(04 Aug 2015, 3:20 pm)GX03 SVC wrote I suppose that Arriva are going to magic up some B5LHs every time a service needs regulating?
That's not the issue, Tommy.
I could count on one hand the amount of times Go North East's "Angel" branded Volvo B5LHs have been used on other commercial services besides service 21 (excluding scholars and those that they are scheduled to be allocated to - evening X21s and Night Bus N20/N21), whereas it's a daily occurrence at Blyth. Admittedly, it has drastically reduced in recent months and you no longer see a Hybrid on the X4/X5 at the same time a Quroum Express branded VDL Gemini is on the 308 at Blyth, so we're heading in the right direction.
I am in favour of effective regulation and spare vehicles being used to time-correct services, but the vehicle that is replaced shouldn't immediately become the 'spare bus' used for time-correcting. That's when branding goes helter-skelter, and makes a mockery of the whole concept. I appreciate it's better to send an incorrectly branded vehicle than none at all, but I would anticipate that Blyth would have more than one spare vehicle at any given time?
These vehicles were ordered with assistance from Government funding for use on service 308. Only in extreme circumstances should a Government-funded vehicle be allocated to another service.