(3 hours ago)PH - BQA wrote Only 30 deckers rather than the 31 quoted?

Interesting that this confirms Arriva lied to the press/elected officials about 25 new deckers going to Ashington.

As we're talking about what was said to elected officials who love to lie, I guess Arriva could get away with 25 "brand new" to Ashington deckers arriving, even if some are 10 years old. That's the politicians trick.

It will be interesting to see how things work out when all the movement is complete. Arriva was left in an absolute shambles by DB and replacing one third of the fleet this year is a hefty investment, and there's a lot of talk that more electrics could be on the cards as well (I wondered why the EV is still running daily from Blyth). Hopefully more movement of other vehicles can replace the worst that are limping on up north.

But the critics are correct that while that is all very positive, something needs to be done right now as current performance isn't good enough and for all the positives they are showing, they are still lacking ingenuity and basic determination to show a good customer service. Some short term measures need to be put in place.