(05 Feb 2022, 6:14 pm)Adrian wrote Looks like Roger French has been to the region today, only it's left Ray Stenning with a bit of a bitter taste in his mouth: https://twitter.com/creatingdesire/statu...0160567297

I recall reading elsewhere on the forum that Sapphire and Max are being completely phased out, so perhaps that should make them a priority for repaint, to avoid giving anyone a false-sense of being a premium offering.

Getting back to the original point, as subsequent posts seem to have turned more into a Best Impressions bashing session, it is really quite sad to see Arriva's buses of late. It makes a mockery of their original investment when they don't spend the time to continue upholding the standard once set.

Sapphire made it to their new website, suggesting it's not buried and gone just yet (otherwise why would they keep promoting it?) even if they are actively moving away from it:
https://www.arrivabus.co.uk/our-services...e-services

It seems like Arriva North East were the division to adopt Sapphire the most (the X1 is incorrectly listed here, as the buses for this were in MAX specification albeit now unbranded I understand).

I would agree that if they are being phased out then these should be given priority for repaint but, aside from the recent repaints at Darlington, progress with repaints has been incredibly slow. Locally in the North East, Stagecoach adopted a new corporate livery after Arriva, yet the latter seem to have painted far fewer buses into their new scheme. I'm still perplexed as to why Arriva have prioritised the gas buses at Darlington.