(30 May 2026, 11:27 pm)Arriva7446 wrote They should enter service before then, that is not until the start of July, there is no excuse why diesel vehicles can't be used much quicker than that, they have 7596 and 97 which are the same so no driver training is needed, and their Enviro 400 EV has the electric camera mirros so all drivers know that too. I know it is listed in the other thread all stuff that has to be done but none of it takes that long to do really. It is probably just for PR reasons that Arriva want to show off brand new vehicles at high profile event. Who cares about their regular service users at Blyth who haven't used a new vehicle in 14 years.
6 new vehicles is a joke for Blyth anyway. The 14 electrics were government funded, and the last intake of 10 hybrids in 2013 was also government funded, so Arriva have not bought any new vehicles themselves for Blyth since 2012 with 1501 - 5, so 6 14 years later is more a token gesture anyway. They should get far more and get to keep 7596 and 97. Arriva don't care about Blyth, the fleet has been getting steadily worse year after year. The unstuitable ex London deckers with heating that didn't work have been replaced with the 57 plate Enciro's which have had very hard lives where the heating also dosen't work, plus a load of extra Pulsars which are too small, and now probably more worn out cascades from Ashington on top of these 6.
At the very least Blyth should get Ashington 17 plates which still aren't too bad, but they are leaving the region. Blyth should have got a bigger share of the new order than 6 buses and 19 to Ashington. Just because Blyth's routes are less demanding than Ashington arriva see it as an excuse to dump really old buses here as well as too small buses.
I am totally sick of Arriva. Blyth won't even get these 6 new buses before Arriva have used them to show brand new vehicles off at a high profile event. In the mean time we have 7501 still in service breaks down virtually every day, 1499 which probably hasn't had interior touched since 2012, but Arriva couldn't care less as they want to show off these vehicles at a 2 day event brand new.
I would never set foot on an Arriva bus again if there was any sort of competitor around here.
Give Redcar something older, they already have 72 plates on just the P&R and other 72 plates which will soon be seasonal services older. They could have 7527 and 28 for these new services. Arriva treats Blyth as bottom of the pile constantly.
Why should Redcar get old all the time its about time that area had investment on bigger money make routes such as the x93 northrumbra can't have every single new bus because u want them at blyth
For u to moan more blyths new mmcs 26 Plates will be head to Silverstone go shuttles