(02 Jan 2017, 11:13 am)NK53 TKT wrote I sampled PCL for the first time on Saturday with the 15 and M1 and I was impressed.
The driver on the 15 was nice and told me some things about the company and said that his boss was away in London collecting another dart that is similar to the current two but not identical. He let me on with my explorer even though he was not supposed to. It arrived in Alnwick early on 15 and then left 3 minutes early towards Sainsbury's. The bus went on to Rothbury and was quite quiet with only two other passengers.
The bus itself was in good mechanical condition not how Jimmy described it and it had no panels missing. The only other issue was that the side destination display was stuck on S1 Morpeth. The bus was LG02 FFR. The driver also said that he takes the bus home on an evening and parks it in a layby round the corner somewhere in Alnwick as this saves the company £180 a week in fuel.
I then boarded the M1 which was not so great. The bus was the green optare solo. It was quite old and underpowered plus it was not nice on the inside and is not very suitable for the route in my opinion. The driver was a bit grumpy and refused my explorer and singles are quite pricey for such a small route. So personally I don't know peoples issues with these services.
Also when I went past Lionheart on the X15 I passed a Glen Valley coach that was being driven by Steve Hurst the ex MD of Spirit Buses.
With new buses in mind I would recommend the following fleet allocation when the new dart arrives:
LG02 FFR M1
LG02 FFP S1
V470 GBF (solo) T1
MX07 LBG (travelsure primo) 15/16
BAZ7053 (Van Hool Ailzee) 808
Other primo Northumberland local services and 79
New Dart Hexham local services
The singles are cheaper than Arriva on the X14 - £4.00 isn't bad for a 17 mile journey considering what some prices are for less, it's £5.20 on the X14.
I don't think they have 2 Primos though, and the M1/T1 interwork (with the bus off the S1 doing a couple of T1 runs). But yeah I had no problems with them when I used them.