(12 Aug 2023, 5:04 pm)Storx wrote Honestly, I don't really think it needs to be new buses. There's other way around it aswell, there's plenty buses which have never had a refurbishment bar sticking some new moquette in or in the case of some Streetlite's and Versa's haven't been touched in over 13 year now, some of which are on flagship routes (60 in particular).They really need to stick to an interior and tbh I do like the current red one which is on the XLines and Connections 4 but I do think leather is better but GNE's old leather seats e.g on the 8/78 are just sad are hard they need a new seat which will last for atleast 8 years.
The Coast Road B9's are an example of what you can do without buying a new fleet and is as good as new.
It's the similar with the ex London Buses. Arriva's ex London buses all had a full refurbishment and some of them you couldn't tell the difference between some of the newer stuff, especially the B7's. These new buses are coming in GoAhead London interior and it just screams old to anyone.
Must admit it does help having a uniform interior across the business rather than 20 different livery's even in some areas, especially up here, having numerous interiors, so swapping vehicles around isn't a problem as much.
Tbf the streetlites for their age have kept up their appearance atleast on the inside cannot say the rest for the outside, especially the rear of the Drifters which are all awful.
For Flagship routes theyre not looked after, but having said that the interior of the Streetlites and the Citaros while they were here were much nicer than all the versas, considering when they took the Mercs off the 35 people were asking for the newer buses back and they were 3 years older.