(02 Aug 2020, 11:02 pm)mb134 wrote To be honest there's been a general trend of the industry moving away from Wright. Build quality went to pot a number of years ago now, and you quickly saw First and Arriva move away, followed by the likes of Go Ahead, and now even Transdev and Lothian. 

Then if you begin to look into the products - single deck you have an E200 with superior build quality compared to a Streetlite which *still* has build quality issues nearly a decade in. Then the E400 has that 6.7L Cummins engine which has proven itself over and over as a very reliable unit, in comparison to a smaller and less proven Daimler unit in the Streetdeck. 

Bamford Bus is also still a relatively unknown quantity - if a company is spending millions on a batch of buses do they want build quality they can trust with ADL, or not really know what's going to turn up (if it turns up!) with Wright? 

I think it says it all really when you've got Transdev Blazefield going for E400s as their next double deck order over the Wright product.

I disagree that the E200 has 'superior build quality' compared to the Streetlite, sure, the Streetlite has a rattly door, but the E200 feels like it's make from the thinnest, cheapest plastic they could find, with just about every panel creaking, and don't even get me started on the windows.
The Streetlite feels like it's been well screwed together with the exception of the emergency door, and even still on Arriva's examples that isn't even an issue.

I would also disagree with your implication the StreetDecks are unreliable. They're not. They're some of the most reliable vehicles in GNE's fleet. 

Did Transdev go with E400s because they wanted to, or because they had no choice? There's a big difference