It's always a good sign for that though, not ideal that it's heavily delayed but it's great that the service has the passengers already.
And if they didn’t want it, they could have pulled out with the new management. When they cut back last year they could fully have pulled out if they didn’t want it.
I refer to the idea of wanting a monopoly in West Lothian, not having the depot itself.
What else is expected when 1 bus per hour is operating on a route with an extremely high usage? Delays are to be expected on the 72 and 74 every day you cant be surprised.
I didn't state being "surprised" though? I was just stating that it's a good sign with the passenger use but the delays being worse than I thought. I thought Lothian would've predicted high passenger use ahead of the timetable scheduling but that's clearly not the case unfortunately.
They never factor loading times in - not even on city services. Hence why services often run so late! They squeeze as much out of the driver/bus as possible; it’s gotten worse in recent years.
I think it's because they do timings in a not in service bus or a van then they do the training. The timing points need to be exaggerated a lot more in order to maintain it. Some routes like the western end of the 2 have the opposite problem though.
They also need to do a public campaign teaching people how to actually board a bus! Watching people aimlessly wonder on then look for passes, bank cards etc. Some folk have absolutely no concept of time - and it’s those same people who’ll then go on twitter etc and complain about buses being late. Laughable really!
There seems an expectation that drivers will act like inspectors these days and I think the high tech bus passes and phone/card payment methods have quite a lot to answer for here. It takes ages for passengers to scan their entitlement documents or whatever they use for payment in addition to telling the driver where they want to go (at least on the country routes).
I think they'd do well if they could speed up the ticket machine accepting contactless: it only takes maybe 5 seconds to go through and then beeps, but 5 seconds per passenger per stop adds up. They could also add a light to show that it's been accepted, sometimes it's hard to hear the machine go beep and then you have to wait for the driver to wave you on.
Was thinking about this yesterday when on an x27. Commuter Journeys on old First/McGills always seemed slightly faster apart from on a Monday, I think that may have been due to the fact everyone bought their weekly ticket on a Monday and the rest of the week it was just shown/scanned. Whereas the TapTapCap is more widely used so people are getting on a staying their journey for every journey now. Thats just something I’ve wondered, not sure if that is the case.
The issue lies with the passenger. The actual tap goes through in a second, and the system can process multiple separate taps even if it doesn't beep immediately.
There is only one Gemini on the X18. There are two on the X40, two on the X28 and one on the 74.
Oh sorry, it's just I've only seen Gemini 1's this morning and afternoon
An addition - the single decker 17:17 to Dunbar is running, albeit late having come from Marine.
Heard being the operative word. Ive had 3 on the X40 and they’ve coped just aswell as the native B9TLs.
They’re good at picking up speed, although that perk only seems to apply to a handfull of them as some are slowing down with age.
What are the differences between the native B9s and the ex-London buses mechanically in a practical sense anyway? I thought only the gearboxes were different? What practical difference is there between the two gearboxes?
I’m not sure, as a passenger, I always feel like the native B9s seem like a slower journey than with the ex London ones when on the X27/X28 in particular anyway. It could be because they are longer in length and doesn’t feel so speedy. I would be interested to know the differences too.
Mechanically its just the gearboxes. The Ex London having a 6 speed ZF which has a lower rev limit before going up a gear hence why they have faster acceleration and get to speed quicker than the 5 speed Voith in the native ones.
Definatley those routes will be taking their toll on them, it doesnt help its a contrast from a 21 hour city driving day in London that they spent 7 years doing
The Voith gearboxes in the B9TLs are are 4 speed. There also isn't a "lower rev limit", the ZF Ecolife has higher gear ratios than the Voith DIWA, hence why the ZF examples have better acceleration and go through the gears quicker.
Right enough, apologies
Thats what i tried to say in so many words , thanks
If they had the resources for duplicates they would just increase the frequency to half hourly?