(07 Aug 2021, 6:33 pm)Storx wrote There's nothing wrong with the DB300's at Blyth and there's not much difference age wise between them and the 100 or so B5TL's/B9TL's which are between 11 - 63 plate at GoNorthEast which won't be going nowhere anytime soon.

Stagecoach is the one you should be targeting about old battered fleets. There's battered MAN's running around on flagship services every day which are much much much worse than the Arriva Northumbria fleet.

If your making a profit, it's probably not in your best interest to copy a bus company which isn't making a profit. Change the X8 and X9 by all means as they probably are going to struggle at some point but I'd leave the X7, X10 and X11 alone there's nothing wrong with them.

Big difference between the DB300s and B9TLs. B9TLs are a heavier vehicle thus will last as long as Leyland & Volvo Olympians did. Arriva were running 1997 P4** CCU Palatines until 2012/2013.

Stagecoach......completely different type of work to Arriva. To be fair to your comment, they could do with some "cleaner" buses on key routes. But in terms of vehicle quality and performance, the majority of their work is the likes of rata****g up and down Shields Rd & Blackett Street. Arriva's work is interurban / suburban and needs a higher quality vehicle. GNE have recently ordered StreetDecks but will no doubt have sensible plans after 5-7 years to cascade them to "easier" routes.

Fair enough, Arriva are making a profit but how long can they "sustainably" keep making a profit? Blyth's DB300s, Ashington's 64 & 15 plate E400s and the B7TLs dotted around will need replacing on a large scale and at significant cost. Arriva Northumbria (based on pre March 2020 service levels) need to cut their PVR by around 10-15 vehicles.