(04 Jul 2018, 12:33 am)BeachBoy99 wrote Is there any particular reason as to why Arriva's Sapphire 22 service does not have double decker vehicles allocated to it?

Out of the four Sapphire services in the Durham city area (22, 24, 6 and 7), it is the only route not to have any Enviro 400 vehicles. Having said that, double deckers are usually allocated to the service at peak times (primarily the 24-branded and 6-branded Enviro 400 vehicles). The point is, if they frequently allocate double deckers to the 22 at peak times, why not brand them for the route like they have done for routes 24, 6 and 7?

Now, if I remember correctly, NK15 DZR (7539) had its branding for the 24 removed in February for a short period of time. However, it has since been restored - evident from the newly-looking vinyl stickers - and now includes a large ad for Dalton Park Shopping Centre on the rear face. So, I wonder if there is a reason why the 22's branding wasn't incorporated onto 7539 with the 24's, given the fact that the 22 and 24 have been cross-branded since the end of last year. It couldn't be down to a lack of space since the X21|X22 in Newcastle have a cross-branded graphic for both routes which fits comfortably onto the sides.

I don't know - just trying to create some conversation that you could engage in.

What are your thoughts?

The 22 will unlikely to be busy enough to justify double deckers. 6 only has them due to the service interworking with scholar's contracts and college runs, 7 has them for busy peak loadings and I think 7538/7539 only ever ended up on the 24 because of Arriva changing their plans to upgrade the 22/24 to Sapphire spec before the 6 due to road works going on in Durham at the time, meaning the 22/24 ended up with the buses that were originally meant to go on the 6.

7539 is allocated to both the 22/24 as both services now interwork, on weekdays it usually seems to be on the same board which starts off the day on the peak X46 journey from Stanhope to Framwellgate Moor. Arriva are useless with route branding which is probably why it still only has 24 branding, at least one of the StreetLite's still only has branding for the 22 as well, the branding was not removed from 7539 at any point.