(11 Sep 2025, 5:35 pm)DaveFromUpNorth wrote anyone else turned their phone upside down and the screen goes from portrait to landscape ???

Now you mention it

(11 Sep 2025, 5:35 pm)DaveFromUpNorth wrote anyone else turned their phone upside down and the screen goes from portrait to landscape ???

auto rotate ?

(10 Sep 2025, 10:53 pm)Shrek wrote I've had it suggested to me that this one might spend more time on Blyth services in order to see how they work on the x services, looking ahead for future investment. 

Something I noticed on the order for the 43/44/45, the original plan was funding for 13 double and one single decker. Looking at the LinkedIn post, it appears that has changed to 14 BYD doubles now.

The order was originally placed for the 43/44/45 when the PVR was 13, and the single decker was for the 47 Newcastle-Hospital shuttle which ran with 1499. When Jesmond closed the 47 was adopted into the 43/44/45 interworking pattern and the PVR increased to 14. Of course the 47 was eventually dropped but the PVR for the 43/44/45 now remains at 14. Obviously somewhere along the line they were able to amend the order for the 14th bus to be a DD to reflect these changes. 

Will be interesting to see what this and the Durham batch displaces, presumably 7501-7/9, and perhaps 7557/8/60/2 and 7514-16/18-21 or I wonder whether they would prioritise getting rid of older Pulsars first before the deckers.

(12 Sep 2025, 3:41 pm)peter wrote The order was originally placed for the 43/44/45 when the PVR was 13, and the single decker was for the 47 Newcastle-Hospital shuttle which ran with 1499. When Jesmond closed the 47 was adopted into the 43/44/45 interworking pattern and the PVR increased to 14. Of course the 47 was eventually dropped but the PVR for the 43/44/45 now remains at 14. Obviously somewhere along the line they were able to amend the order for the 14th bus to be a DD to reflect these changes. 

Will be interesting to see what this and the Durham batch displaces, presumably 7501-7/9, and perhaps 7557/8/60/2 and 7514-16/18-21 or I wonder whether they would prioritise getting rid of older Pulsars first before the deckers.

Be very surprised if 7514-16/18-21 leave personally. You have to remember that 7557/8/60/2 were the 306 allocation not the 43/44/45 when they were at Jesmond.

In an ideal world Blyth needs to be Pulsar free, bar the 553, as they're just a headache really because of all the interworking that goes on nowadays which results in them ending up on peak X10/X11 boards most days when things start getting swapped around which is less than ideal, as an understatement

The latest TVCA papers confirm the order for Darlington is 21 vehicles and was placed in July, due for delivery by summer 2026.

(12 Sep 2025, 7:18 pm)Storx wrote Be very surprised if 7514-16/18-21 leave personally. You have to remember that 7557/8/60/2 were the 306 allocation not the 43/44/45 when they were at Jesmond.

In an ideal world Blyth needs to be Pulsar free, bar the 553, as they're just a headache really because of all the interworking that goes on nowadays which results in them ending up on peak X10/X11 boards most days when things start getting swapped around which is less than ideal, as an understatement

Yeah agreed that's there no real need for Pulsars at Blyth anymore, ideally Blyth will get a follow up standardised order of deckers. The current allocation seems to be about 10 deckers and 3 pulsars, so you would hope at least a handful of Pulsars, if not all the 61-plates would go elsewhere or they'll end up displaced onto the expresses. 

It would moreso be Durham's order where I would hope the existing batch of 16 plate MMC's will be displaced around the region rather than being sent off elsewhere. You could send a batch of them to Ashington to displace their traditional E400's and move those over to Blyth to replace the remaining Pulsars and 7557/8/60/2 and actually have some fleet standardisation, but whether that would make too much sense for Arriva idk!

(13 Sep 2025, 8:47 am)peter wrote Yeah agreed that's there no real need for Pulsars at Blyth anymore, ideally Blyth will get a follow up standardised order of deckers. The current allocation seems to be about 10 deckers and 3 pulsars, so you would hope at least a handful of Pulsars, if not all the 61-plates would go elsewhere or they'll end up displaced onto the expresses. 

It would moreso be Durham's order where I would hope the existing batch of 16 plate MMC's will be displaced around the region rather than being sent off elsewhere. You could send a batch of them to Ashington to displace their traditional E400's and move those over to Blyth to replace the remaining Pulsars and 7557/8/60/2 and actually have some fleet standardisation, but whether that would make too much sense for Arriva idk!

Yeah can't disagree tbh. Blyth badly needs more really as the 59 Gemini's are tired as an understatement nowadays aswell.

Mind that said I wouldn't be surprised to see something turn up at Ashington as they're struggling with the fleet lately since they lost some of the newer E400MMC's which in turn will displace more of those down to Whitby to sort out the X93 issue finally.

I think the 16 Plates will just stay around Durham / Darlington though to get rid of the 09 Plate E400's tbh and just give some much needed upgrades on other routes with deckers, ie. 1/5/6/7/22/23/24 which have boards which could do with them. You could even upgrade something like the X66/X67 possibly either as they have them on a lot recently.

Here's another spanner in the works.....if Arriva are going to have fleet movements and also the potential for StreetDecks ending up on the 307/309 at a similar time - could both operators end up running the Coast Road services under a joint brand?  Maybe not a full branded livery, but corporate brands as a base livery with vinyls / stickers advertising the joint brand & services. Win-win for all parties especically Arriva who do regulate services / swap vehicles onto other services.

(13 Sep 2025, 11:34 am)L469 YVK wrote Here's another spanner in the works.....if Arriva are going to have fleet movements and also the potential for StreetDecks ending up on the 307/309 at a similar time - could both operators end up running the Coast Road services under a joint brand?  Maybe not a full branded livery, but corporate brands as a base livery with vinyls / stickers advertising the joint brand & services. Win-win for all parties especically Arriva who do regulate services / swap vehicles onto other services.

Doubt it, personally I wouldn't be surprised if NECA or whatever they're called buy electric buses for both and it's one of the launch routes for whatever it's called, similar to what's happening in Liverpool. 

It's probably the easiest route to do since there's already a partnership in place and both routes have pretty elderly buses now with massive visibility being on main routes for the vast majority of the route (no use them being hidden on something like the 317 running around estates).

Redcar and/or Stockton has to be top of the list surely for investment though to get shot of the oldest Pulsars especially since they're keeping those routes indefinitely. The 63 is the one which stands out the most since it's a flagship route running around with junk as an understatement and it already had the electrics until it got redirected to Darlington. Not to mention Stockton losing their newer Streetlites for more life expired Pulsars.

(13 Sep 2025, 1:41 pm)Storx wrote Doubt it, personally I wouldn't be surprised if NECA or whatever they're called buy electric buses for both and it's one of the launch routes for whatever it's called, similar to what's happening in Liverpool. 

It's probably the easiest route to do since there's already a partnership in place and both routes have pretty elderly buses now with massive visibility being on main routes for the vast majority of the route (no use them being hidden on something like the 317 running around estates).

Redcar and/or Stockton has to be top of the list surely for investment though to get shot of the oldest Pulsars especially since they're keeping those routes indefinitely. The 63 is the one which stands out the most since it's a flagship route running around with junk as an understatement and it already had the electrics until it got redirected to Darlington. Not to mention Stockton losing their newer Streetlites for more life expired Pulsars.

It sounds like while the demonstrator is at Blyth they want to give it a lot of use on the 306/308. I'm starting to think there'll be more investment north of tyne next year.

(13 Sep 2025, 4:31 pm)Shrek wrote It sounds like while the demonstrator is at Blyth they want to give it a lot of use on the 306/308. I'm starting to think there'll be more investment north of tyne next year.

Aye could be, but maybe they're just testing it out to see if the routes can handle it distance and all that. 

Wouldn't be too surprised in the future but my heart says the expresses since they've had nothing for years and they're obviously not doing too bad since they've increased the PVR recently. 

Who knows tbh.

(13 Sep 2025, 6:42 pm)Storx wrote Aye could be, but maybe they're just testing it out to see if the routes can handle it distance and all that. 

Wouldn't be too surprised in the future but my heart says the expresses since they've had nothing for years and they're obviously not doing too bad since they've increased the PVR recently. 

Who knows tbh.

I agree there. I don't think there'll be a joint bid by NECA for the 306/307/308/309 until franchising as I doubt Percy Main will be able to have electric chargers fitted - and a move to Riverside would be a disaster looking at the fallout from Chester Le Street closing.

(14 Sep 2025, 8:50 am)L469 YVK wrote I agree there. I don't think there'll be a joint bid by NECA for the 306/307/308/309 until franchising as I doubt Percy Main will be able to have electric chargers fitted - and a move to Riverside would be a disaster looking at the fallout from Chester Le Street closing.

Theres been a load of infrastructure work going on, on Mandela Way and in to Riverside. 
Keep meaning to look at the signage (to see if it was gas, water or electric), but I've had to keep my eyes on the road to avoid the millions of parked/abandoned cars and the knackers coming the other way, weaving in and out.

(13 Sep 2025, 11:21 am)Storx wrote I think the 16 Plates will just stay around Durham / Darlington though to get rid of the 09 Plate E400's tbh and just give some much needed upgrades on other routes with deckers, ie. 1/5/6/7/22/23/24 which have boards which could do with them. You could even upgrade something like the X66/X67 possibly either as they have them on a lot recently.

I understand that is what they are hoping to do - Darlington are desperately in need of additional deckers anyway now, with additional boards having been changed to deckers in recent months. Would also allow for the majority of their 09 plate Pulsars to be withdrawn before the end of next year (the electrics for the 2 will see some withdrawn then).
With the repainting program due to resume soon with a dedicated pool of Float vehicles (in the form of 6 Pulsars from Redcar - who have been operating with too many spare buses for sometime now), those vehicles due for withdrawn with the arrival of the Electric vehicles will become more clear as anything due to be withdrawn soon will not be repainted.

My understanding,  from council discussions, etc, is Darlington are to receive 26 Electrics in 2026. 7 of these are full size singles with the remainder being midis. This will allow all town services to be electric ( bar the 17 because of its interworking board). What will the future hold for the 14 Enviro 200s?

(7 hours ago)9920up wrote My understanding,  from council discussions, etc, is Darlington are to receive 26 Electrics in 2026. 7 of these are full size singles with the remainder being midis. This will allow all town services to be electric ( bar the 17 because of its interworking board). What will the future hold for the 14 Enviro 200s?

Displaced elsewhere within the group - there's simply no need for any other Midi's in the North East. Wales has some 2008/9 Solo's knocking about so I imagine they'd be a good candidate!

(14 Sep 2025, 9:33 am)Kuyoyo wrote I understand that is what they are hoping to do - Darlington are desperately in need of additional deckers anyway now, with additional boards having been changed to deckers in recent months. Would also allow for the majority of their 09 plate Pulsars to be withdrawn before the end of next year (the electrics for the 2 will see some withdrawn then).
With the repainting program due to resume soon with a dedicated pool of Float vehicles (in the form of 6 Pulsars from Redcar - who have been operating with too many spare buses for sometime now), those vehicles due for withdrawn with the arrival of the Electric vehicles will become more clear as anything due to be withdrawn soon will not be repainted.

Had a feeling that would be the case and it's the best move imo, should give Darlington and Durham a good enough fleet for the next few years aswell really.

Just leaves Stockton and Redcar really which could do with something since they've got some decent routes there and they're being ran by 16/17 year old buses. The 5/5A, 8, 15 and 63 - in particular. As far as I'm aware there's nothing in the pipeline to replace them either, unless something is downgraded to midibuses but unsure there's anything which could cope with them - assuming the E200MMC's will be heading to Wales or elsewhere.