(06 Apr 2014, 4:22 am)robisdave15 wrote So the cost of buying Citaros against Temsas was a factor then? Bit of a shame that really when 2 of the wretched things have gone up in smoke and been written off, the rest of them cost a fortune to keep running with parts difficult to source ( thus making them even more costly to run when they are VOR for days and are hated by most people!
We had the batch of Merc Prismas down here at Redcar - 3000 to 3028 - which were a wonderful, reliable and practical vehicle, but like anything Arriva get they were poorly maintained and run into the ground.

I wouldn't say the cost of citaros vs temsas was a factor as the trial with the citaro took place sometime back in 2003 with the temsas being purchased some time in, correct me if I'm wrong ....2009????
I dare say that the temsas purchase price vs a product such as the citaro was considerably lower to arriva as they are a dealer of temsa products in the UK much the same deal as with the pulsars and that would probably will have been the overriding factor in the decision to go with the temsas however as you say this has obviously now back fired with the poor reliability of the temsas and also the cost of parts and vehicles being VOR for long periods and so on