(07 Mar 2020, 9:11 pm)Jimmi wrote I still don't get why the X21/X22 is seen as such a favourable route for investment on here considering there's other routes in the North East that are equally or even more deserving of new stock than that is.

Could see some newer stuff for the X18 and maybe X15 (hopefully) and cascade the MAX E400s to 35, X14 & X20 and older examples elsewhere too, likely Belmont to see off Lowlanders and Volvo B7TLs - saying that though, IMO Belmont could do with some Sapphire spec double deckers as there's not really enough to meet PVRs for the Sapphire routes now, especially since there's now a booked decker working on one of Belmont's 7 boards on weekdays - in an ideal world, would be great if all 7 boards were double deckers during the daytime.

I think if we see investment for the X15/8 then it'd make sense to do the X14 as well - the Scanias are due for replacement soon anyway so it'd make sense to a degree. Would require 12 vehicles, 13 if there's a dedicated spare. 

You'd then have 7553-6 for the X20. 

Out of 7511/2/4-7 and 7529-33 you'd probably see the latter 5 stay at Ashington as spares for the Morpeth routes and for the 35 alongside 1579/80. The other 6 could then move to Jesmond to displace their B7s. 

Currently I don't imagine there's a lot of need to replace the Blyth deckers. They're on less demanding routes than the Ashington E400s, have all had recent refurbs and will likely be kept on for the next couple of years at least. 

If we're honest the X15 should have had new vehicles about 5 years ago. 

In response to your X21/22 point, I believe that the MMCs are already surpassing 200k miles at 2.5 years old. Not huge milage but the buses they replaced were already dying, I'd imagine that's why we saw quick succession of investment last time around.