(20 Dec 2021, 11:32 am)Adrian wrote 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.