North East Buses

[EnviroExplorer]

Hello all,

Being from Birmingham, I rarely venture up to the North East side of our country to bash Buses, though want to change that this year. Can anyone shed any light on how many Volvo B10BLE ALX300s Arriva have, and which routes they are found on? One fleet list is saying 2, but another says more than that, plus some Wright Renown’s. Any information on which routes Stagecoach use their ALX300s, and the rare MAN East Lancs Kinetics would also be most appreciated. I understand new buses will replace these later this year, as per rumours, and am hoping to find more before the ultimate death of the ALX300 within the big groups. Hull seems to be another good shout for them, though Stagecoach have recently confirmed new vehicles there this year, to replace these.

Any kind of info will be most appreciated

 

[Megafuss]

The ALX300s can be seen on the X82, X47 and X77/X78 from Eldon Square Bus Station to Throckley, Kingston Park
and Darras Hall respectively. They all interwork

 

[James101]

Middlesbrough bus station is a good place to catch all types mentioned. Arriva Redcar’s solitary(?) B10BLE, 4516, was reported working just a few days ago. I’d imagine the 64 is the best bet for catching it, otherwise operated by the unique Temsa Avenue fleet.

ALX300 MANs are a safe bet on route 13 and 34, though some stray onto the 12. The kinetics are fairly hit and miss, as per Newcastle, though at least Middlesbrough bus station is a fairly decent hub to dip in and out of to catch one.

A Teesside Tripper ticket covers both operators and you could even catch the last of the Cadets Arriva have on the 8/9 or 17 in Middlesbrough.

 

[EnviroExplorer]

Thanks both, hopefully they remain in service till end of March as I wouldn’t be able to visit until then, though I am going to tick some Hull ones off in February. I assume the Stagecoach ones I would see at Middlesbrough are the Stockton based ones? I see Walkergate and Slatyford also have sizeable allocations so will try the Newcastle based routes previously mentioned then head down to Middlesbrough for them 2 routes, which I see are ideally local routes. I did have some of the Kinetics at Barnsley - they seemed very poor build quality buses and I can see why more and more are becoming trainers. And again, I appreciate the ticket being mentioned, North East is literally the only part of Britain I have zero knowledge on, so any more advice from anyone one else is appreciated

 

[Megafuss]

The Slatyford routes are more likely. You may see the odd one on the 10/11 and I even saw one on the X87 the other day. Only Byker route I can think of which has MANs is the 18.

 

[APT618S]

If you are travelling in Tyneside/Teeside and between them on the same day a North East Explorer ticket may be on interest:
https://networkonetickets.co.uk/tickets/explorer/

 

[DanNCL]

As a Newcastle local and a regular user of a route that regularly sees the awful things that are the East Lancs Kinetics, I can safely say that they're only worth it for the rarity factor - they're awful, awful vehicles!

Can anyone shed any light on how many Volvo B10BLE ALX300s Arriva have, and which routes they are found on?

Very few now - the Northumberland 52 (Newcastle - Cramlington) is probably the best bet but there really are very few of them now, not sure of the exact number but there definitely aren't many.

I understand new buses will replace these later this year, as per rumours, and am hoping to find more before the ultimate death of the ALX300 within the big groups.

News to me, in fact I'm sure I read that Stagecoach Newcastle were getting more ALX300s from other parts of Stagecoach!

I see Walkergate and Slatyford also have sizeable allocations so will try the Newcastle based routes previously mentioned

Don't bother with the Walkergate routes unless you're after Enviro 400s - everything other than the 18 from Walkergate exclusively uses Enviro 400s, and even the 18 sees them quite often now.

If it's any help here's a list of Stagecoach Newcastle routes and what the usual vehicle allocations are:
1 - Enviro 400s
6/7/8 - Enviro 200s
10/11 - Mix of ALX300s, Kinetics, Enviro 400s and Enviro 400 MMCs
12 - Enviro 400s
18 - Mix of ALX300s and Enviro 400s
22 - Enviro 400s
30/31 - Enviro 200 MMCs
32/32A - Enviro 200s
35 - ALX300s and Enviro 200s
36 - Enviro 200 MMCs
38 - Enviro 400s
39/40 - Enviro 400s (hybrids)
62/63 - Enviro 400 MMCs
71/72/87 - Enviro 300s
100 - Enviro 300s
X47 - Mix of ALX300s, Kinetics, Enviro 400s and Enviro 400 MMCs
X63 - Enviro 400s and Enviro 400 MMCs
X77/X78/X79 - Mix of ALX300s, Kinetics, Enviro 400s and Enviro 400 MMCs
X82 - Mix of ALX300s, Kinetics, Enviro 400s and Enviro 400 MMCs
X87/X88 - Mix of ALX300s, Kinetics, Enviro 400s and Enviro 400 MMCs

 

[EnviroExplorer]

Thanks again all. My assumption of new buses for Newcastle was only due to some rumours I had heard, combined with the fact that their seems to have/be and ongoing cull of the type, though you may well be right, as it would make sense to concentrate the survivors in one area. The 2019-20 order announcement is eagerly anticipated!

TBH, normally I would be after E400s but really need to tick off these ALX300s first, after all they are older and more endangered! That route list is very useful, I will have a look through these on a map in the coming days and choose which ones I like the look of

 

[omnicity4659]

I can't say that I've seen any of our ALX300s recently, they've mostly been replaced with cascaded Wright StreetLites on the 52/53/54.

There's a couple of DLAs clinging on though.