(24 May 2018, 1:47 pm)Dan wrote Not forgetting that there is a current "shortage" of minibuses - the Byker ASDA "free bus" contract is currently operating with a Solo instead of an MPD (meaning that Riverside are short of a spare minibus, with 4899 having taken the MPD's place until it is withdrawn tomorrow), service 18 is operating with Optare Versas opposed to Solos, and three boards on services X6/X7 are operating with Scania L94s opposed to Solos.


Yes - fleet numbers 715 - 717 had already been allocated to the three new Solos on delivery from Optare, with this batch of pre-owned Solos being allocated fleet numbers 718 and higher.


I wouldn't expect to see any changes to the destination lists now before July.

There's a couple of things in the pipeline, but a lot of what is being done isn't possible just yet (some firmware upgrades are required on each controller). This is currently being tested prior to being rolled out fleet-wide.

The larger terminal point only destinations actually take up more memory than a 'standard' display, and this is proving troublesome on the controllers on some older buses at Riverside, where the database is now quite some size. Go North East have also carried out some research into the display types, which may mean that further routes aren't converted to the large terminal point only display.