(14 Nov 2020, 9:27 pm)Storx wrote To be fair I don't mind the interior, it's quite different and modern which I like. Something different instead of the usual. Reminds me of the Paris Metro a bit which like using bright colours. The First ones interior wise look pretty horrendous though, the green handrails reminds of one of ex Cowie operators down south not sure which one though who's buses ended up here with Arriva for a bit.
It's very marmite though and can imagine a few hating it aswell for the same reasons mind.
I think the GNE interior (bar the flooring) is a quite a bit above both of the First interiors. The Leeds ones look so basic, very cheap looking anyway. The Glasgow ones are far better imo, but still nowhere near matching GNEs standard. The blue/green combo on the seats in particular is striking and fresh (if only they'd kept that for the exterior too), and the overall finish looks top drawer - I worry about the longevity of that flooring though, it already looks suspect in a couple of the pics I've seen on here/Twitter.
(14 Nov 2020, 9:10 pm)N1cholas wrote Not even hit the road and some want them in a corporate style livery, the must have road stripes and go north east splashed all over the outside so people know who runs them, oh and a different name than Voltra, I'm sure the general public will know it is a go north east service, I'm sure the public don't give 2 hoots if there is no road stripes.
I'm sure the general public will appreciate these brand new revolutionary, state of the art buses from the very first operator to introduce ELECTRIC ZERO EMISSION BUSES to the north east, I don't think any other operator will be willing to invest in the future of public transport in the north east when they can easily invest into other southern branches of their operations.
I personally think they are tremendous and cant wait to see them on the road
I don't see how this can be backed up at all? Firstly, these are here becuase of funding available - otherwise I'd say there's little to no chance of GNE splashing out on an electric fleet. You also seem to be forgetting about the gas buses introduced by both Stagecoach NE and Arriva NE a few years ago.
Secondly the "southern branches" thing - York, Glasgow and Aberdeen (from the top of my head) are seeing the introduction of emission free buses by large operators (First). Notably Aberdeen has had hydrogen powered vehicles since 2014ish. Again in all of these cases I'm pretty sure the buses are only introduced because of funding, so really it's more down to local authorities than bus operators, though credit still must go to them for their part in the deal.