.

Haven't heard announcements on the X66 yet.

Anyone know which Framwellgate Moor morning 7 journey is duplicated from Aycliffe - is it the 0730 or 0745 departing Newton Aycliffe?

Unsure if it's already been noted, but 1791 has completed it's move to Blyth, was on the 2 this morning 

There's a Arriva orange jacket man with a clip board at Peterlee bus station, counting how many passengers are on each bus before it pulled out. also theirs a solo 2823 on service 24 and theirs a solo on service 23 this morning.