(13 Nov 2016, 3:53 pm)Malarkey wrote With regards to 635/636, why not send them back to Hexham and brand them up for the Tynedale Links to therefore replace 618/619, and give them the seats from 618/619 also as iirc correctly they are used on Scholars services.
Only 618 was modified to allow use on scholars services.
It would be a pointless exercise - the reason why 635 transferred to Deptford was due to a PVR increase of 6 vehicles (all boards of service 9 transferring to Deptford and the scholars services becoming standalone), and the reason why 636 was transferred to Percy Main was to allow the withdrawal of a further Volvo B10BLE from the fleet.
These are temporary allocations and both 635 and 636 will return to Hexham next Easter (by which time there will be other buses in the fleet to replace 635 and 636 at Deptford and Hexham).
Every extra bus in the fleet costs money - the running costs, tax, test, tyres, maintenance, etc. It's a massive saving using 635 and 636 elsewhere over the winter period opposed to older vehicles: Arriva do the same with their vehicles at Whitby.