(07 Apr 2021, 9:22 pm)Storx wrote Possibly stuck in a bit of rut in a sense certain vehicles are just outright useless (7510 / 7445 / 7446 / 7484 / 7486) and aren't fit for purpose on any route at Ashington or are constantly broken / been off the road for months (2809 / 4653 / 4659 / 4664 / 7530 / 7556)
It's no wonder they're not maintaining things to be fair when you've got so much junk to deal with. Now I'm by no means an expert at buses but 7510, 7445, 7446, 4563, 4569 and 4664 should be no-where near a depot that only has routes which are fast express work or travel >40 mile away from the depot.
Agreed, and they badly need investment. However, I don't think that should excuse the frequency with which their vehicles are removed from service the day they return after a breakdown/period off road. 7525, I think it was, in Jan/Feb had a period of a week or so where it came back, broke, was off for a few days, returned and broke the next day (and repeat). 7530 was a similar story yesterday, taken off early afternoon in its first day in service since March 24th. Again, I'm not suggesting that they're letting them out in an unsafe condition - but if the bus has been road tested or fixed correctly it shouldn't break/be taken off on its first day back. I understand there will be occasions where this does happen, but as regularly as it seems to?
With 7510, I'm sure they had a suitable rear diff for it in 7513 (which is now at Alpha according to a post on a FB group) so I'm not sure what happened there. The Scania's and the 57/09-plate E400s are not in a good way at all. With the Volvo's, the two 05 plates seem to be very hit and miss, but again agreed they're not really suitable for that sort of depot if there isn't a route like the 35. 7484 seems ridiculously reliable for how old it is, the last time I got it (last summer) the driver seemed to be enjoying it, and commented on it being decent on driver changeover at Ashington. 7486 I'm not sure on, but I assume has a serious problem as it hasn't surfaced since February while the rest of the B7s have been in constant service.
On the vehicles in your first paragraph, 7556 was off due to an accident so shouldn't be out of action much longer.