(15 Mar 2015, 11:30 am)Dan wrote I'm not going to quote Jimmi's post because my post would end up being humongous...

I was actually on service X66 yesterday, and, believe it or not, two old women were discussing the interior colour-scheme. Although they weren't comparing the colour-scheme to another "MAX" service, they were commenting on how ghastly the green interior is and how the light blue headrests stuck out like a sore thumb. It's no coincidence that this debate has started up again shortly after my ride on the X66 from Darlington to Stockton! I know from past experience of waiting for the X93, customers have discussed how they connect to the service at Middlesbrough by using the X66 service. This means that customers are using two "MAX" specification services to get to their destination. If a customer is travelling from Bishop Auckland, they could be using three "MAX" specification services to get to their eventual destination in this instance, and I'd imagine that the Streetlites destined for use on the X1 service will be of a higher standard than the Volvo B9TLs on the X93, for example! One offers high-backed e-leather seating (which is marketed as being "comfortable"), while the other offers sub-standard e-leather seating. This is why the problem is becoming more apparent, because a greater number of services have now been converted to this specification.

I've covered your Go North East related statement in a previous post. The older vehicles in the fleet are merely having their seats re-trimmed to increase book value prior to sale whilst increasing passenger comfort before this occurs. It adds a bit more value to the vehicle, as dealers or other operators don't necessarily have to bother doing it themselves. As you can imagine, Go North East can do this cheaper than a small independent operator! These vehicles are all in Go North East's corporate livery and are of a reserve capacity. They don't form part of a brand, so there's no inconsistency between each vehicle held in that brand. Imagine if half of the "Tyne Tees Xpress" branded vehicles had e-leather seating and had a complete interior overhaul compared to what the allocated vehicles have at the moment? Customers would instantly see the difference...