(07 Dec 2016, 9:29 am)RBZ 5459 wrote Couple of things picked up... the 18 pretty much justifies deckers during peak times. Similarly, the 71/72 could do with full-size single deckers over midibuses for peak.
And the 8 has been cut and changed over the years it only carries about two people either direction these days. A couple of MANs on the 1 would be not appealing believe me, plus it's very tight for a single decker through Heaton. Training school could take some of the disposal MANs perhaps...
There are some journeys allocated a decker
The 72 is already allocated MAN 18.240s and the 71 often has them appearing and they are better for the environment allowing older MANs to go
The 8 would be brought back on a trial basis hence why it wouldn't interwork, therefore withdrawing it doesn't affect other services
Recently I was on the 1 with my grandma who lives on the route in Heaton and the bus allocated was MAN 22342 and although a little tight, the bus did fit through all the streets and at one point was two minutes early. Capacity-wise the 1 often has buses running in threes and on this particular journey there were only 3 other passengers onboard