(25 Dec 2020, 11:11 pm)busmanT wrote I would imagine that the bigger Go Ahead Group requirements are also in play - Go North West in urgent need of vehicles to replace ex First Volvo B7RLE and Go North East have surplus buses following recent new deliveries.
Presumably bigger GAG requirements came in to play when they signed off the refurb of the Mercs and sent up a load of Omnis to keep the native and unrefurbished ones going? The same Omnis that are older than the Mercs sent off to Manchester.
The decision to send all 23 to Manchester was based on the success of one passing its trial evaluation.
The decision by GNE to apparently not use an alternative supplier (possibly a different supplier to the one GNW have used in the past) was made well before the trial even happened.
I'm a big fan of both the Omni and Citaro, but can't see any logic in any of these decisions or the explanations given.