(07 Mar 2020, 9:58 pm)mb134 wrote 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.

Think the plan was for Yorkshire E400s to replace the B7TL Gemini's on the 306 but that hasn't quite worked out due to the delay in delivery of StreetDecks to Yorkshire plus Lowlanders being withdrawn.

(07 Mar 2020, 10:04 pm)Ds1197 wrote One my last trip to Darlington they routes really need an upgrade since I think some of Darlingtons omnicities are still only euro 3 and that's meant to be the express routes that most of the time get even older buses

Darlington's fleet is actually fine for the most part apart from a few specific Omni's which are town only due to issues making them not ideal for out of town work and some of the Lites being totally useless. Thing I want to see is the Solos being given a slight bit of TLC as seats are as flat as a pancake at the back on most of them and some buses are crying out for a repaint.