(18 Jul 2014, 11:53 am)Wellsey18 wrote So when these vehicles are cascaded in the future will they be painted into the regular arriva colours and kept the same spec inside?

I'm not sure on the answer, but to add to the discussion...

Surely if the interior specification remains to Sapphire-spec, then the exterior will too?
Depending on when they actually go come off the 7, I'd imagine that they'd simply be given a mid-life refurbishment and repaint to freshen it up and so they could re-apply branding (for whatever service gains the Pulsars).

As Arriva has launched - and no doubt will continue to launch - Sapphire, Max, and standard specification on their new vehicles this year, it seems unlikely to me that the present Sapphire specification will ever become the standard specification. Usually, you don't see corporate liveried vehicles with technology ahead of branded vehicles (for those operators that do go down the branding route).

Go North East, on the other hand, will eventually have buses with free Wi-Fi (MAX equivalent, minus the e-leather seating) in corporate livery - because they plan this from the start. Likewise, the same could be said about buses with free Wi-Fi and power sockets (Sapphire equivalent, again minus the e-leather seating).

Obviously this won't happen until the vehicles are at least ten years old, by which time I'd imagine technology would have evolved even further to allow for more technology on-board buses - and Arriva will no doubt come up with another step up from Sapphire to complement this technology.