Having seen the internal communications on this, I thought it was useful to confirm the full 2026 order for ANE.

19 x E400 MMC DD (Ashington)
6 x E400 MMC DD (Blyth)
14 x BYD EV DD (Blyth)
14 x BYD EV DD (Durham) 
14 x Wrightbus Kite EV Midi (Darlington)
7 x Wrightbus Kite EV SD (Darlington)
6 x E400 MMC DD (Redcar)

28 x ADL E200 MMC 6.7 litre (TBC)
- Stockton have apparently been told they are getting 18 of these, but I understand that might have changed.
10 x Volvo Evora SD (TBC)

Total - 118. One third of the fleet.

(Edited to add missing 1).

(02 Feb 2026, 7:56 pm)Superman wrote Having seen the internal communications on this, I thought it was useful to confirm the full 2026 order for ANE.

19 x E400 MMC DD (Ashington)
5 x E400 MMC DD (Blyth)
14 x BYD EV DD (Blyth)
14 x BYD EV DD (Durham) 
14 x Wrightbus Kite EV Midi (Darlington)
7 x Wrightbus Kite EV SD (Darlington)
6 x E400 MMC DD (Redcar)

28 x ADL E200 MMC 6.7 litre (TBC)
- Stockton have apparently been told they are getting 18 of these, but I understand that might have changed.
10 x Volvo Evora SD (TBC)

Total - 117. One third of the fleet.

Only 30 deckers rather than the 31 quoted?

Interesting that this confirms Arriva lied to the press/elected officials about 25 new deckers going to Ashington.

(02 Feb 2026, 8:14 pm)PH - BQA wrote Only 30 deckers rather than the 31 quoted?

Interesting that this confirms Arriva lied to the press/elected officials about 25 new deckers going to Ashington.

As we're talking about what was said to elected officials who love to lie, I guess Arriva could get away with 25 "brand new" to Ashington deckers arriving, even if some are 10 years old. That's the politicians trick.

It will be interesting to see how things work out when all the movement is complete. Arriva was left in an absolute shambles by DB and replacing one third of the fleet this year is a hefty investment, and there's a lot of talk that more electrics could be on the cards as well (I wondered why the EV is still running daily from Blyth). Hopefully more movement of other vehicles can replace the worst that are limping on up north.

But the critics are correct that while that is all very positive, something needs to be done right now as current performance isn't good enough and for all the positives they are showing, they are still lacking ingenuity and basic determination to show a good customer service. Some short term measures need to be put in place.

(02 Feb 2026, 8:55 pm)Shrek wrote As we're talking about what was said to elected officials who love to lie, I guess Arriva could get away with 25 "brand new" to Ashington deckers arriving, even if some are 10 years old. That's the politicians trick.

It will be interesting to see how things work out when all the movement is complete. Arriva was left in an absolute shambles by DB and replacing one third of the fleet this year is a hefty investment, and there's a lot of talk that more electrics could be on the cards as well (I wondered why the EV is still running daily from Blyth). Hopefully more movement of other vehicles can replace the worst that are limping on up north.

But the critics are correct that while that is all very positive, something needs to be done right now as current performance isn't good enough and for all the positives they are showing, they are still lacking ingenuity and basic determination to show a good customer service. Some short term measures need to be put in place.

I'm assuming the 6 "brand new" to Ashington extras you're referring to are the same as the ones I've heard, in which case I worry the 35 might see yet another decline in service reliability given how often those things are VOR. 

It is a hefty investment, and the talk of further electrics is encouraging. Mind, not sure if any ADL electrics would be overly positive - the demo seems very unreliable. The range on the Wright ones GNE are attempting to use on the 21 doesn't seem great either mind - more BYDs?

Agreed there needs to be immediate measures put in place. There have been swathes of vehicles withdrawn from elsewhere in the country recently - while they're not ideal they could surely plug a short term gap on local work (i.e the 1/2/57) to allow engineering to sort themselves out. It's a long time until summer, people won't come back when their bus is missing every day.

(02 Feb 2026, 8:14 pm)PH - BQA wrote Only 30 deckers rather than the 31 quoted?

Interesting that this confirms Arriva lied to the press/elected officials about 25 new deckers going to Ashington.

Sorry you are right, it should be 31, Blyth 6 instead of 5.

(02 Feb 2026, 9:07 pm)PH - BQA wrote I'm assuming the 6 "brand new" to Ashington extras you're referring to are the same as the ones I've heard, in which case I worry the 35 might see yet another decline in service reliability given how often those things are VOR. 

7401-06 I take it?

Whilst they've had more than a hard shift on the X93/X94 (arguably worse than 7453-56 on the 518/X18 and 6043-48 on the X9/X10) - GNE still use 6043-48 on the hilly 47 despite them previously getting hammered on the X9/X10, doing the 10/10A/10B and still having to cover for the gutless 5 litre tinpot hairdryers that GNE thought would be a good idea on the X9/X10

The 35 whilst having a few fast sections and the climb out of Morpeth, is quite a local route. No worse than the X5/X15 or 16/16A which are running on ex London / Lothian / GAG rubbish and have the hill climbs to contend with around Durham & Derwentside

(02 Feb 2026, 9:32 pm)L469 YVK wrote 7401-06 I take it?

Whilst they've had more than a hard shift on the X93/X94 (arguably worse than 7453-56 on the 518/X18 and 6043-48 on the X9/X10) - GNE still use 6043-48 on the hilly 47 despite them previously getting hammered on the X9/X10, doing the 10/10A/10B and still having to cover for the gutless 5 litre tinpot hairdryers that GNE thought would be a good idea on the X9/X10

The 35 whilst having a few fast sections and the climb out of Morpeth, is quite a local route. No worse than the X5/X15 or 16/16A which are running on ex London / Lothian / GAG rubbish and have the hill climbs to contend with around Durham & Derwentside

The problem is there's also 7522/7524-33 which are equally crap which would be ideal for the 35 aswell.

There's no sensible route otherwise, and dumping them at Blyth isn't the answer either struggling on the expresses there instead.

(02 Feb 2026, 9:49 pm)Storx wrote The problem is there's also 7522/7524-33 which are equally crap which would be ideal for the 35 aswell.

There's no sensible route otherwise, and dumping them at Blyth isn't the answer either struggling on the expresses there instead.

To be fair, if looked after properly, they're absolutely fine to be making up the numbers on the X21/22 and X10/11. 7530 is the main issue out of those, an absolute shed. 

Realistically, if Ashington have 19x new E400s and the 15x 72-plates then that covers all X18/20 boards with 12 to spare. If the B9s are on the 35, then you'd only have to wheel out 4 E400s per day for the X21/22 should all MMCs be available. 

On your earlier Blyth comment, I'm wondering if the 59-plate DB300s are now somewhat tactically being retained given GNEs Coast Road agreement withdrawal. Make Blyth fully decker, and keep a small surplus should a PVR increase be on the cards? Then replace the DB300s wholesale once they know the score.

(02 Feb 2026, 10:23 pm)PH - BQA wrote To be fair, if looked after properly, they're absolutely fine to be making up the numbers on the X21/22 and X10/11. 7530 is the main issue out of those, an absolute shed. 

Realistically, if Ashington have 19x new E400s and the 15x 72-plates then that covers all X18/20 boards with 12 to spare. If the B9s are on the 35, then you'd only have to wheel out 4 E400s per day for the X21/22 should all MMCs be available. 

On your earlier Blyth comment, I'm wondering if the 59-plate DB300s are now somewhat tactically being retained given GNEs Coast Road agreement withdrawal. Make Blyth fully decker, and keep a small surplus should a PVR increase be on the cards? Then replace the DB300s wholesale once they know the score.

To be fair, one part of me says Arriva could go all out and re-claim. The other, there's a lot of dead mileage involved especially for any run on's / offs in Tynemouth or Newcastle - unless Arriva can reliably form interworking patterns with other Blyth services at the Newcastle end asides from the 308.

I wonder if some BSIP could be involved in a frequency re-increase given that other 'goldmine' routes have benefited from this such as Stagecoach's 1 and GNE's 21.

(02 Feb 2026, 10:23 pm)PH - BQA wrote To be fair, if looked after properly, they're absolutely fine to be making up the numbers on the X21/22 and X10/11. 7530 is the main issue out of those, an absolute shed. 

Realistically, if Ashington have 19x new E400s and the 15x 72-plates then that covers all X18/20 boards with 12 to spare. If the B9s are on the 35, then you'd only have to wheel out 4 E400s per day for the X21/22 should all MMCs be available. 

On your earlier Blyth comment, I'm wondering if the 59-plate DB300s are now somewhat tactically being retained given GNEs Coast Road agreement withdrawal. Make Blyth fully decker, and keep a small surplus should a PVR increase be on the cards? Then replace the DB300s wholesale once they know the score.

To be honest, kind of want to think Blyth has been robbed to bail out Ashington and there's a side of me that now thinks some of the 72 Plates might be leaving Ashington to Blyth so you'd end up with something like:

X16/777 - Out of the X14/X15/X18 interworking - Pulsar
X14/X15/X18/X20 - New 19x E400MMC, co-incidence or not?
35 - B9TL
X21/X22 - 14x E400, 2x 72 Plate E400 MMC
Spares - 5x 72 Plate E400MMC

306/308 - New 6x E400MMC + 8x 72 Plate E400MMC
X7/X8/X9/X10/X11 - 23x DB300
Spares - 8x DB300

The 19 is too much of a co-incidence, why would you not just send them all otherwise and complete the allocation? Doesn't really make sense to send 6 random buses to Blyth either unless you top it up and fill at least a route PVR on paper and if they're sending E400's instead why not bother just sending the lot and make Ashington and Blyth E400/E400MMC free respectively?

If there's an electric decker which is capable of doing the Blyth work, I wouldn't be surprised to see the depot go fully electric either with those 14 E400MMC's going back to Ashington replacing the 14x E400's off the X21/X22, the best going onto the 35, and the worst going into Blyth reserve. That's Ashington and Blyth expresswise dealt with until around 2036 realistically - ignoring franchising.

Serious question here - but could Arriva draft vehicles in from elsewhere in the Country if they went back to every 7-8 minutes on the 306 & 308?

Would be rather disaterous if they attempted it with the current vehicle situation. Where are the ex-Merseyside vehicles going and when are they available?

(Yesterday, 6:20 pm)L469 YVK wrote Serious question here - but could Arriva draft vehicles in from elsewhere in the Country if they went back to every 7-8 minutes on the 306 & 308?

Would be rather disaterous if they attempted it with the current vehicle situation. Where are the ex-Merseyside vehicles going and when are they available?

I'd imagine any changes to frequency along that corridor would utilise surplus fleet that should have been scrapped. You'd just keep whatever the 6 new MMCs are due to replace and that should cover it I'd imagine.

(03 Feb 2026, 12:06 am)Storx wrote X16/777 - Out of the X14/X15/X18 interworking - Pulsar

That wouldn't work with the timetable. X16s are due into Haymarket at xx:01, and due out at xx:53. Even if the timetable wasn't an issue, you'd have to find somewhere to park up a decker for 20+ mins between X15 and X18 while the X16 used the stand. 

Essentially, taking one route out of that interworking doesn't work.

(Yesterday, 7:05 pm)PH - BQA wrote I'd imagine any changes to frequency along that corridor would utilise surplus fleet that should have been scrapped. You'd just keep whatever the 6 new MMCs are due to replace and that should cover it I'd imagine.

 But what if new vehicles aren't due until after March?

(Yesterday, 7:49 pm)L469 YVK wrote  But what if new vehicles aren't due until after March?

Would we not know by now if March changes were due? I don't see Arriva doing anything until they know what GNE do.

(Yesterday, 7:16 pm)PH - BQA wrote That wouldn't work with the timetable. X16s are due into Haymarket at xx:01, and due out at xx:53. Even if the timetable wasn't an issue, you'd have to find somewhere to park up a decker for 20+ mins between X15 and X18 while the X16 used the stand. 

Essentially, taking one route out of that interworking doesn't work.

Guess it all depends what the major changes are which are coming, maybe there might so more radical changes which make it work somehow?

The 777/X16/X30, times wise would work for example - but you'd need to change everything else to make it work. The X30 bit is easy though as long as Northumberland allow the change (shunt the Newcastle outbound back by 20 minutes, and shunt the inbound back by 25 minutes).

I'm sure there's a way somehow to make the rest of it work, with a bit of thinking. Those 4 E400MMC's would be useful being elsewhere imo, and the economics of having deckers on routes which don't need anything anywhere near a decker doesn't make much sense anyway.

(Yesterday, 8:00 pm)Storx wrote Guess it all depends what the major changes are which are coming, maybe there might so more radical changes which make it work somehow?

The 777/X16/X30, times wise would work for example - but you'd need to change everything else to make it work. The X30 bit is easy though as long as Northumberland allow the change (shunt the Newcastle outbound back by 20 minutes, and shunt the inbound back by 25 minutes).

I'm sure there's a way somehow to make the rest of it work, with a bit of thinking. Those 4 E400MMC's would be useful being elsewhere imo, and the economics of having deckers on routes which don't need anything anywhere near a decker doesn't make much sense anyway.

X30 has to remain with the X20 otherwise the reliability of the latter becomes shot. Realistically the 777 and X16 interworking with the 2 and extending the 35 to Kirkhill in lieu would provide a more reasonable solution.