(04 Apr 2019, 5:30 pm)Dan wrote Regardless of the differences in build quality to then yonder and now, operators will plan to depreciate their assets over a certain number of years.

Keeping them any longer, either due to a financial need or because they didn't "need" to replace them, is just a bonus.

But it isn't a bonus from a passenger perspective if the ride quality and the interior of the vehicle is below standard due to years of wear and tear which the operator has done nothing about, I dread to think what a ride on a 19 year old Wright Cadet would be like.

Atleast with Go North East they have a program in place where vehicles get repainted every 4 years and are treated to a midlife refurbishment and then withdrawn once there past there shell life, compare that to Arriva who have just sent 1760 to Thorntons for it's first ever repaint after 14 years in active service.