(14 Jul 2019, 7:28 pm)Dan wrote
It's quite difficult to compare the average vehicle age of "the big three", really, as their operations vary so significantly.
If it wasn't for Go North East's sizeable fleet of buses used on school and works services, they'd have a reasonably low average fleet age. It's the scholars fleet which really drag down the average fleet age, although any further acquisition of newer pre-owned buses will help even this back out. They've also lost a small number of contracts, Go North East's MD Martijn Gilbert confirmed recently on Social Media, so this will help somewhat too.
In terms of frontline service work, without looking into it at any sort of detail (although I'm sure someone will), I'd imagine that Arriva and Go North East are roughly the same and Stagecoach to be a little older?
I'd be shocked if the change of vehicle allocation on service 306 was capacity-related, although that may have been a nice line to defend it at some point. I don't think there's any service along the Coast Road corridor that's overcrowded, even those which operate(d) with single-decks, as quite frankly there's too many buses out there to be over-crowded.
I've taken my eye off the ball somewhat with the bus scene in the North East over the last year or so, but my understanding was that the VDL Geminis on service X12 were needed by Arriva Yorkshire, so they were replaced with "MAX" specification VDL Pulsars (from services 52/54), which were in turn replaced by Streetlites (from service 306), with the surplus "MAX" specification ex-London Volvo B7s filling the void on service 306 (released from Ashington following the acquisition of a small batch of E400 from Yorkshire). There was also a direct swap between services 23 and 52/54, if memory serves, with the Streetlites going to Jesmond and Pulsars going to Durham.
Although I've said that I think Stagecoach's fleet is probably a little bit older in terms of those vehicles entering Newcastle City Centre's proposed air quality zone, aren't the MAN Enviro300s 24101 - 24115 receiving modifications to make them meet Euro 6 standard emissions? The trio already at Newcastle have been confirmed, and I'm sure there were some comments about the examples still at Stockton being done too? I don't know for sure, but if this is the case, I'd imagine 24101-12 to join the Newcastle fleet later this year following Stockton's receipt of new Enviro200MMC vehicles for services 36/37/38, in order to oust some of the non-compliant MAN ALX300s?
IIRC, the VDL Gemini's transferred to Yorkshire to in turn upgrade service X15 to have younger buses whilst at the same time it was decided to downgrade to some extents the X12 to pretty much full Pulsar operation as the decker capacity was no longer really required with the loss of student traffic between Uni campuses in Durham and Teesside as it's all in Durham now in return Jesmond got the ex London MAX Volvo B7TLs displaced from Ashington, think even before this there was at least one decker turn on the 306 for some reason.