(14 Nov 2022, 8:16 pm)toward6931 wrote 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.
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
In fairness though your mixing DD and Singles up, there's no routes that realistically need an upgrade to Decker's in the North East regardless to what people say. Maybe we might see a single order soon which might push out some of the oldest buses in the network instead.
Depending how many decker's come up here most the 58 Plates could be gone from front line service.
Say something like
10x New Buses - 12
10x New Buses - 38
2x New Spares - 12, 38, 62, 63, 39, 40
12x 60 Plates - 1, Spare
E400 Hybrids - 18, 22, X63, Spares
It's easily doable and there's more than enough there - I believe those PVR's are right there abouts.
Mind it'll be interesting to see where the 19 Enviro 200's from Inverness end up as they'd make a good dent in removing the Enviro 200 MAN's especially considering there's some the same age as Hartlepool's (60 Plate) and the rest are the same age as Sunderland's / South Shields' give or take (63/64 Plate)