(20 Dec 2021, 10:02 am)morritt89 wrote Back to the coach v bus argument on the X10 there are pluses and minuses for each but surely there's nothing saying the interior of a bus can be as 'luxury' as that of a coach? Also, wheelchair loading onto a coach is very time consuming (ive done the training) so therefore a bus has this advantage as well. Overall its a downgrade especially when you think of the fanfare when the coaches were launched however in these strange times we should acknowledge that GNE are giving the service a chance (even if its not very attractive or likely to attract car users) rather than just throw the towel in altogether.

Perception is everything here, and there's an automatic perception amongst the general public that coach travel is a step up from service bus travel. This is really important when you're competing with the train, which is also seen as a step up from bus travel. 

Whilst I think it'll be hard to change those perceptions, for reasons I've mentioned in the past e.g. Xlines spec vs the standard 'no-frills' spec that customers will encounter more, I agree that there's nothing to say that an interior of a bus can't be as 'luxury' as a coach, but these E400MMCs aren't going to do that. I actually think that Transdev come closer to achieving this on some of their services, e.g. the City Zap between York and Leeds or the Witchway into Manchester, and the seats and layout are key to this.