(02 Mar 2021, 8:37 pm)Andreos1 wrote Lost mileage could be an issue.
If it is being recorded and reported accurately. 

It was a lot easier to cover it up in the past and for operators to tell a complaining passenger that 'the bus definitely ran' and subsequently claim for BSOG or other financial incentives. 
With the advent of all the open data and tracking, I'd imagine it is a lot more difficult for an operator to cover up the lost mileage and fraudulent BSOG claims, should DVSA or anyone else start sniffing around in a determined enough fashion.

I'd imagine this is part of the problem. They're meeting service by either patching stuff and pushing it out, or by using the likes of B7TLs on Sapphire work, so on the surface it probably seems fine as long as all the runs are covered right? But then punters will be pushed away when the same board for weeks on end is allocated whatever they can find at the end of the runout. Used to be the 0735/0755 X22 to Newcastle, which were the last two boards out the depot, think it's now the 0752 35 to Morpeth. I'd imagine those passengers will eventually get quite annoyed when every day they're given a clapped out MAX E400 (any of 7511/2/4-7) or a B7TL instead of a Sapphire E400.