Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire (Bus), 07-01-2017
Arriva Midlands 4401, Derby Bus Station, 07-01-2017
4401-2017_01070068
Seen on the 38 to Sinfin - a number I do recognise! - is this Sapphire branded Enviro 400. A bit of from high to low here; when I was in the city, Volvo B10M Citybuses, with their (in)famous high floors were used on these service. At the time, TrentBarton were leading the way with the introduction of low floor buses on many of their routes, and the City Council received regular complaints about the situation with Arriva - which of course were totally beyond the power of the Council to affect. The problem at the time was Arriva Derby was still accounted separately in the group, and was one of the most profitable parts because much of the fleet was written down financially. When bidding for new buses therefore, the increased depreciation made it difficult to justify them as the financial situation would actually be worse! I believe the accountancy situation has been resolved, now, and of course the PSV Accessibility Regulations meant fleet renewal became necessary on legislative grounds anyway!
