(24 Jan 2019, 10:27 pm)Malarkey wrote I think priority for Stagecoach would be replace older vehicles in the fleet across the country as their are a lot of ALX300/400's, Optare Solo's and Dennis Dart SLF 2's which were new in 2004 or older which are still in active service, making them 15 years old, the MAN E200's are only 10/11 years old.
Not ruling out the North East getting any new buses as I do think services such as the 1/10/11/38/100/E1/E2/E6/X24/X34/X47/X82/X87 & X88 would benefit from new buses, but that would be a massive investment which I don't think Stagecoach would go for unless they were looking to improve growth on those services.
We'll just have to wait and see what happens.
Are new buses still based on putting bids into HQ to re-invest in the highest performing/loading routes in the North East? Its certainly not the case in Gtr. Manchester. Or if it is, then HQ are being hoodwinked.
More generally, whilst Manchester has historically reasonable investment, its current fleet size of almost exactly 750 means a required investment of 50 buses per year. However, they had only 27 in 2017/8 and none at all this year. Indeed, only once in the lat 5 financial years have they reached 50 - albeit its still far better than the other large companies (First 25 in 4 years, Arriva NONE in 6). Mind you, it seems Stagecoach have put a stop to investment unless get they can Franchising ditched and they have made it clear that future investment will be based on where they can appease politicians and lobbyist and NOT where they're biggest money-spinners are. So, more of the same.
In saying all that and assuming no "local" interest, are we closer to knowing what the 2019/20 orders will be and for where, apart from the 31 for Hull?