(22 Apr 2023, 3:09 pm)toward6931 wrote the thing is glen, if CAZ wasn't a thing, all the above buses you've mentioned would probably still be at their home depots,
the Newcastle services are in general busier, have increased frequencies, longer routes and seem to run a lot longer times of day than the Stockton services, by virtue of Newcastle being a major metropolitan area, the majority of Newcastle buses running today are still 2008,2009,2010,2011 buses and they run ok despite some being on the road from potentially 5am in the morning till midnight in some cases, most will run 6 or maybe even 7 days a week,
when you look at the 62 route for example, starting from throckley all the way through the west end, through Newcastle CC to Killingworth, that's a round trip of about 50 miles depending on if there's any deviations etc. i think the route takes about 1 hour 45 minutes to do end to end. the buses on that route probably do a minimum of 6 cycles of that route, 6 days a week.
that's why Newcastle ideally needs the most investment, im not saying Stockton or hartlepool shouldn't get anything new, far from it as I believe all fare paying punters should get a nice experience, however if for example SNE was to get a batch of 20 brand new short wheelbase MMCs in the next 12 months in this current situation, I would still say that hartlepool should only receive a token amount of say 4 vehicles to ease some of their current woes, I would say that each Newcastle depot should receive 5 each and Sunderland/ south shields 3 each, at least that way each depot gets some of their particular issues sorted out
That's debatable mind. I'd say the Stockton routes are stronger than the Newcastle counterparts which are gaining the 64/65 plates.
Your comparing different routes here. The buses aren't being taken off Stockton aren't going on the 62. We're talking about the X47/X77/X78/X79/X82/X87/X88 which imo are all weak services in comparison to the Stockton services these buses are coming off and aren't more frequent.
The major routes in Newcastle other than the 12/22/38 have much newer buses (16/69 plate) and assuming one of those will be upgraded with the new buses.
imo the best way to sort out the mess with the buses would be this would be to buy new midi Enviro 200 MMC's to replace all the Enviro 200's at Sunderland and the 1 at Hartlepool then use the displaced Enviro 200's to South Shields and Hartlepool to get shot of the MAN's.
For big buses purchase new Enviro 200 MMC long buses for Stockton and displace the MAN's to reserve and the remaining 64/65 plates to Sujderland to get shot of the gas buses.