(06 Aug 2018, 4:14 pm)Dan wrote I've not done the tour, but I've heard that only certain buses were retrofitted with the Next Stop Announcement system. Seems a bit of a bizarre thing to do, and really limits the amount of buses which can be allocated to the X18 to give this 'guided tour'. After a bit of digging of photos online, I found that 7530 had a TFT monitor upstairs originally but seems to have been removed, and 7532 has never seemingly had one fitted.

Also heard that the speakers are only upstairs, not downstairs, with the justification that locals sit on the bottom-deck who don't want to hear next stop announcements and any tourists would always go to the top deck.

I'm told the reason why the guided tour may not have been available on buses which are fitted with a Next Stop Announcement system is down to the drivers inputting the wrong destination - apparently they have to select code 'T18' in the destination list opposed to 'X18' as normal, which mightn't have been communicated to all of the drivers.

Thanks for the info, I guess driver error must be to blame on some of my journeys.

I am surprised thought that speakers are only installed upstairs as I know many people will choose to sit downstairs for personal preference or may be forced to sit downstairs if they have prams etc or are physically unable to get upstairs. For vehicles used I know that the 14 reg Sapphires are often used as spares but I think that at the very least all of the 64 plates should have had the equipment installed and maybe 1 or 2 09 plates as well. 

In regards to the tour itself I will probably have another try in the next couple of weeks and will hopefully be able to comment on the quality then. I do think the idea is good as the route is popular with tourists. Hopefully the tour (or just NSA's) are rolled out more widely in the future but the execution would need to better than I have experienced so far.