(05 Oct 2020, 9:35 pm)Bazza wrote Do you think GNE  are in a position to buy Arriva Northumbria?

They have a surplus of buses (and drivers) due to the loss of contracts. 
They heavily invested in new buses before the pandemic hit. 
They have had to invent a coaching division as they have a surplus of unwanted NatEx coaches that they couldn’t hope to sell at a reasonable price.
As the NatEx network is still not up and running fully those coaches are also lying idle.

As detailed above,   They have made less profit than both Arriva and Stagecoach, despite being the bigger operator

Is there any evidence of this, or is this just speculation? Isn't this something Go North East has done for several years now, just never formally 'branded'?

Due to PSVAR, there's been a huge surge in demand for ex-National Express coaches. It's only until recently that the market has been truly awash with coaches, due to the collapse of National Holidays. Go North East has still managed to sell a fair number of coaches within the last six months.

The irony being that these 'unwanted' coaches probably turn a bigger profit on rail replacement work than they do on National Express work - and, as has been evidenced recently, Go North East has been the major player in the North East bus scene, in terms of providing vehicles and drivers for these rail replacements.

Almost all of Go North East's National Express coaches are in use - nine on National Express work, with the majority of the others being allocated to scholars and/or scholars duplicates (ironically mainly for Arriva North East).