(18 Apr 2023, 9:20 pm)Washingtonian wrote Thanks. Yeah I understand there will be requirements for emissions and disabilities etc. It just seems odd to be throwing hundreds of thousands to millions of pounds to fund secured services with new buses when they then cut the services months later because they are making no money on them. I would have thought funding to modify slightly older buses to meet the requirements would cost less. As we all know Nexus services are never going to be profitable and that's why they are funded.
Agree with those on here suggesting GNE should provide more buses to Seaburn. There's plenty there to attract people now and it would be great for people going there in the school holidays and to the illuminations etc. Would love to have a direct bus there from Washington. Could maybe extend a 56 there once every hour weekends and evenings when the illuminations are on and every half hour during the day on bank holidays and school holidays? Thinking along similar lines to how they've extended the 50 to Marsden on a Sunday
In fairness the contracts are only Euro 5 and they've been around since 2009 now.
If some operator can't get a bus past 2009 then there's something seriously wrong and they probably shouldn't be anywhere near running them.
Any which are Euro 6, bar a few exceptions, are because of the LEZ and even those have been around since 2015 now, it's just the issue NE operators haven't bothered to invest lately and for Stagecoach and Arriva it was well before Covid.