As a result of the service changes in Redcar & Cleveland from 28th June, Sapphire services X3/X3A and the curtailed 64/64A are now interworking at Middlesbrough Bus Station. After attempting to work out the new PVRs for the Redcar changes (from what I can tell) the Sapphire requirement now stands at 8 for the X4/X4A (as before) and 11 for the X3/X3A and 64/64a. As Redcar only have 14 Sapphire Streetlites, a problem arises here as this means they’re now 5 vehicles short.
A while ago it was mentioned that the original plan was to swap Stockton’s Streetlites for Redcar’s Pulsars, however this plan was shelved. Personally I still think this seems like the most logical solution. With the 5/5a ‘upgraded’ to Pulsars (which could be treated to a Sapphire spec refurb in due course) it seems this would help aid the reliability of the 5/5a where there seems to be regular reports of trouble with the Streetlites at Stockton. This would also standardise Redcar’s fleet to just Temsa’s and Streetlites and would keep the so called ‘troublesome’ Streetlites all in the same place with 24 available for a PVR of 19 (2 of which could also be allocated to the 81 for example). This would provide Redcar with 49 vehicles for a PVR of roughly 40 (excluding the seasonal X93).
(1550-1559 to Redcar, 1429-1440 to Stockton)
This dilemma also get me thinking of the other Streetlites in the fleet and that perhaps relocating them to form large clusters at Redcar, Jesmond and Darlington would be a possible option to aid their reliability. As such, I would also propose that 1579/80 move from Ashington to Jesmond at some point in the future (perhaps when Omnicities 4653/59/64 come to be replaced, a number of Pulsars could be operated out of Ashington).
Similarly the Streetlites at Belmont form an oddity as in recent years services 22, 23 and 24 have all been revised to interwork, resulting in a large PVR of about 19 which is made up of Pulsars, E400s and the Streetlites. As such perhaps sending these to Darlington in return for some Pulsars could be an option. This would allow the 1/5/5a/X1 circuit to be operated entirely by Sapphire Streetlites and for the 22/23/24 circuit to be run entirely by Pulsars (with some more refurbed to Sapphire spec to replace the Streetlites). A similar variation of this could perhaps see, alongside the Streetlites, the Durham Sapphire service 7 operation transferred over to Darlington, as one of the Durham boards currently starts at Darlington so therefore there is only one board with dead mileage to accommodate. This would allow not only allow for the 1/5/5a/X1 to be fully operated with Sapphire Streetlites but all the single deck boards on the 7 as well, while the 22/23/24 could operate with already Sapphire spec Pulsars using those taken from the 7. Assuming on any given day 2 Sapphire Streetlites at Darlington were off the road then 2 MAX ones could be substituted in their place, and if by some miracle there were no more than 2 off road then the 3 remaining MAX Streetlites could be allocated to the X75/6.
(1595-1601 to Darlington, 1473/4 & 1514-16 to Durham)
Another possible alternative would be sending Belmonts 7 Streetlites to Redcar in return for some Pulsars (with the Streetlites at Stockton staying where they are) though this would leave an awkward batch of 5 Pulsars at Redcar. Perhaps 5 of Belmonts could go to Redcar in return for 6 Pulsars (1 more going back due to the PVR decrease), with 6 left for the 62, 19 Streetlites for the 64/X3/X4 and 25 Temsa’s for the 63, 81 and spares. The remaining 2 of Belmonts could go to Darlington in exchange for Pulsars giving a full 15 Sapphire Streetlites for the 1/5/5a/X1, and allowing the 5 MAX Streetlites to be used as spares or on the X75/6 as mentioned above.
(1595-1599 to Redcar, 1435-1440 to Durham, 1600/1 to Darlington, 1473/4 to Durham)
Of course, in reality I highly doubt that any of this would happen, I was simply toying around with the idea of Arriva following GNE's lead in depot standardisation, but I thought I'd share anyway in case others had further insight or ideas of their own
