(14 Jul 2019, 12:10 pm)L469 YVK wroteArriva's lack of investment is going to bite them in the arse when suddenly their buses aren't allowed in the city centre.
The state of Arriva's current fleet is shocking to say the least. With the exception of the X21 / X22 E400MMCs back in 2017, no major investment for any of the Northumbria routes since 2014.
Blyth & Jesmond's fleet are particularly bad.
At least GNE are willing to invest and I'm sure with the X30 PVR increase that should GNE order anymore E400MMC's, they will correct the shortage within the next order like what they're doing for the X21.
It's got to the point where GNE are replacing buses that are newer than Arriva are buying.
Sure, they've been refurbished with fancy 'leather', but they're still not that nice
I got the X1 to Darlo recently, and their 15 plate Streetlites are in much worse condition inside than GNE's. It's as if they just don't maintain them. I suppose they do have one advantage, the emergency door doesn't rattle!
That brings me on to another thing, when did they stop putting effort into their 'Sapphire' brand? I thought they were supposed to 'make my journey sparkle', but in reality it's just as bad as any other bus ride! I can't remember the last time the sockets, WiFi or NSA worked.