(14 Nov 2020, 9:43 pm)mb134 wrote 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.

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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.

Yeah have to agree to be honest, mind I'm not too sure on the bus itself it has a very hybrid Temsa Avenue or Dennis Dart / GNE Prestige look exterior and interior wise (excluding things GNE have specced) and well neither of them were great in the long term.

To add to the Southern branches comment btw you might want to look at the fleets of the GoAhead groups, GNE are just as bad as the rest, there's a reason why the Brighton and Hove deckers end up here and not vice versa.

(14 Nov 2020, 9:59 pm)MurdnunoC wrote Not to mention of course, aside from zero emissions, Stagecoach may have been the first to introduce a hybrid-electric fleet to the North-East, years ahead of anyone else back when they had the Quaylink contract around 2005ish. Obviously, there was funding available for that too.

There's one thing noticeable about all 3 of these aswell and that they've been kinda been a failure. The gas buses now are a bit old tech already and aren't as good as they first imagined with some of them very tired already. Can't see either Darlington or Sunderland buying new gas buses when the time comes around so it's all a bit of a waste of tax payers money imo. Less said about the Designline they must be up there with one of the biggest failures ever in terms of buses.

Hope these Yutongs don't follow the trend with trying new stuff especially battery tech which tends to get worse (less charge) over time which could end up being a big problem and not a cheap one to fix I could imagine aswell. Also with investing in a new company aswell, hopefully it ends up better than the Temsa that Arriva Redcar are stuck with which have problems ie a few going on fire and just aren't really the best bus ever.

I really don't think electric is the future though, Hydrogen will be the way forward imo unless something changes as the range is a big problem for the majority of routes.