Lothian Buses and ECB Discussion

[TheEastCoaster]

Has anyone else noticed that bus tracker seems to go down quite a bit these days? It has also been throwing up wrong details for some bus stops saying a certain bus stops there when it does not, example is Fountainpark heading away from town said 47 and I have also seen X25 appear on there from that same stop.

I’ve never noticed that but most of the trackers do fail on me, especially when I’m with an area with bad signal to begin with

 

[Darklord8899]

Has anyone else noticed that bus tracker seems to go down quite a bit these days? It has also been throwing up wrong details for some bus stops saying a certain bus stops there when it does not, example is Fountainpark heading away from town said 47 and I have also seen X25 appear on there from that same stop.

The X25 does run along the back of Fountainpark (West Approach Road) maybe the stop code that the info is being sent to has been mis-typed?

With the 47, there is one mon-fri 47 that runs from Stration P+R (07:50) to Surgeon's Hall (08:20) then via Lady Lawson Street and East Fountainbridge to Fountainbridge continuing as a 34 to Riccarton. Maybe this causes Gremlins with the tracker?

 

[Darklord8899]

I saw a poster on one bus. It had a list of routes with 'minor' alterations, including some that don't go by Leith Street, but they aren't listed on the webpage for the service changes. Hopefully they are genuinely minor.

As a matter of interest, which services?

 

[90019]

I saw a poster on one bus. It had a list of routes with 'minor' alterations, including some that don't go by Leith Street, but they aren't listed on the webpage for the service changes. Hopefully they are genuinely minor.

That'll be routes with minor timetable changes.

 

[oldman]

As a matter of interest, which services?

The ones that interested me were 10, 11 and 16.

That'll be routes with minor timetable changes.

Yes, that's what it said on the poster, but for example a reduction (last time round I think) in the Sunday frequency of the 11/16 was hidden in the minor alterations.

There were fliers on both buses I was on this morning and at Waverley Bridge they were in the process of putting the new leaflets out. Ironically the last time they put out PR boasting about the effort they put into publicising changes.

 

[SouthSub]

Has anyone else noticed that bus tracker seems to go down quite a bit these days? It has also been throwing up wrong details for some bus stops saying a certain bus stops there when it does not, example is Fountainpark heading away from town said 47 and I have also seen X25 appear on there from that same stop.

I've often found the tracking to be unreliable for the 63. It was playing up again yesterday, only showing estimated times for buses to Riccarton.

 

[ANWP Tom]

Actually quite miffed about Leith st reopening, its a bottle neck and having the 1, 4, 34 running regent rd has made life easier. Back to using ECB for me.

Bit of a cock up yesterday thought the lights at the top failed during the afternoon and stuffed everything up.

Airshow operation was good though (26 B5L and Hamish show on loan from Lothian stickers) plus 4 ECB deckers. Scania went caput again yesterday with a standard 209** decker (number escapes me) covering one of the tour circuits by mid afternoon. Drivers were saying they aren't keen on the opentoppers but looking forward to the 8 new deckers due within the new timetable.

 

[MrHopefull]

Actually quite miffed about Leith st reopening, its a bottle neck and having the 1, 4, 34 running regent rd has made life easier. Back to using ECB for me.

Bit of a cock up yesterday thought the lights at the top failed during the afternoon and stuffed everything up.

Airshow operation was good though (26 B5L and Hamish show on loan from Lothian stickers) plus 4 ECB deckers. Scania went caput again yesterday with a standard 209** decker (number escapes me) covering one of the tour circuits by mid afternoon. Drivers were saying they aren't keen on the opentoppers but looking forward to the 8 new deckers due within the new timetable.

don't get me started on Leith street, bloody **** show
got stuck on my 104 for 22mins

and when the finally get our new buses the better
2 times they've been delayed by months now

 

[TheEastCoaster]

Actually quite miffed about Leith st reopening, its a bottle neck and having the 1, 4, 34 running regent rd has made life easier. Back to using ECB for me.

Bit of a cock up yesterday thought the lights at the top failed during the afternoon and stuffed everything up.

Airshow operation was good though (26 B5L and Hamish show on loan from Lothian stickers) plus 4 ECB deckers. Scania went caput again yesterday with a standard 209** decker (number escapes me) covering one of the tour circuits by mid afternoon. Drivers were saying they aren't keen on the opentoppers but looking forward to the 8 new deckers due within the new timetable.

Seriously I know, I was on the 124 at the end of regent road and I felt like I was stuck at the lights for 10 minutes, missed my connection bus because of it. Hope they fix it soon. not been down Leith Street yet as I do my best to avoid London Road anyway.

Hope that stupid one way system at Abbeyhill gets sorted too. With buses going via London Road (especially the 1) it’s now going to be slower and more of a time waster

 

[Darklord8899]

That'll be routes with minor timetable changes.

The only poster I've seen on a bus was one advertising the re-opening of Leith St. Haven't seen any advertising the changes.
Also noticed whilst bus stop timetables have been changed, the flags haven't, stop at south bridge still shows Skylink 300 and no 35 (and on Calder Road the 35 still not added to flags.

 

[kje7812]

The only poster I've seen on a bus was one advertising the re-opening of Leith St. Haven't seen any advertising the changes.
Also noticed whilst bus stop timetables have been changed, the flags haven't, stop at south bridge still shows Skylink 300 and no 35 (and on Calder Road the 35 still not added to flags.

I got the 35 to Ocean Terminal this afternoon and I didn't see any flags which had been changed.
I don't think the changes have been well advertised. The driver was having to explain a lot to passengers at stops and a couple of guys who sat behind me muttered about it [the 35] having being reinstated and wondered if it still went to the airport.

 

[sam120]

I see the 21 has reverted back to single deckers. Is this just a Sunday affair or is this permanent?

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

I see the 21 has reverted back to single deckers. Is this just a Sunday affair or is this permanent?

Just Sunday. It was already half run on Sundays with Singles anyway

 

[sam120]

Just Sunday. It was already half run on Sundays with Singles anyway

ah, I see. What fleet movements have been made?

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

ah, I see. What fleet movements have been made?

Someone will no doubt correct me but i don't think there's any. Some early 56 plates moved to Marine a few weeks back as Londoners displaced them but nothing as a direct result of the changes

 

[Gingerbus1991]

Good to hear that they have added more padding into the seats, I think that would have had to be my biggest issue with that bus, by the time you have competed a journey of any substantial length you walk off the bus in some discomfort. They are almost as bad as those god awful Urban 90 seats.
Sam

Interesting that they did not go down the road of replacing them with Ticketer machines like allot of other companies have.
Sam

funelly enough the Ticketer machines are better than the wayfarers lothian are choosing

 

[Darklord8899]

I got the 35 to Ocean Terminal this afternoon and I didn't see any flags which had been changed.
I don't think the changes have been well advertised. The driver was having to explain a lot to passengers at stops and a couple of guys who sat behind me muttered about it [the 35] having being reinstated and wondered if it still went to the airport.

They haven't been well advertised, still people at Corn Exchange expecting a 300 to stop there!
I think this set of changes has to be not only the latest released (in terms of timetables certainly) but most definitely the poorest advertised as well.

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

This has indeed been poorly done from top to bottom. It sums up the company at the moment to me, Wants to go places but only the jobs that it wants to do are done properly. The jobs that needed to be done properly in most cases weren't or took way longer than they should have. Sorry if it's a bit blunt but I just think that it needs to be said. Thanks

At the end of the day I'm still furious about the way they hire people. I recently applied for one of the street info jobs, I was unsuccessful. I have a right to be furious though. Someone later told me that a few of the people that got the jobs didn't have a clue what they were doing! They were trying to give info but didn't even know how the route map works! How ridiculous is the company at the minute? People that know me say I have an encyclopedic knowledge of the routes. I wouldn't say that but I have a better knowledge than the folk that they saw! What an absolute joke! It's so bad I've decided to go and aim to work for another company altogether and pursue a different career. I probably shouldn't have to but hey flying is better anyway

 

[overthewater]

It's well known the current lot are like the hungry caterpillar.... Or is that first?

 

[TheEastCoaster]

They haven't been well advertised, still people at Corn Exchange expecting a 300 to stop there!
I think this set of changes has to be not only the latest released (in terms of timetables certainly) but most definitely the poorest advertised as well.

You’d think they would get a sign out there notifying people, not everyone uses social media after all.

Not to go off topic but besides online I haven’t seen anything in the paper on the West Lothian ventures, I think that too has been poorly advertised, which is a shame because I have high faith in the company to provide a good service and they can do good marketing on social media definitely but if only it was applied out of it

 

[sam120]

I don’t see the new 300 lasting long. I used it today from Fountainpark to Cameron Toll and there was a grand total of 6 people on it. Don’t know about anyone else but I think it comes to very messy/abrupt ending. It’s like their terminating it there just because they don’t have anywhere else to. What about extending it into Midlothian or East Lothian via the Fort/A1. Would be nice to see the counties included in all these new airport routes

 

[MrHopefull]

https://imgur.com/a/GEuPmsh

getting real now

 

[overthewater]

Im not saying there shouldn't get it but I have to wonder how it will cost? If we might end up with cost cutting in the long run, with teh likes 107 and 124 back to hourly.

 

[Mwanesh]

This has indeed been poorly done from top to bottom. It sums up the company at the moment to me, Wants to go places but only the jobs that it wants to do are done properly. The jobs that needed to be done properly in most cases weren't or took way longer than they should have. Sorry if it's a bit blunt but I just think that it needs to be said. Thanks

At the end of the day I'm still furious about the way they hire people. I recently applied for one of the street info jobs, I was unsuccessful. I have a right to be furious though. Someone later told me that a few of the people that got the jobs didn't have a clue what they were doing! They were trying to give info but didn't even know how the route map works! How ridiculous is the company at the minute? People that know me say I have an encyclopedic knowledge of the routes. I wouldn't say that but I have a better knowledge than the folk that they saw! What an absolute joke! It's so bad I've decided to go and aim to work for another company altogether and pursue a different career. I probably shouldn't have to but hey flying is better anyway

How you present your CV matters its not their fault.I once lived across the road from a bus depot and got rejected .I tried and eventually got accepted.

 

[SpeedbirdA350]

I don’t see the new 300 lasting long. I used it today from Fountainpark to Cameron Toll and there was a grand total of 6 people on it. Don’t know about anyone else but I think it comes to very messy/abrupt ending. It’s like their terminating it there just because they don’t have anywhere else to. What about extending it into Midlothian or East Lothian via the Fort/A1. Would be nice to see the counties included in all these new airport routes

I was on a 26 once that had just 8 people on it from Haymarket to Drumbrae. Does not mean it is a service that is about to fail. It depends on time of day etc as I have seen the 300 very busy (standing room) at some peak services. I think however the termination point of Cameron Toll is poorly thought out and perhaps taking the 300 up to Royal Infirmary would be better. I do however also think that the 300/35 is confusing some people as some see the skylink bus and assume it's going to High Street so get confused. I do wonder when the 500 will be launched (if they plan on doing so) and what route that will take as I think there is now a good portion of the city covered by an airport bus.

 

[Darklord8899]

I think the reason the 300 doesn't go to Royal Infirmary is that management don't want an airport service getting (potentially) delayed by local passengers (lets face it, who would actually travel from ERI to Airport?) and by the extra distance of Dalkeith Road at rush hour which would bog down journey times even more.

On Sunday, when returning home from work around 3pm the tracker at South side the was showing the 300's as being 39 and 45 mins away...... not good for a 30 min frequency.... so imagine that coming from ERI!!!
I then decided to go down to South bridge for the 35, they were showing on the tracker as 5 min, then 9 mins (estimated) the 9 mins one disappeared whilst I was waiting to become 59 mins (again meant to be a 30 min frequency)
Obviously, the festival and roadworks play a part, but it is a fine line between making parts of Edinburgh directly accessible to the Airport and a service that is pointless to use to get to Airport as journey times and frequencies so erratic that you miss your flight!

 

[overthewater]

Is there any real point in the 300? Does it really carry that many passengers wishing to travel to Uni? In theory you could kill off the 300 and extend the 36 from the Gyle to the Airport?

 

[SpeedbirdA350]

400 goes to RIE and goes to airport. Corstorphine Road can sometimes be chocablock at rush hour so 100 can be delayed. Answer to that is (if possible) to leave earlier for your flight and a higher frequency of buses on the route which 5 minutes to 59 minutes for the next would suggest something happened such as a tech issue, but the festival and roadworks are being a pain and now that Leith Street is open again, all buses are going via there instead of Regent Road, so more buses on London Road again and as there is that gyratory the traffic is getting caught up, including the 35.

As for Dalkeith Road, correct me if I am wrong but there is a bus lane that runs that road for a large portion up to the RIE.

 

[tbtc]

I think that the last couple of years would suggest that any Lothian service isn't necessarily set in stone - the 300 terminating at Cameron Toll seems a reasonable enough place for right now but I wouldn't bet against further tinkering.

Extension to the Hospital looks possible, but there's only eleven minutes turnaround at Cameron Toll right now so you'd need at least an extra bus. There's already a direct bus from the Hospital to the Gyle/ Airport (the 400), so maybe they'll look at that to assess the kind of demand for a direct bus (rather than changing in the city centre for an express - the 100).

Plus, whilst a direct Hospital link will be welcomed by some people, there's a danger of cannibalising passengers from the 38 (Slateford Road) and 24 (Tollcross).

Half a dozen people on the brand new section of the 300 doesn't sound terrible in the first few days - it'd be nice to see more links like this (Tolcross to Cameron Toll), after the 47 was diverted that way. Only so many services that can be squeezed over North Bridge and along Princes Street!

 

[SpeedbirdA350]

Is there any real point in the 300? Does it really carry that many passengers wishing to travel to Uni? In theory you could kill off the 300 and extend the 36 from the Gyle to the Airport?

Or just go back to the way it was before as it worked then, with the 35... renumbered to 300...

To be honest I think thers is a need for the 300 and one that heads up that way too. So many people going to Cameron Toll for example would need to get on a 3, 33, etc which all go via city centre which is always busy no matter when, but the 300 goes via Chalmers Hospital, Surgeons Hall and Southside. It's a time saver and to be honest, it's a great direct link for folks who live in the Slateford - Lauriston Place corridor.

I think the question I ask is if there is any real point to the 35. I mean it's pretty much a mirror of the 300 from Napier on Calder Road to Forrest Road with the 34 also mirroring a good portion of that too.