(22 Jun 2015, 9:36 pm)DaveyBowyer wrote If it was 7502, then that says it all. 7501-7506 are completely shot after being at not only Redcar but Blyth too. 7507 - 7509 are ok but Redcar did give them a bit of a hard time too. If deckers prove to be popular on the 7, do you think Arriva will buy a whole new fleet for the X21 / X22 and give 7522 - 7528 to Belmont and Darlington for the 7?
The thing that is annoying is that someone decided it could cope with a peak time run, we arrived in Newcastle 12 minutes late, with 5 minutes more than usual timetabled in to do the Regent Centre to Haymarket stretch. I know for a fact that certain boards don't hit Newcastle at peak times at all, put 7502 on one of these, and let the buses with some power handle the busier runs into Newcastle.
As a comparison, 7524 was my ride home, after traffic lights made us 3 minutes late leaving Haymarket, we were on time by Regent Centre. We arrived in Bedlington a minute or two late, after stopping at Northumberlandia, and then the stop opposite Nelson Industrial Estate (and not being able to pull out because of a van in the bus stop). There was a massive noticeable difference between it and 7502, acceleration was far quicker and it didn't seem like it wanted to die every time it went over 30.