(Yesterday, 7:27 pm)Storx wrote Keep seeing stuff about Ashington and the new buses solving everything but I'm not convinced it will.Talk seems to be that Ashington are getting 12 of the new MMC which will help. They will need their engineering department to improve, but that was never going to happen overnight and would need time for the new people to get in, understand what they're working with and formulate their plan. Word to local councillors from Arriva HQ seems to be they hope to see major improvements in the new year. Fingers crossed for the passengers that is the case.
If the rumours of the 12 17 Plates are going out - which are not the problem and 6 buses rumoured to Whitby then unless Blyth are only getting 2 of the things there's not going to be any change at all.
Assuming Blyth get 10, at the bare minimum, which doesn't really make much sense considering the minimum PVR is 14 then it's basically absolutely no further forward...
Some knackered E400's, Pulsars or DB300's from Blyth aren't going to fix anything tbh and it's realistically all that Ashington will really gain from this and those will be likely replacing Pulsar's anyway which also aren't the issue in the main.
It does seem that there is genuine investment and planning starting to be seen at ANE now. Whether it results in the required improvement we'll find out in the coming months.