(20 Jul 2020, 3:35 pm)Big O wrote The average passenger isn't as enthusiastic as you and is probably happy the bus has shown up. Many a time I have had a Cathedral Solo turn up for my X45 in Newcastle during Rush-Hour and it's not to slate GNE but let's not be biased. 

In reference to your earlier post, the B7TL is still a decent bus, well the Wright bodied examples are. Arriva in London have lost far more contracts which affect the cascading of old stock to the provinces, whilst GAL, on the other hand, has gained many of Arriva London's contracts meaning they have fewer buses to cascade. Go-Ahead also lease their buses in London whilst Arriva outright own them. It makes sense to send them to the provinces to make the most money out of them while they can. Saying that following the latest round of tenders and Tfl's ever-changing commitments I'd expect more DB300s to head up North within the next 2 years to oust out any B7TLs.  They're not shiny and sparkling but for the most part, the buses still run on time. 

That awful new group livery shows that Arriva are not interested in providing an exhilarating bus ride but rather a reliable one that is cost-efficient.

The main issue at Arriva as I see it is the impending sale of the group by DB that has dragged on for an age (2-3 years now?) and the (lack of) spending due to it being squeezed to an absolute minimum. Most op co’s seem to be struggling with reliability as a result. Certainly the NE fleet has not looked as bad as it has in the last 6 months or so for a long time. I would expect to see cascades one as stated above from London and elsewhere to replace the older fleet members... NW has just taken some E200s from London and I believe some newer ones are due for NE soon too. After all there’s some 15 year old Darts hanging on and much older DDs too of course.