Branching this out of the Stockton Depot thread where the orders are being discussed, but just a few comments on the vehicle allocations in Northumbria which are increasingly inappropriate. 

I was walking towards Barras Bridge tonight for my bus home and saw a few Arriva services leaving Haymarket. 

The 1610 308 was operated by 1495, and to be honest I don't think I've ever seen as many people standing on a Pulsar. The 15:45 and 16:00 308/306 also ran, so it isn't as though this was taking multiple loads. People were stood up to the seating right at the back, with a huge clump crowding the tip down seats up to the cab. 

The 1615 X22 was ran by 7563 and had pretty much a full load, with a couple standing downstairs, from what I could see. Looked to be a few seats free, but the loading it had would have been too much for a Pulsar I'd think. Again, the 16:00 X21 and 15:45 X22 ran. This run is booked for a Pulsar, and majority of times I have seen it operated by one has had a standing load. 

The Coast Road services at this time seem particularly susceptible to leaving Newcastle with full and standing Pulsars, yet nothing is being done about this. Similarly the main Ashington (X21/22) and Blyth (X10/11) express services are always standing loads if allocated a saloon. The Morpeth express services are always decker operated bar the X16 when I see them, and the X7/8/9 are always fully seated if a Pulsar but not standing. The X30 leaving town around this time, however, seems to always be a decker yet realistically a Solo could probably lift the amount of people using it. 

There have also been a few times recently where I've been waiting at Regent Centre at similar times and have been unable to board 43/44/45s due to them being Pulsar operated and bus full already. Even when they've dropped off there, the driver has evidently decided it's been unwise to take any more on. 

As much as I am sure lots of these services mentioned can cope with saloons during the day, they quite clearly cannot cope with them in the peaks. I do get that operating double deckers during the day on services with 20-30 people on is a bit of a waste, but then surely annoying your regular commuters by cramming them onto a Pulsar every night cannot help business long term?

(3 hours ago)PH - BQA wrote Branching this out of the Stockton Depot thread where the orders are being discussed, but just a few comments on the vehicle allocations in Northumbria which are increasingly inappropriate. 

I was walking towards Barras Bridge tonight for my bus home and saw a few Arriva services leaving Haymarket. 

The 1610 308 was operated by 1495, and to be honest I don't think I've ever seen as many people standing on a Pulsar. The 15:45 and 16:00 308/306 also ran, so it isn't as though this was taking multiple loads. People were stood up to the seating right at the back, with a huge clump crowding the tip down seats up to the cab. 

The 1615 X22 was ran by 7563 and had pretty much a full load, with a couple standing downstairs, from what I could see. Looked to be a few seats free, but the loading it had would have been too much for a Pulsar I'd think. Again, the 16:00 X21 and 15:45 X22 ran. This run is booked for a Pulsar, and majority of times I have seen it operated by one has had a standing load. 

The Coast Road services at this time seem particularly susceptible to leaving Newcastle with full and standing Pulsars, yet nothing is being done about this. Similarly the main Ashington (X21/22) and Blyth (X10/11) express services are always standing loads if allocated a saloon. The Morpeth express services are always decker operated bar the X16 when I see them, and the X7/8/9 are always fully seated if a Pulsar but not standing. The X30 leaving town around this time, however, seems to always be a decker yet realistically a Solo could probably lift the amount of people using it. 

There have also been a few times recently where I've been waiting at Regent Centre at similar times and have been unable to board 43/44/45s due to them being Pulsar operated and bus full already. Even when they've dropped off there, the driver has evidently decided it's been unwise to take any more on. 

As much as I am sure lots of these services mentioned can cope with saloons during the day, they quite clearly cannot cope with them in the peaks. I do get that operating double deckers during the day on services with 20-30 people on is a bit of a waste, but then surely annoying your regular commuters by cramming them onto a Pulsar every night cannot help business long term?

Not much you can do at Blyth, they've got to go on something and since the X7/X8/X10/X11 and 306/308 interwork the choices are little, I'm sure the X9's start interworking at peak times aswell just to complicate things even more. 

Obviously the best solution for that is to buy some new electrics for the 43/44/45 and from everything I've seen, replace completely capable DB300's because they're 2 years older and leave a whole load of Pulsar's to do I'm not sure exactly what.

Things are going to get worse aswell since they've got 13 Pulsars for a PVR 6 and those 7 Pulsar's can't be dumped on the 43/44/45, the best of the worst routes imo, soon. (Those being the best as there's boards which are up in Morpeth during peak times).

Personally as a passenger, and I'm sure everyone who uses Blyth's buses would agree with me; I'd rather see all but 2 Pulsar's (for the 553), leave Blyth over the 59 Plate DB300's.

The DB300 have been absolute workhorses and have aged far more gracefully than their awful Scania ELC Cityzen predecessors too. We have agreed before, but I’ll re-iterate, Blyth probably should be mostly allocated deckers for all their services apart from the 553. As a rule of thumb, any Northumbria service starting or ending at Newcastle Haymarket should be a decker period IMHO.

Given the stop/start nature of the 306/308, those services should be the next candidate for EV deckers given their excellent acceleration.

For Ashington’s longer distance routes in a fantasy world I would re-introduce coaches on them, which would make it more attractive for tourists with luggage to boot. At the very best the busses used on the X15-X18 should have high backed seating as may customers will be on them for a while.

(51 minutes ago)solsburian wrote The DB300 have been absolute workhorses and have aged far more gracefully than their awful Scania ELC Cityzen predecessors too. We have agreed before, but I’ll re-iterate, Blyth probably should be mostly allocated deckers for all their services apart from the 553. As a rule of thumb, any Northumbria service starting or ending at Newcastle Haymarket should be a decker period IMHO.

Given the stop/start nature of the 306/308, those services should be the next candidate for EV deckers given their excellent acceleration.

For Ashington’s longer distance routes in a fantasy world I would re-introduce coaches on them, which would make it more attractive for tourists with luggage to boot. At the very best the busses used on the X15-X18 should have high backed seating as may customers will be on them for a while.

Yeah can't disagree with the top bit if I had to be honest.

Agreed with the coaches aswell, I always think there should be a proper North Northumberland express personally and have it hourly with the X15/X18 Northern bits on it so those travelling further get more luxury.

You'd probably have to make it completely non stop between Morpeth and Newcastle though and ideally Morpeth and Alnwick (but that would need extra services). 

A coach from Seahouses to Newcastle etc would be popular imo and the X18 double back is stupid regardless.

(33 minutes ago)Storx wrote Yeah can't disagree with the top bit if I had to be honest.

Agreed with the coaches aswell, I always think there should be a proper North Northumberland express personally and have it hourly with the X15/X18 Northern bits on it so those travelling further get more luxury.

You'd probably have to make it completely non stop between Morpeth and Newcastle though and ideally Morpeth and Alnwick (but that would need extra services). 

A coach from Seahouses to Newcastle etc would be popular imo and the X18 double back is stupid regardless.

I agree that a review of the long distance Northumberland services should be looked at, perhaps with the County Council and the NECA. Ideally it should be a mix of catering to tourist and commuter traffic to and from Newcastle from Morpeth, Alnwick and Berwick with faster services and providing good local links for communities in between.