(05 Nov 2017, 1:25 pm)tcts24 wrote OK took a Pennine 7 (EBR850S) IN 1978, having checked the fleet history it was the only Seddon they ever had. Darlington on the other hand developed a habbit of buying naff buses eg. Daimler Roadliner, Seddon Penine RU, single deck Dennis Dominator and of course the infamous Ward Dalesman! It would be interesting to see if theres anyone on here old enough to remember some of these buses and can compare them to Solos and Streetlites of today. My native Hartlepool had RU demonstrator HBU451J on loan in 1972. We also had the single deck Dominators but had the good sense to get rid of them in favour of REs a decade older. I'm 35 and I barely remember our Dominators so I can't really pass judgement. I do however remember the rather dire Wadham Stringer bodied Dennis Falcons Hartlepool had. At the time, they were among the younger buses we had available in the town (including much of the Tees fleet) so didn't seem all that bad as a customer. In hind sight though, I'd take a Streetlite any day!
Indeed, I don't wish to come running to the defence of the Streetlite, but there's always been some pretty pants buses on the road - we seem to have short memories!
Did anyone ever look at a Caetano Dart, even when new, and say 'What a wonderfully put together machine!'? Yet GNE dispatched them on the X35 along the Durham coast road for years. The Arriva output from Peterlee wasn't all super-powered Deltas, Scanias and Olympians. They had some Metrobuses and ex-london Leyland Olympians which could have rolled back down Crimdon Dene given half a chance. As for passenger comfort, the olympians had solid plastic benches upstairs (no cushions) which by comparison made Urban 90 seating seem luxurious. I always enjoyed Metroriders for their quirkiness, but gosh their performance varied from stabbed rat to elderly tortoise; plus your average passenger presumably didn't appreciate the absolute lack of luggage space, effectively having to sit of your fellow passenger's knee in the cramped saloon. The clue was kinda in the name with the Metrorider, fine as a short-hop city bus, but I'm not convinced even Optare would have sold them on the premise of being ideal for being ragged up Silent Bank on the 22s. One of my favourite buses from my youth was the Lynx, yet I'd pretty sure I've been on some MK1s where the driver has commended the chassis around a left turn but the body has tried to carry on in a straight line.
As for the X1, I'm fairly certain the output from Bishop Aukland on the 1/1B around 15 years ago would have been anything that started up in the morning. Where journeys may have not got any quicker, indeed may be slower with a Streetlite allocation, I think the average passenger would agree their bus to work has got become a nice place to sit over the years. The mechanical merits of Wright vs DAF (for example) may be for us enthusiasts to mull over, but when it comes to the general population I think they's keep their Streetlite over a Prestige.