(08 Feb 2025, 12:00 pm)PH - BQA wrote There are multiple serious issues with this, which I’m surprised haven’t been flagged internally prior to pushing ahead with this change.
Firstly there’s the issue with capacity. As you have pointed out, this means the 10:08 ex-Newcastle will be single deck operated. My experience using this service previously would suggest that that particular run would always require a double deck allocation, both for the loadings in and out of Newcastle during the summer months. This is the first X18 into Newcastle which pensioners can use from Widdrington south, and also likely the first northbound most can use from Newcastle if they’ve needed to connect onto it in the city centre. Then, Monday to Friday, that same board works the 14:05 ex-Berwick which is intentionally sent past Willowburn on its way into Alnwick to pick up the school kids - I’m unsure on those afternoon loadings in fairness, but if they’re comparable to the morning run then they tend to be sizeable. Runs around the coast in previous years, during the summer, have been known to pick up significant loads in Seahouses and Bamburgh too, enough to pretty much fill a decker.
There’s then the issue with the vehicles. At best, age wise, they’ve got some 64-plate Streetlites. The previous allocation of 64-plate deckers were taken off the route nearly 3 years ago due to unreliability, and they had significantly larger engines and generally were more suited to the work. Realistically Pulsars will be allocated to the boards, the youngest of which are 12 years old, and one of those has a reduced seating capacity due to its initial order specification. Beyond that, and outside of 1479 which should be allocated to the 777, the rest of the 61-plate (now 13 years old…) Pulsars are an absolute state internally and haven’t been touched since new. There are then 1404 and the 5 ex-Merseyside Pulsars which have been refurbished, but they are now 15-16 years old and pushing them onto X18 boards daily is a recipe for disaster. Pulsars are fantastic vehicles, but expecting 12-16 year old examples to faultlessly perform on the demanding X18 (where they will be carrying large loads for the most part!) is an act of sheer folly. I also question the ability of a Pulsar (or Streetlites) to complete a board on the X18 with regard to fuel capacity.
You then get to the significant downgrade to the appeal of the route to tourists. The X18 has been heavily promoted by Arriva and NCC in recent years as a great way to see the coast, which is fair enough as from the top deck of a vehicle you have a fairly good view. Unless there are some particular nice hedges I don’t see how the same can be achieved from a single deck vehicle.
All of that, and I don’t see how anyone can argue that any of the points made aren’t serious issues with this mental plan, for at best a few minutes worth of gain? Comparing times to the 418, this literally saves 2 minutes compared to the current X18 route.
Time will tell, but I guess all we can say is, I very much doubt this has been done by Arriva without consideration of all factors involved.
There could well be other, significant, mitigating factors that are not immediately obvious to the armchair network planners on this forum.