First Greater Glasgow

[Scotrail314209]

I knew the 18 and 75 had it but wasn’t sure about other routes.. The Previous system gave you much more streets and Landmarks scrolling the screen without the voice thing that you have now.. That only worked on buses based in City Depots..

I was on an 18 recently which had the voice system working. But it was very pointless.

I have been using the 38 to quickly get from City of Glasgow College to Central Station, but the displays only have the date and time.

Stagecoach’s X19 uses the same system, and the voice properly works.

 

[Busman84]

Didn’t realise Stagecoach had this in Glasgow. I have noticed the 38s just show time and date there may have well been the plan to have that route on this announcement system but judging by state of things it may not happen. These buses on the 38 with there door interlock activated adds to buses running together too. When Gemini’s and Tridents operated on the 38 bunching wasn’t as bad as it is now.

 

[Scotrail314209]

The voice system is extremely handy, as I am not familiar with the stops in the City Centre/where the 38 stops. I always end up getting off a stop prior from where I wanted to originally alight.

 

[GaryMcEwan]

I've noticed that First have installed some iBus things on their new buses.

They barely work, are they currently programming them all or something?

I remember the original fleet of Geminis and stuff had some screens that displayed the next stop and the destination, but even now these barely work. Most cities have them now, Glasgow seem to be lagging.

It does work, however it only gives you the bigger significant stops, it doesn't tell you every single stop. The 18 for example from the City Centre to Bridgeton, it tells you that the next stops are...

The GoMA
Trongate
Glasgow Cross
The Barras and Barrowland Ballroom
London Road for Glasgow Green and People's Palace
Bridgeton Cross

 

[route101]

What routes use this kind of ibus thing?

The previous system worked on a lot of buses. From X reg Scanias up to the 58 plate Gemini’s and perhaps E500s the Streamline system worked pretty well. This seemed to vanish around 2010/11 when one by one they stopped working.

Yeah , same with bus stop ones though they managed to get that back.

 

[route101]

It does work, however it only gives you the bigger significant stops, it doesn't tell you every single stop. The 18 for example from the City Centre to Bridgeton, it tells you that the next stops are...

The GoMA
Trongate
Glasgow Cross
The Barras and Barrowland Ballroom
London Road for Glasgow Green and People's Palace
Bridgeton Cross

Yeah , noticed that , does become annoying.

 

[route101]

I've noticed that First have installed some iBus things on their new buses.

They barely work, are they currently programming them all or something?

I remember the original fleet of Geminis and stuff had some screens that displayed the next stop and the destination, but even now these barely work. Most cities have them now, Glasgow seem to be lagging.

Only works on 38, 18 and 75 and perhaps the 77 if it has it .

 

[PaulMc7]

Only works on 38, 18 and 75 and perhaps the 77 if it has it .

Most of the 77s have it from experience. Announces Ikea a stop too early though so people rush to get off and the driver ends up having to tell loads of people it's the next stop

 

[Scotrail314209]

Was on a 57A back from College to Central Station, the Gemini was seriously leaky, messy and worn out.

First Glasgow seem to be neglecting the Geminis a bit now, they are so dirty and have a feeling of coldness when you board the bus.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Was on a 57A back from College to Central Station, the Gemini was seriously leaky, messy and worn out.

First Glasgow seem to be neglecting the Geminis a bit now, they are so dirty and have a feeling of coldness when you board the bus.

If it's the older B7 Geminis, some are heading to Bristol with 32620/2/3/81/3 and 37185 already in the south and doubtless more to come.

 

[JumpinTrainz]

If it's the older B7 Geminis, some are heading to Bristol with 32620/2/3/81/3 and 37185 already in the south and doubtless more to come.

The B7 Gemini’s were such nice buses when they first arrived. They were the first of their kind to Glasgow.

Nowadays they are smelly, the seats are worn and the majority of them are running around making that horrendous noise from the fan. It’s even loud onboard the bus especially when sitting downstairs. Hopefully we start to see more of them cascaded down south with new E400MMCs used to replace them. The B9TLs are far nicer buses.

 

[Jordan Adam]

The B7 Gemini’s were such nice buses when they first arrived. They were the first of their kind to Glasgow.

Nowadays they are smelly, the seats are worn and the majority of them are running around making that horrendous noise from the fan. It’s even loud onboard the bus especially when sitting downstairs. Hopefully we start to see more of them cascaded down south with new E400MMCs used to replace them. The B9TLs are far nicer buses.

In all fairness whenever i've been in Glasgow there's been loads of B9TLs "hoovering" too, although B7TLs are famous for it. Funnily enough i've never heard the Aberdeen B7TL or B9TLs hoovering when they were here, that's despite both spending a large chunk of their life on a fairly demanding route.

 

[PaulMc7]

Seen an E300 on a 38E earlier and a dark blue double decker on a 38 that seems to have been brought through from West Lothian or Stirling/Falkirk too. Seen a 61 branded decker on a 4 weirdly as well

 

[Stef434]

Seen an E300 on a 38E earlier and a dark blue double decker on a 38 that seems to have been brought through from West Lothian or Stirling/Falkirk too. Seen a 61 branded decker on a 4 weirdly as well

When First introduced the semi voyager fleet numbers it gave fleet managers the option to move around buses as per the opco specifications
its like an Argos for buses one OpCo will select a bus to meet its requirements and offer a swap generally a newer type for like for like .all its needed is to adapt the legal lettering
The branding of buses is only a coat of paint(meeting serv req is more important than branding as the service is registered by the route number )

 

[PaulMc7]

When First introduced the semi voyager fleet numbers it gave fleet managers the option to move around buses as per the opco specifications
its like an Argos for buses one OpCo will select a bus to meet its requirements and offer a swap generally a newer type for like for like .all its needed is to adapt the legal lettering
The branding of buses is only a coat of paint(meeting serv req is more important than branding as the service is registered by the route number )

Yeah it's definitely more evident of late. Been different types of buses popping up on services that never used to have them. It's good to see that happening though. Need to just get the full fleet up to the same quality though

When I say quality too I'm more referring to cleanliness and solid structure with seats that aren't falling apart and rain leaking in through the ceiling etc. It would be great to have all brand new buses but that would be so unrealistic

 

[lastbus]

Seen an E300 on a 38E earlier and a dark blue double decker on a 38 that seems to have been brought through from West Lothian or Stirling/Falkirk too. Seen a 61 branded decker on a 4 weirdly as well

Decker is from Livingston and is now a Glasgow bus it’s just not been painted yet.

Branded buses on the wrong route is better than no bus at all.

There is a number of reasons why a branded bus can end up on wrong route.

 

[PaulMc7]

Decker is from Livingston and is now a Glasgow bus it’s just not been painted yet.

Branded buses on the wrong route is better than no bus at all.

There is a number of reasons why a branded bus can end up on wrong route.

Thanks for the info. Yeah it's an observation not a complaint. Think it's good to mix things up a bit. Things really need a refresh in Glasgow and it's a start on it. Price reduction and a route freshen up next would be ideal but we know neither will happen

 

[CM]

Thanks for the info. Yeah it's an observation not a complaint. Think it's good to mix things up a bit. Things really need a refresh in Glasgow and it's a start on it. Price reduction and a route freshen up next would be ideal but we know neither will happen

They've just put over 100 brand new vehicles into the fleet in the space of around a year, I think that's a big enough refresh as it is.

 

[PaulMc7]

They've just put over 100 brand new vehicles into the fleet in the space of around a year, I think that's a big enough refresh as it is.

Yeah it's good but there's other things that need done too. Prices need to drop and we've had mostly the same routes for over 6 years now. Anytime something makes a big loss they should try rerouting it to give people new options or even better consult the public more and they might find new things that will suit more passengers

 

[Jordan Adam]

Yeah it's good but there's other things that need done too. Prices need to drop and we've had mostly the same routes for over 6 years now. Anytime something makes a big loss they should try rerouting it to give people new options or even better consult the public more and they might find new things that will suit more passengers

Network change i'd agree, as for prices "Welcome to Brexit Britian". I'm afraid it's unlikely they'll go down anytime soon, plus the money will be needed given the ongoing fleet investment. I echo Colin M's comments above. 150 buses have been invested in the fleet in under a year and more are to come fairly soon. Not to mention all the Gemini refurbishments and the proposed movement of Streetlites to further assist LEZ compliance. Granted there has been a lack of investment and refurbishments in previous years, however you can only move at a certain pace. The paint shop at Caledonia has been running at capacity for quite some time, i think people sometimes forget all the Aberdeen and FSE vehicles have to be painted at Caledonia too.

 

[PaulMc7]

Network change i'd agree, as for prices "Welcome to Brexit Britian". I'm afraid it's unlikely they'll go down anytime soon, plus the money will be needed given the ongoing fleet investment. I echo Colin M's comments above. 150 buses have been invested in the fleet in under a year and more are to come fairly soon. Not to mention all the Gemini refurbishments and the proposed movement of Streetlites to further assist LEZ compliance. Granted there has been a lack of investment and refurbishments in previous years, however you can only move at a certain pace. The paint shop at Caledonia has been running at capacity for quite some time, i think people sometimes forget all the Aberdeen and FSE vehicles have to be painted at Caledonia too.

Yeah the painting staff will be on overtime for ages seemingly. Yeah I don't expect the pricing to ever go down but we can only dream haha. Would consider a full rework outside of the services with branded buses and the big earners

 

[Jordan Adam]

Yeah the painting staff will be on overtime for ages seemingly. Yeah I don't expect the pricing to ever go down but we can only dream haha. Would consider a full rework outside of the services with branded buses and the big earners

The joys of Caledonia being the only First depot in Scotland with proper paint booths! It was always stupid to me that when they redeveloped King Street Depot about a decade ago they didn't include a paint booth, must cost them a fortune in drivers and fuel as buses have to do a 300 mile round trip just to get a repaint!

 

[PaulMc7]

The joys of Caledonia being the only First depot in Scotland with proper paint booths! It was always stupid to me that when they redeveloped King Street Depot about a decade ago they didn't include a paint booth, must cost them a fortune in drivers and fuel as buses have to do a 300 mile round trip just to get a repaint!

Yeah definitely. Load of time doing the journeys too but like a lot of things with First it really doesn't make sense

 

[Jordan Adam]

Yeah definitely. Load of time doing the journeys too but like a lot of things with First it really doesn't make sense

My guess is that it was to save costs at the time, however i'm fairly sure in the long run fitting a booth would've worked out cheaper!

 

[PaulMc7]

My guess is that it was to save costs at the time, however i'm fairly sure in the long run fitting a booth would've worked out cheaper!

Yeah definitely. Would have investment costs to begin with but a major mileage saver after a while

 

[route101]

Seen an E300 on a 38E earlier and a dark blue double decker on a 38 that seems to have been brought through from West Lothian or Stirling/Falkirk too. Seen a 61 branded decker on a 4 weirdly as well

Still a few B9TLs that have the blue 61 paint but not branded yet for 61 .

 

[route101]

In all fairness whenever i've been in Glasgow there's been loads of B9TLs "hoovering" too, although B7TLs are famous for it. Funnily enough i've never heard the Aberdeen B7TL or B9TLs hoovering when they were here, that's despite both spending a large chunk of their life on a fairly demanding route.

B9TLs engines can sound rough compared to B7TL .

 

[route101]

Was on a 57A back from College to Central Station, the Gemini was seriously leaky, messy and worn out.

First Glasgow seem to be neglecting the Geminis a bit now, they are so dirty and have a feeling of coldness when you board the bus.

Lazy ha thats a downhill walk !

 

[route101]

If it's the older B7 Geminis, some are heading to Bristol with 32620/2/3/81/3 and 37185 already in the south and doubtless more to come.

Hope we get deckers in return

 

[route101]

The B7 Gemini’s were such nice buses when they first arrived. They were the first of their kind to Glasgow.

Nowadays they are smelly, the seats are worn and the majority of them are running around making that horrendous noise from the fan. It’s even loud onboard the bus especially when sitting downstairs. Hopefully we start to see more of them cascaded down south with new E400MMCs used to replace them. The B9TLs are far nicer buses.

Yeah remember the first time i seen one a 44 . Was quite a futoristic look