(10 Jun 2026, 11:16 pm)Shrek wrote Having been traveling the coast road routes a lot recently, I'd say the Arriva service is far better than the GNE services along it. More reliable for certain, better customer service from the drivers and if I'm honest, knowing that the Pulsars and Sapphire Enviros are being replaced very soon, I don't think there'll be much between the vehicles either. 

That said, being better than GNE really isn't setting a high bar and they do need to do a lot more to be getting any credit. I'm told the demonstrator is still at Blyth for a reason, hopefully that reason is that more investment will be coming next year.

Aye no arguments there, btw I meant from a fleet investment point of view since there's electrics due for them.

Agreed though, but being comparable to GNE in recent times isn't exactly a high bar either really. It'd be interesting if there's another urban area in the UK which has such a low bar of operators than around here. Even First would improve the area, and that's saying something.