Just been thinking and I think that both the Crusader and Diamond will get New Buses in 2014, This would allow for 30 Mercedes Citaros to become Available (Includes 06reg Red Spares), The Citaros would then Replace the Wright Solars on the Laser, Prince Bishops and Highwayman Services, This would then allow for the Wright Solars to Replace various Vehicles in the Go North East Fleet which are up for Withdrawal.
The Crusader will no doubt get some form of Double Decker, whereas the Diamond would get New Single Decker Replacements. Elsewhere the Lime would get New Single Decker Replacements on the 8/78, This would aid the Withdrawal of the Wright Renowns on Service.
This Brings the Total of New Buses so far to 44.
The X66 has been Rumoured quite a lot as Service to get New Buses due to the Poor Reliability of the Ex London Articulated Citaros, It would also make sense to Replace the Solar Fusions on the X40 also, This Result in 12 New Vehicles being Needed, as the X66 would receive a Frequency Increase a Result, so that Number of Seats Per Hour Remained the same as it does now with Articulated Citaros.
This Brings the Total of New Buses so far to 56
Not a choice that perhaps Everyone will agree with, But I think the Pronto X21 will receive New Double Deckers in 2014, to then replace the Ex London Plaxton Presidents which suffer from Reliability Issues, This would allow the Presidents to Replace the Remainder of the Volvo Olympian Palatine 2's in the Go North East Fleet.
My Final Choice is of course Toonlink which allow the Ex Arriva Wright Renowns to be Withdrawn and the Volvo B7RLE's to be Cascaded onto another Service within the Go North East Fleet.
This Brings the Total of New Buses to 78
As 80 New Buses are Expected the Final 2 Buses will be Red Spares which will either go to Chester le Street/Stanley for the Lime 8/78 or to Gateshead Riverside for the X40/X66.
This Brings the Total of New Buses to 80
RE: 2014 GNE Bus Order Predictions