Had my first ride on 9101 this morning on the 82 between Washington Galleries and Washington Depot, have to to say despite it being a smooth runner with no rattles, it was baking hot on board so the ride wasnt very enjoyable, I didnt like the look of the standard seats so I sat right at the back., I also overheard drivers moaning about how bad the Streetlite WF was before I got off to take some photos. 

There were was further complaints from Drivers when I got 9101 again this afternoon, with one driver saying sometimes it will do what should without any issues, such as braking, accelerating and steering, but on other occasions it would simply do whatever it wanted making it harder to drive, and that he could tell that 9101 was made as a "Cheap Tatty Alternative" to the more superior "Mercs" for example on the 4, said driver also said he would rather continue to drive the awful cadets than drive 9101, furthermore the driver this afternoon also complained to the Station Manager at The Galleries regarding the Streetlite WF, which lead to the Station Manager referencing complaints from Drivers at Stanley and Chester le Street about the Streetlites.

By the sounds of it the Drivers dont like Streetlites at all, if this is the case from comments from various depots then why do GNE persist in continuing to purchase this vehicle in particular over other vehicle on the market, if has such bad reviews from its Drivers, I would prefer GNE to purchase 10.1m Optare MetroCitys for the 82/82A as thought the Metrocity on the 20/20A was very nice, and Solos for the 85/86, unless the fancy splashing out on some Mercs.