(03 Feb 2023, 10:59 pm)mb134 wrote Notice French hasn't mentioned any of the rogue GNE allocations on his past few trips to the NE. The 6 today had a Durham Diamond and a couple of X-Lines vehicles if bustimes is to be believed. Not to mention the Quaycity Versas on everything but the Q3 for 5 months now, and the green X45/46 Streetdecks on the 'wrong' routes daily. Obviously the reasoning for this is that branding is not a priority now, similar to ANE - yet only one company gets slated on social media...Don't always believe bustimes.org!
As for 7552, I imagine it's more likely due to a high VOR rate at Ashington. 7530/1 are off for refurb with nothing to cover, 7555 is still away with fire damage with a saloon covering, and 7524-6 are now gone (and will also be replaced with saloons). Even if they cover, pits are taken up with Blyth vehicles as their maintenance is also being done at Ashington while the depot works are completed. You're not going to lose service/stop routine maintenance so that some stickers can be taken off - that nobody bar spotters actually care about. Mr. Desire's decency seems to be on a similar level to some of his recent livery designs - would imagine his social media behaviour isn't the most appealing to potential clients.
The ex Quaycity Versa are clearly spare buses, as are the green X45 StreetDecks - GNE have made no secret of this. It's not possible to repaint them all immediately, and probably not wise to do so given that passenger numbers are still recovering for the COVID lockdowns and further service changes might be needed.