(03 Jan 2014, 10:49 pm)andreos1 wrote Edit edit. Another point to make is the size of the PVR.
Replacing the fleet on the 35's and displacing them elsewhere has a massive impact on replacing older vehicles - more so than the 20's, which has a smaller PVR.
This I agree with - but why would it be rumoured that the 20 is going to receive the Citaro vehicles from the 35 if it was so great though? It wouldn't - it too would be in line to receive direct investment. Investment was avoided in the past too when they re-branded the vehicles - this no doubt was chosen in favour of investment. All of this must be telling you something...
If what has been said is true, then instead of just having a few Solars spare for Renown withdrawal, you'd have 12 Mercs and about 18 (?) Solars. The latter option seems more attractive - but there must be something preventing this investment, and that has to be linked to profit levels rather than anything else. Like I said before, the 20 does not have consistently high passenger numbers. It may have one bus where you're like 'canned sardines' (or however It has been described), but the next journey is near enough empty. If you replace Solars with heavy weight double deckers and some journeys are flying about empty, it's not gonna be long before you start to make a loss on some journeys. I rest my case.