(12 Aug 2020, 9:17 pm)tyresmoke wrote Dead mileage at the start and end of the day isn't the huge problem it's made out to be to be honest. Yes it's not ideal but equally running drivers out from depot to somewhere 5-10 miles away to change over all costs money too. At Arriva Stockton we had several 45 min dead runs to Easington, or for example 30 mins up the road to Brotton, Peterlee, etc. It's honestly not a huge problem.
Never thought about driver changeovers for the X34 to be fair but isn't Walkergate or Slatyford just as far from Newcastle on much busier roads anyway?
Surprised on the costs though thought having extra drivers working for extra 2 hours a day not taking fares would mount up quite a lot for the company especially for routes which aren't so profitable could be an issue. But then again an extra depot would cost money aswell as I'm guessing these are the ex Loftus routes and the 5? I don't know that area too much.
(13 Aug 2020, 11:12 am)Ds1197 wrote You would need a PVR of 7 Sunderland currently has 6 E400s
I might be missing something obvious here but why would the PVR need to go upto 7. Surely you could just do X24 (45 Mins) -> X34 (45 Mins) -> X34 (45 Mins) -> X24 (45 Mins) with a PVR of 6?