(19 Jul 2020, 11:19 pm)mb134 wrote The issue with Durham, in my experience at least, is that they don't even seem to make an effort to route brand correctly. With Blyth and Jesmond you can tell in the morning that they've generally tried the best they can (even if it's just the brand, and specific route branding is still all over the place), but throughout the day they prioritise service punctuality levels over anything else. 

Durham always seem to just put out whatever they fancy. When I got the 6 the other day, both 7456 and 7494 were on there - neither even branded, let alone "Sapphire". 7519 and 7521, Sapphire E400s, were on the MAX 48/X46, alongside 7455, ONE(!) X46 B7TL and then a handful of single decks. The X12 (MAX) that day had, from Durham, two standard spec Pulsars (1409/1510), two Sapphire Pulsars (1517/1524) and a Streetlite (1596), and one MAX Pulsar (1482). This isn't one or two incorrectly allocated buses, it's leading drivers and depot management giving the bare minimum and having zero pride in the work they're doing.

Arriva Durham County, generally bar Stockton, have always seemed to operate at a lower standard than Northumbria have - be it in vehicle appearance, driver friendliness or pride in what they're doing. That's by no means to say Northumbria are always good at those things I've mentioned, but from a passengers perspective I always feel more welcomed by drivers north of the Tyne - and that the buses operated by those depots have a bit more TLC.

This not to do with social distancing and trying to get deckers on the more popular routes and singles on the less. I can't answer as I don't know Durham too well but Blyth has been equally as bad lately to the stage that there's a 308 decker going out on the X10/X11 and a X10/X11 decker going out on the 308 at the same time.

It's not as noticeable up here though as everything is Max branded nowadays and tbf it's like this all year round. Never understood why Blyth don't ditch the individual Max branding it's not like they compete against each other at any point bar Cramlington Manor Walks, Haymarket and Blyth bus station.

I was down Durham the way other month thought and was shocked at how mankey some of the buses are it's definitely noticeable that. Remember when the Gemini's ran on the X12 and getting off one of Blyths and onto one of Durham's you'd think the buses we're 10 years apart in age. It's probably why I have very different opinions to Arriva to some on here.