(25 Mar 2016, 11:37 am)Adrian wrote Come on Lee. You can write about something better than that. Aside from your clear hatred for the Go North East exec team, some of the comments are ludicrous. I appreciate that it's an opinion piece, but a lot of it is without foundation and/or reasoning. Surely the whole point of writing an opinion piece is so that you not only get your opinion across, but also your argument for that opinion?

On the Castles Express:

"...and the seven Wright StreetDeck's which Go North East purchased for £1.5m (daylight robbery) would probably be better off without them." - This makes no sense. Without them, they'd be stuck with knocking on 17 year old ex-London buses, which were evidently unreliable to the customer. Never mind the management team. What would you have purchased instead, and why?

"Sorry Go North East, but all you have achieved here is restricting the view of the elderly. " - Really? I can see inside the bus from your picture, so there's no reason why someone wouldn't be able to see out, given that there is a natural source of light outside.

On the A-Line Solo:

"However, what we see before us now is reality, what we see before us is quite frankly a mess." - I recall describing it as being horrific, which you challenged on this very board. What's changed your mind?

On the X34:

"...the brand name. More, More, More with your X34 is pretty long and not the most memorable." - I somewhat feel that you're missing the point here. They're still marketing the service as the X34 - see here: https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and...es-on-x34/. The "More, More, More..." is a tagline, not a brand name.

On the Crusader:

"A few years ago, Go North East believed in a magic little thing called interior branding, and on that interior branding they told the story of the Jarrow Crusade, but, them days are gone and under the leadership of Kevin Carr" - You'd think Kevin Carr went out there and designed everything from start to finish himself.   Would this be the same internal branding that operators don't update and fill it up with waffle? 6 month on, and my regular X12 is still showing as stopping at Plawsworth.

On the red Angel: 

"From a Go North East point of view, it was a temporary measure, however this brand was pathetic to say the least. A couple of stickers and done. This is certainly where the downfall of this once great company began." - Fetch me the violins! As you say, it was a temporary measure. Before the Volvo B5LHs came into the fleet, and it was a better solution than sticking with the unreliable Vykings. I agree it looked crap, but it really doesn't need the amateur dramatics.

On the indiGo:

"Right, indiGO. Where to start... First off, they are pink, not indigo,..." - Are we still harping on about this? Besides, the outline of the lettering is indiGo. On the same token mind, trentbarton's rainbow service isn't painted in the colours of the rainbow, and their Mango is teal. It's a pathetic argument, and I'd have hoped you'd have the sense to agree with that.

"...and secondly there is a pun in there. However that pun is probably not understood by the vast majority, and is quite frankly stupendous. The plot has well and truly been lost. I have at this stage lost all hope, and will resign to searching for inspiration elsewhere." - You mean "indiGo to here", "indiGo to there"? What's to not understand? We're going to need an orchestra full of violinists by now.

On the corporate livery:

"*This red corporate identity can often be seen with patches of orange, green, purple, pink and many other colours." - I recall seeing the rear of a ex-Highwayman bus like this, but it hardly speaks volumes. I've seen buses in a lot worse condition (aesthetically), and I hope to see you do an opinion piece around that...