(12 Dec 2024, 6:19 pm)Shrek wrote From bits and pieces I've been hearing, don't be surprised if Arriva look to invest more in Blyth and Ashington in the coming years than Stockton and Redcar. They see opportunities in franchising in the North East and want to be ready to take advantage of it.

There is little incentive to invest in Redcar and Stockton at the moment. Passenger loads are good, car ownership lower than the catchment area of Blyth/Ashington routes, and no issues with clean air zones. The business case for investment in the North East is at the Northumberland/Newcastle end.

Must admit I wouldn't be surprised to see a huge order at Blyth soon, say 25 buses or so, to replace the whole of the X7-X11 allocation. With the interworking patterns there's not much you can do without replacing the lot now. The 59 plate Gemini's are finished aswell, they've done a good job to give credit to them though with the newer Enviros heading to Ashington. 

The 306/308 is the sort of route crying out for a ZEBRA bid with GNE's 307/309. I know some people will have opinions on that corridor but its got all the tickboxes. Multiple councils, a high pollution area (Coast Road), hits the ULEZ, high frequency, decent passenger numbers etc.