(14 Nov 2022, 10:22 am)Storx wrote Why? Stagecoach Midlands fleet is antique - it's desperate for investment. I'm assuming they'll be seeing off ALX400's or Dennis Darts.to be honest I'm inclined to disagree agree because of two reasons, firstly SNE was always a lot higher in the league tables for profitably than midlands, but the northeast hasn't always benefitted from their profits.
The 1/2 appear to ran by Deckers already though.
secondly as for the antique part yes, they have quite a few older buses however the oldest double decks in the midlands division i believe are the 2004 tridents, only 3 years older than SNEs oldest double decks however, because of our problems with E200s SNE have actively been acquiring darts. and thirdly i know SNE is the only division still using ALX300s in passenger service, there's around 20 ranging from 2003 reg I think up to the 2007 models, while in the meantime other divisions are using 2007/2008 E300s as DTVs.
I'm not saying Northampton shouldn't receive investment but when SNE as a serious money maker is using what it has, with low-capacity buses routinely getting used on busy services because the current fleet of Deckers is struggling i think they should get a bigger bite of the cherry they helped to grow
could use the 24 Gold-spec Scania N230UD/Alexander Dennis Enviro400 from 2015 displaced from Preston, although they wouldn't be a bad boost for the northeast either