(13 Jul 2020, 9:31 am)streetdeckfan wrote See, every time I've used Arriva's MMCs I could have sworn there was a drummer sitting upstairs with the amount of rattles and crashed, one of them was so bad I had to get off and change buses.
And my reason for only excluding GNE's second hand vehicles is the majority of the offenders (such as 6941 that you mentioned) shouldn't really be out and about in service and were acquired specifically for event and scholar work. 

As for the X46, all Arriva have done is put lipstick on a pig with those ALX400s, they're still bloody awful to travel on, which I unfortunately have to do from time to time (I really miss when GNE ran some X46 services!).

I'm not saying GNE are perfect, just that they, for the most part at least, keep the interiors of their vehicles much nicer, I can't remember the last time I travelled on a GNE bus that had ripped seats or holes in the back from where they've been melted with a lighter, but they seem to be a regular occurrence on Arriva buses, at least in Durham.

Your not making fair comparisons here, the X46 in terms of patronage is similar to comparison to the 25 from GNE which has Omnicitys which haven't been refurbished at all since new and rattle just as bad.

You keeping saying how great GNE are but you should have massive respect for Arriva because they actually bother to serve your area. GNE have pulled out of your area twice now bar one profitable route.

I'll admit for the core routes, GNE is a much better operator but once you go into the secondary network GNE is an absolute shambles and by the far the worst of the big 3. There's people keep saying, why not go into this area and compete against the rubbish Arriva. Do you want the simple answer because one of GNE's depots imo is in a very very weak place right now and it's Percy Main and Stagecoach and Arriva could wipe them out easily.

309 - 308 Quicker, more frequent and Cheaper - Stagecoach taken custom with 22X
310 - 306 Quicker, more frequent and Cheaper - Stagecoach taken custom with 22X
311 - Shortened 57/58
1 - Stagecoach dominate the West End of the North Tyneside side, Arriva trying to take the East side (306).
11 - Used to be every 20 minutes with full size vehicles, now ran by GCT at nights by breadvans.
41 - Stagecoach killed from Wallsend to Cobalt, subsidised and ran GCT with breadvans and half the route has been cut lately.
42 - Stagecoach killed from Wallsend to Cobalt, east side subsidised. Northern part subsidised and ran GCT and Arriva's 52/53 are the primary operator.
19 - Stagecoach taken loads of custom with the 1 / 22 / 22X. Subsidised and ran by GCT partially.
W3 - Ex GNE route.
335 - Partial Ex GNE route
319 - Ex GNE route.

Other than South Shields (Stagecoach), Percy Main is by far the weakest depot in the North East and that's what happens when you play childish games such as extending the Q3 into Stagecoach teritory for them to react and it backfires. I wouldn't be surprised if GNE closes Percy Main outright in the future with the 1 / 309 / 310 / 311 transferred to Riverside and the rest binned off. Deptford has similar problems with some very weak routes. 9 for example used to be every 15 minutes now every 30 minutes. Silksworth services constantly chopped and changed.

You can say lots about Arriva (and Stagecoach) and their fleet presentation but one thing they have is consistancy and they don't just drop their tools at the first oppurtunity and expect Nexus to pick up the pieces behind them. It's no wonder Nexus want to take control as it must be annoying having one of the big 3 cashing in on the profitable routes then you have subsidise what they can't be bothered to run. People would rather have a refurbished ex London bus that an ex. somewhere Solo during the day and a GCT breadvan at night or a GNE Streetlite during the day and GCT at night. They've even done it down your way with the OK1 and the Tinsdale short bus - forgot it's number.