(19 Aug 2013, 5:41 pm)Kuyoyo wrote Converting the Vykings to single door would have more-or-less double the refurbishment cost (Quoted in Buses Magazine around the time as £20000 per bus) as they are DDA-compatible in Dual Door format but without spending money to alter the front door and wider the gangway there, they wouldn't meet DDA. Hence the reason they were left as dual door.
Weren't they purchased for the fact they were dual door though? I can recall something being put out at the time by Go North East to say they were to speed up boarding/alighting times. I can recall getting a similar answer from Peter Huntley on Openline.