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I think so.  Not sure what displays are in the Scania, if any.

It has Mobitec screens in it, but needs a flashcard to update them.

More changes to the Flixbus schedule from this Thursday 6 August.
Only thing affecting this region is the withdrawal of the Fri/Sun only 'short' 0800 departure from Birmingham and 1330 return. All other 023's stay the same.
Nationally they're introducing a new twice daily (Thu-Mon) London to Leeds via Sheffield Meadowhall.

Thanks.  Has Portsmouth been withdrawn?

Yes it has, I'd attach the full schedule here but the file is too big

Few changes to the schedule from tomorrow... departures from Birmingham at 1025 and 1730 now, with the route extended to Manchester, coaches departing that way at 1130 and 1900 tomorrow. Different schedules applying depending on day of the week.

To London
Thu/Mon: 1025, 1730
Fri: 0800*, 1140, 1930
Sat: 0915, 1625
Sun: 0800*, 1210, 2020
* these coaches start in Birmingham

From London (to Manchester)
Thu/Mon: 1130, 1900
Fri: 1300, 1630*, 2000
Sat: 1030, 1730
Sun: 1400, 1630*, 2000
* these coaches terminate in Birmingham

Streetlites 20168/70/72 SM19KKP/S/O have transferred north to operate the 250 it seems.

Not what I know of but they have made 110 Leeds to Wakefield Sapphire, loads of routes becoming MAX and decent fleet

I spent two weeks working in Yorkshire for Dewsbury depot - I think its fair to say the majority of their network is a strong commercial operation, I worked on a MAX route (126/127 Dewsbury-Wakefield) and it was far busier than many of our routes in the North East where I normally work! One of my friends worked on the 110 and said he'd never known anything like it, very very busy! There are further routes joining the MAX brand, both in Yorkshire (+ related NE) and elsewhere, Southern Counties are the latest ones to adopt it.
I would like to think it could be made to work in the Midlands operation, but from the outside looking in it would appear the operation is very split, with East Midlands (Derby, Leicester etc) being very sturdy and requiring very few changes, and West Midlands being very unstable and subject to changes every few months.

I believe 3 p&r Versa's have gone into reserve following frequency reductions at the beginning of November  :- 2965 on loan at Wednesfield and I think 2966 at Telford has 2964 turned up elsewhere?

Worth mentioning that the new contract includes new buses to be provided in 2017.

Are Hinckley due any more Optare Solos or scheduled for 9 Darts from London
If Hinckley get these 9 Buses have they won new contracts to do new routes

There could be a possibility that all 9 go into Hinckley to withdraw older stuff. No more solos planned to go in.

The first two are already at MRC being made ready and should be at Hinckley within a week. Hinckley is also due 4 brand new buses!

Anybody with photos much appreciated. London have painted them apparantly.

One should be PDL83 LF52URZ as the others are still in service in London

And 10 into the North East by the sounds of it, from Bootle.

Wonder what will be displacing them at Arriva North West as they still have older darts to replace?

They are in the process of receiving 61 Enviro 400's as part of the 2015 order, indeed the first 5 have been delivered already. 10 for the North East has been confirmed by our management :)

Thanks for info on that!

Just surprised given the number of darts/cadets there they're not replacing their own elderly vehicles with the displaced Pulsars.

I think even with 61 E400's in and 49 Pulsars out it would give scope for 12 Darts to go. I understand they are due further new vehicles later in 2015 too, but details haven't filtered out about them just yet.

The latest list I have confirmed is...
ADL Enviro 200 (6)
6 Wales (Wrexham) - services 3/4

ADL Enviro 400 (112?)
5 North East (Darlington.Durham) - SAPPHIRE 7
2 North East (Durham) - SAPPHIRE 6
16 North West (Bootle) - services 52/52A
11 North West (Green Lane) - service 10B
26 North West (St Helens) - services 10/10A
12? Shires (Aylesbury) - SAPPHIRE 280
8 Wales (Chester) - SAPPHIRE 10
16 Yorkshire (Belle Isle) - MAX 110
16 Yorkshire (Dewsbury) - MAX 202/203

Wright Streetlite DF (50)
25 Midlands (Telford)
6 North East (Durham) - SAPPHIRE 6
6 North West (Birkenhead) - service 487
13 Shires (Stevenage) - SAPPHIRE 100/101

Wright Streetlite WF (12)
6 S.Counties (Tunbridge Wells) - service 281
6 Wales (Rhyl) - services 35/36, 83/84 (rumoured)

Total order - 180(?)

And 10 into the North East by the sounds of it, from Bootle.

Wonder what will be displacing them at Arriva North West as they still have older darts to replace?

They are in the process of receiving 61 Enviro 400's as part of the 2015 order, indeed the first 5 have been delivered already. 10 for the North East has been confirmed by our management :)

Following my earlier trip on the new Sapphire 2 service and not being impressed i have decided to give it another go. Bus 3309 is awful. Gearbox is horrific, wifi not working and freezing cold. On the plus side the bus is very clean and a very good driver.

Do you think maybe they might have made a naff choice with the streetlite?  Give  they're supposed to upgrade the services to a sapphire standard?  Some are slightly better than others but in general theyre crap. Terribly underpowered.

They are NOT underpowered Bob, Just because Arriva choose a fuel saving set up is nothing to do with the Streetlite. It is the same Powertrain as you can have in and Enviro 200 moving a lighter body, and despite their other failings E200s can move

Stockton depot in North East (my depot) have been trialling a different gearbox map from Voith which has now been adopted across our 10 Streetlites. They pull away much quicker now, but other than that there's not much difference as they still fly up the hills etc. Maybe worth getting engineering to talk to Voith.

The first Sapphire E400 for Wales' Rhyl depot has turned up - see photo here (not mine)

Also, Ive updated the Orders list on the North East Buses forum to include the first few deliveries

The "MAX" offering is one step down from "Sapphire", intended to upgrade service levels on the interurban routes. As stated it offers leather seating and free wi-fi, but without the dedicated drivers, power points etc.
It will be introduced first on the X10/X11 Blyth-Newcastle express services, then rolled out on the X14/14's, X15, X18 later in the year, X14 with ADL E400's converted, X15 is getting cascaded coaches (from Shires??) and X18 new ADL E400. The X10/X11 will be launched on the existing branded VDL Geminis. The livery is due to be a sort of opposite to Sapphire, with the colours swapped around, similar to the example shown on the E200 mock-up for Arriva Yorkshire's Wakefield network.