(15 Feb 2021, 11:07 pm)mb134 wrote Some of the Darlo 15 plates have never seemed amazing tbh, in terms of reliability anyway - 7538 was/is quite problematic iirc. The 14/64 plates aren't bad at all, it's just that they've been hammered so much over the past couple of years that they're picking up wear and tear niggles frequently now, and obviously major component issues more often than they would have otherwise. Ex-London stuff would likely be fine for a couple of years before landing again in the current situation, though really only if its Volvo stuff, we've seen with 7510 how bad ex-London E400s are.

Yeah they've lost the 35 dumping ground, however in theory that is what was dropped from the PVR requirement. So really 7445/6/84/86 should all be parked up. The X21/22 and 35 cycle has an identical PVR to the normal X21/22 cycle iirc, so 12x MMC and 2x 14 plates should cover it, obviously though the 14 plates are being punted onto Alnwick work. If they were kept standalone on 30 minute frequencies there'd be a boat load of layover time, so I understand the logic behind the combination.

Yeah that's a fair point; honestly don't really know the interworking patterns so couldn't say much but makes sense.

(16 Feb 2021, 12:12 am)Stuartphin1639 wrote With the service changes today Darlington currently have 2 long 7s to Durham but then 2 short 7s to Harrogate hill, Scanias and solo were the short 7s, the long 7s were deckers and a pulsar, with the service 2s now requiring euro 5 or euro 6 engine vehicles scanias can’t be used on the 2 no more due to the Amazon contract so have to find a home for them somewhere

Getting back to Darlingtons 15 plate deckers, to be honest they aren’t the greatest, not a day of by where one of them isn’t off road or don’t fail during the day, I was on 7534 the other day for essential reasons, it was struggling to get any power higher than 30mph

Makes sense with the 7, see what you mean now.

Seems like Arriva and Enviro's up here just don't mix since it's pretty much all of them knackered, especially buses which are only 5 years old. Always remember Blyth absolutely wrecking 7501 - 7506 on the 308 and those limping around after a couple years with 7514 and 7515 aswell which they also got their hands on. Oddly the 2 Enviros at Ashington which are off the road constantly and are causing all the problems.