(13 Jan 2016, 1:44 pm)scania driver wrote Because they were an embarrassment as were the E400's they dumped on the X93 ! Pure and simple. Constant breakdowns and as for their hill climbing ability ? I can get up Birk Brow on crutches. The X93 is a premier route with passenger numbers and revenue and had to be (at last) marketed as such. How long 7401-6 is of course questionable.
Got to admit the B7TL's were a huge improvement on the E400's which kept breaking down all over the place though. They were brought in to "steady the ship" as it were, and were never going to be a long term solution to the problem. Obviously the investment in brand new vehicles had to be justified and in the end it was, with the B9TL's coming from dealer stock instead of cascaded (older) ones from Yorkshire which I believe was mooted at one point. I'd like to think 7401-6 will last a good few years though - punctuality/reliability figures have gone through the roof, and in turn we are seeing huge growth year on year.