Welcome to 'The Zone'..........

Teesside's newest vehicles 27166-81 were officially launched today in Stockton High Street with 4 vehicles on display as followed:

'Time Zone' 27166



'Zone Out' 27170



'O-Zone' 27177



'Comfort Zone' 27179



The reason it's 'The Zone' is a play on 'WiFi Zone', advising the free WiFi available.

Should also point out that there's only 2 route descriptions which are as followed (along with the location on the buses):

'Middlesbrough-Stockton-Norton every 7 1/2 minutes' (Time Zone/Comfort Zone nearside, Zone Out/O-Zone offside)
'Middlesbrough-Billingham-Hartlepool every 15 minutes' (Time Zone/Comfort Zone offside, Zone Out/O-Zone nearside)

Some other bits and bobs revealed at the launch (attended by all the big managers from Stagecoach) includes:

The rumors of the transfer of 39701-14 to Stockton are completely untrue, confirmed by Phil Medlicott (as he said "if he doesn't know about it, it's not happening")
Also confirmed is the hunt for the replacements for Stockton's non-DDA Deckers (Olympians 16834 (which worked a 36 to Hartlepool this morning just before the launch) 16836 and Tridents 17025-9/32) is so far a struggle - but can confirm they are aiming for some second-hand (or even third hand) ADL E400s
Following the departure of Operation Manager Abbey Pettigrew to the same role at Oxford, Acting Operation Manager Shelly Usher is following suit with a promotion to the permanent role of Operation Manager at Stagecoach in Swindon. Her replacement as Stockton's OM is coming from West Scotland's Kilmanock depot.