(23 Feb 2020, 10:28 am)tvd wrote While they do put in a lot of miles, here in this patch we dont have many services operating from as early in the morning till as late as some other parts of the country.  Check out the Arriva app's live map sometime, you see nothing up here at 5 AM but loads in Arrivas other divisions, and the same late evenings too.

So I dont think the buses get as flogged to death as people might think, any issues are more likely down to the desire to buy as cheap and lightweight vehicles as possible.

I'm not knowledgeable about all the different types out there, but would whatever buses Coastliner use for their services not be a good idea for Arriva on the X15/X18/X93's?  They have similarly long routes.  But even then they replace and cascade their buses after a few years.

B5TLs on the Coastliner, same as GNE are using on the X9/X10. 

Volvo chassis, though smaller engine than what is on offer from ADL. That GNE are trialling buses on the X9/X10 may indicate that they're looking into replacing the B5s on there within a couple of years - and the Transdev order announced the other day for E400s on The Witch Way and CityZap indicate that they're not too hot on the Volvo/Wright option. 

In fairness to Arriva they didn't buy on the cheap for the X93, with the B9TL likely the best option at the time. Equally ADL E400s, at least the later ones, have proved to be solid buses.