(31 Dec 2014, 10:53 am)Robert wrote We have all been able to establish that those 2 routes in particular are to receive an upgrade or cascade of some sort for months now although like you say, we can't say that what vehicles will be purchased for them. We won't know how many buses are being ordered until they actually are. At the moment, we can only guess roughly which i think was about 80 if i remember correctly?
That figure was in Go North East's assumed corporate plan for the 2014/15 financial year and 2015/16 financial year, which was initially given in Go North East's Quality Contracts Scheme response.
Things can change - that figure could well be higher, it could well be lower. Enthusiasts are very much in the dark with this year's orders, and I'd imagine that will be the case until the buses actually arrive (unless one of our 'Go North East insiders' issues hints closer to the time of their arrival). We shouldn't have found out what they were last year either: they were leaked. Go-Ahead, unlike Arriva and Stagecoach, do not publish details of the amount of vehicles that they plan to order within that financial year as each company is their own and these orders can be made at any time during that financial year (whereas I believe individual Arriva and Stagecoach companies have to get their orders in for a certain time in the year?) This is the reason why there's an element of 'secrecy' to Go North East's orders, whereas Arriva and Stagecoach's are quite open.