Post by stevieinselby on Apr 19, 2015 14:26:22 GMT 1
I had the chance to ride Arriva's new buses on the coast yesterday, and mostly I was very impressed.
First of all, a 64-reg MAX B9TL, which was very nice to ride in and made light work of Cloughton Bank and the hill out of Robin Hood's Bay ... much better than the Omnicities and B7TLs I have experienced on that route in the past. It seemed like all the buses running to/from Middlesbrough (ie the all-year-round buses) were all MAX B9TLs, but the summer-only services running between Scab and Whitby only were Temsa Avenues or the ex-London 51-reg B7TLs.
Then at Whitby we switched to a 14-reg Sapphire Streetlite, which was very comfortable (although the Wi-Fi didn't seem to be working properly), but the lack of power was very noticeable as we crawled up Lythe Bank. I'm warmer to the idea of Streetlites being used on fairly major interurban routes than I was before, but I still think that a route as hilly as the coast road between Middlesbrough and Whitby needs something with a bit more grunt.
First of all, a 64-reg MAX B9TL, which was very nice to ride in and made light work of Cloughton Bank and the hill out of Robin Hood's Bay ... much better than the Omnicities and B7TLs I have experienced on that route in the past. It seemed like all the buses running to/from Middlesbrough (ie the all-year-round buses) were all MAX B9TLs, but the summer-only services running between Scab and Whitby only were Temsa Avenues or the ex-London 51-reg B7TLs.
Then at Whitby we switched to a 14-reg Sapphire Streetlite, which was very comfortable (although the Wi-Fi didn't seem to be working properly), but the lack of power was very noticeable as we crawled up Lythe Bank. I'm warmer to the idea of Streetlites being used on fairly major interurban routes than I was before, but I still think that a route as hilly as the coast road between Middlesbrough and Whitby needs something with a bit more grunt.
