(04 Feb 2015, 8:24 pm)Dan wrote Can't help but feel it would make the costs of running the X21/X22 go through the roof.
The advantage of double deckers is that they provide the extra capacity when it's needed; instead of having more peak time runs to combat full buses at this time, double deckers only require the one bus (and hence driver) and lowers costs. The advantage of light-weight double deckers is that it allows for savings on fuel.
(04 Feb 2015, 8:26 pm)RobinHood wrote Running 32 vehicles would almost certainly put the services at a complete financial loss.Oh god yeah, didn't think of the financial side (other than the initial outlay).........
Thinking about it, however, I think that if Ashington sorted their allocations out they could probably get away with keeping 4 of the current E400's (7522-5 say), and use those for peak time runs. With B8's doing the others.
I'll try and do head counts for the remainder of this week, I just think it's a waste having double deckers running around when for all bar around 10 runs per day, single deckers would do the job. (Especially when other services, such as the 7, need double deckers)