(10 Nov 2014, 5:22 pm)Dan wrote Again, touching on one of my previous posts above, 74 buses seems irrational to me. I think it's more likely that the company will aim lower, after last year's huge investment.
Can I point out that the cost of one Volvo B5LH/Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 comes in at a cost of approximately £275,000 opposed to £200,000 which was the cost of a Volvo B9TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 (to Go North East's specification with high backed seating, Wi-Fi and power sockets fitted)? The only reason these vehicles were ordered for "Angel" service 21 was because the Green Bus Fund contributed to £1,000,000 of the cost in total... If they weren't ordered off the company's own back for the "Angel", you're sure as hell not going to see any other service receive these vehicles without government funding...
Surely the Micro-Hybrid version of the Streetlite would be more appropriate for all orders, allowing all services to benefit from more environmentally-friendly buses which see cost savings for the company, rather than some orders being the Streetlite Max and others being the Micro-Hybrid?
I didn't know the difference in price, could they get funding from the GBF?
And the Streetlite Max buses are bigger, and will cope better on the Lime?