(15 Apr 2014, 6:03 pm)Davey Bowyer wrote Probably to aid with reliability. I love GNE'S fully kitted out deckers with high back seating, Wi-Fi and power sockets but Sapphire will be a whole new level in the North East. Good investment from Arriva also showing commitment with a service. They're starting to listen and work with passengers more now than what they previously did. I know I might've put Arriva down on a few things in the past such as operations and fleet policy but they're getting better and far better since they made all the cuts back in September 2012 and rebuilt the network from there. The only things that they need to work on is vehicle allocation, more lenient and achieveable timetabling, introduce radio communication and more contactable customer services.

I'm actually really happy with ANE Customer Services lately - getting back within one day after a query as to how much a return journey would be on the 685 was commendable.
Only thing they need to work on is their Social Media opening hours...!