(18 Mar 2014, 10:44 am)Scott wrote I ahve seen an increase on the branded vehicles and red northern vehicles being used on other services since the Riverside depot opened, so it may be that Stanley are trying to use vehciles as efficently as possible. It may also be that they are just going through as busy period of routine maintenance. I have to say most times I have seen the 45/46, it has always be operated by the correct branded vehicle.
The Diamond on the other hand does tend to have more B10BLEs operating on it than the Citaros. The back suspension on the Citaro never seems to stand up to loads well, as the back is often considerably lower than the front.
I think that maybe because at the bottom of Swalwell Bank the road is too low so the front of the bus needs to be lifted slightly by pressing a button which rises the bus up (just the Citaros, no other bus has this problem) to avoid the front end from hitting off the road. Some drivers seem to forget to lower the bus back down to normal level so the front end is higher than the rear. I think that this may be an explanation to why you see the rear lower than the front quite often.