West Lothian buses

[CM]

Nostalgia is a funny thing.

X15/15A on whatever Livingston wanted to throw out- could have been a Barbie Alexander Royale Volvo Olympian, Scania OmniDekka, ex-National Express Dennis Javelin or one of the scarce Leyland Lions from Glasgow to Livingston and then hope for one of the ex-Glasgow L-Reg Leyland Olympians on the 12 or 16 to Edinburgh and laugh as it tries to reach 40mph at Ingliston and the engine red hot and close to overheating.

Lunch and then a 38 to Falkirk which always involved some kind of Scania going into and out of Bridgend for no good reason, into Falkirk Bus Station/hell hole

Then a 27 from Falkirk to Glasgow via Larbert that was always a Barbie Royale and always late because someone at the time thought that 4 or 5 minute turnrounds on a route that is tightly timed and has a long detour via Larbert, a dogleg section of route via Banton and passes through Camelon, Larbert, Kirky and Bishopbriggs and along the Springburn Expressway with all the lights at Costco/Tesco is great for punctuality!

Or the X37-slightly more reliable with better layovers, half the time buses could'nt run to High Bonnybridge as the bridge was always shut, picking up half the population of Cumernauld Village, struggling to get into the bus stops at Cumbernauld Town Centre due to Canavans and Coakley buses littered everywhere and then the glamourous tour of Greenfaulds and Condorrat, then Mollinsburn and Muirhead and a final blast on the motorway into Glasgow. First Edinburgh would provide quite decent buses, but Cumbernauld would throw out the clapped out Tigers, the suffocating Scanias - SS5 TIB 8513 for instance- no opening windows so when it was sunny it was like a greenhouse and when it was raining it became very musty inside- at least it had high back seats.


£4.75. You don't get much for that these days, that's for sure.

I'd always preferred the X37 because of the Tigers as FiE used to always seem to chuck out any generic First spec Scania L113. One thing I've always regretted though is standing in Falkirk Bus Station and never going for a run on one of the ex-Grampian Atlanteans that seemed to litter the place, though perhaps being from Glasgow, I'd been on enough Atlanteans to last a life time.

 

[PaulMc7]

Nostalgia is a funny thing.

X15/15A on whatever Livingston wanted to throw out- could have been a Barbie Alexander Royale Volvo Olympian, Scania OmniDekka, ex-National Express Dennis Javelin or one of the scarce Leyland Lions from Glasgow to Livingston and then hope for one of the ex-Glasgow L-Reg Leyland Olympians on the 12 or 16 to Edinburgh and laugh as it tries to reach 40mph at Ingliston and the engine red hot and close to overheating.

Lunch and then a 38 to Falkirk which always involved some kind of Scania going into and out of Bridgend for no good reason, into Falkirk Bus Station/hell hole

Then a 27 from Falkirk to Glasgow via Larbert that was always a Barbie Royale and always late because someone at the time thought that 4 or 5 minute turnrounds on a route that is tightly timed and has a long detour via Larbert, a dogleg section of route via Banton and passes through Camelon, Larbert, Kirky and Bishopbriggs and along the Springburn Expressway with all the lights at Costco/Tesco is great for punctuality!

Or the X37-slightly more reliable with better layovers, half the time buses could'nt run to High Bonnybridge as the bridge was always shut, picking up half the population of Cumernauld Village, struggling to get into the bus stops at Cumbernauld Town Centre due to Canavans and Coakley buses littered everywhere and then the glamourous tour of Greenfaulds and Condorrat, then Mollinsburn and Muirhead and a final blast on the motorway into Glasgow. First Edinburgh would provide quite decent buses, but Cumbernauld would throw out the clapped out Tigers, the suffocating Scanias - SS5 TIB 8513 for instance- no opening windows so when it was sunny it was like a greenhouse and when it was raining it became very musty inside- at least it had high back seats.


£4.75. You don't get much for that these days, that's for sure.

I remember the X15/X15A but don't think I ever used it. Used that 27 a couple of times though. Even a city zone all day ticket in Glasgow on the bus is £4.70 now. When I was a kid in the early 2000s it was well under £3.

Used the X35 and X37 to Falkirk and I quite enjoyed the journey. Seemed fairly quick compared to most other 90 min journeys I've ever made

 

[156478]

I remember the X15/X15A but don't think I ever used it. Used that 27 a couple of times though. Even a city zone all day ticket in Glasgow on the bus is £4.70 now. When I was a kid in the early 2000s it was well under £3.

Used the X35 and X37 to Falkirk and I quite enjoyed the journey. Seemed fairly quick compared to most other 90 min journeys I've ever made

The X14, X15 and the 15As were never busy.

The problem you had was they were operated by First Edinburgh and not Glasgow. So unless you really knew about the services no one knew they existed.

No "marketing" by the Glasgow subsidary as they were all different companies then with very different management.

The X14 at best would have a few people on board from Glasgow off peak and had a small hardcore of West Lothian Commuters. It carried a few people within West Lothian as it doubled up as a local bus service. Timekeeping was always an issue due to tight turnrounds and volatile M8 traffic. Never really picked up anyone in Salsburgh, Eastfield or Harthill village. They must have lost a ton of money on this route and it's very difficult to see if any other operator would have made it work.

The X15 was tinkered and messed around with so much its hard to remember how it went, there was so many versions of it. There was the X15 Glasgow-Harthill-Fastlink-Livingston. 15A Glasgow-Harthill-Deans-Knightsridge-Craigshill-Livingston which ran two hourly throughout the day and then became only focused on the peaks into and out of Glasgow and the X15 would take the off peak shoppers from Glasgow to Livingston. Then for a very brief period of time the X15 ran all the way from Glasgow to Edinburgh via Livingston.
Frequency wise i want to say it was two hourly with sometimes hourly service- memories do get hazy sometimes.

Then once they were released from their OFT restrictions they were dumped. Say what you want- they didn't want to operate them, and maybe they did try to make them work- but the demand just wasnt there for them.

X14 - as soon as the railway opened and could take you from Bathgate and Blackridge to Glasgow every 15/30 minutes all day every day rather than a bus every two hours that didnt run in the dark that destroyed what little custom was using the route.
X15/15A- maybe if it was marketed better, if Glasgow had maybe advertised it- it might have broke even. Stagecoach's current express bus via Livingston is slightly better marketed, but I suspect the popular Fife- Livingston part of the route is easily cross subsidising the Livingston to Glasgow part.

 

[PaulMc7]

The X14, X15 and the 15As were never busy.

The problem you had was they were operated by First Edinburgh and not Glasgow. So unless you really knew about the services no one knew they existed.

No "marketing" by the Glasgow subsidary as they were all different companies then with very different management.

The X14 at best would have a few people on board from Glasgow off peak and had a small hardcore of West Lothian Commuters. It carried a few people within West Lothian as it doubled up as a local bus service. Timekeeping was always an issue due to tight turnrounds and volatile M8 traffic. Never really picked up anyone in Salsburgh, Eastfield or Harthill village. They must have lost a ton of money on this route and it's very difficult to see if any other operator would have made it work.

The X15 was tinkered and messed around with so much its hard to remember how it went, there was so many versions of it. There was the X15 Glasgow-Harthill-Fastlink-Livingston. 15A Glasgow-Harthill-Deans-Knightsridge-Craigshill-Livingston which ran two hourly throughout the day and then became only focused on the peaks into and out of Glasgow and the X15 would take the off peak shoppers from Glasgow to Livingston. Then for a very brief period of time the X15 ran all the way from Glasgow to Edinburgh via Livingston.
Frequency wise i want to say it was two hourly with sometimes hourly service- memories do get hazy sometimes.

Then once they were released from their OFT restrictions they were dumped. Say what you want- they didn't want to operate them, and maybe they did try to make them work- but the demand just wasnt there for them.

X14 - as soon as the railway opened and could take you from Bathgate and Blackridge to Glasgow every 15/30 minutes all day every day rather than a bus every two hours that didnt run in the dark that destroyed what little custom was using the route.
X15/15A- maybe if it was marketed better, if Glasgow had maybe advertised it- it might have broke even. Stagecoach's current express bus via Livingston is slightly better marketed, but I suspect the popular Fife- Livingston part of the route is easily cross subsidising the Livingston to Glasgow part.

Thanks for the info. Yeah I know of the X51 but I've only really seen it at Glasgow as I've not been to Dunfermline or Livingston in a while and it's not looked particularly busy. The X24/X26/X27 to Dunfermline are a great deal quicker than the X51 and always seemed a lot busier plus I had family in Leven up to 2011 so made that journey a lot. Glasgow to Edinburgh or Fife seem to be far more popular than to Livingston or anywhere else in West Lothian

 

[CM]

Unless you live in Livingston and Commute to Glasgow for work purposes or you live in Glasgow and are visiting friends/relatives who live in Livingston there's actually not much of a reason for people to go there other than the Shopping Centre or Hospital. I doubt anyone from Glasgow is going to want to sit for an hour on a bus to go to the shops in Livingston when Glasgow is riddled with Shopping Centres.

 

[PaulMc7]

Unless you live in Livingston and Commute to Glasgow for work purposes or you live in Glasgow and are visiting friends/relatives who live in Livingston there's actually not much of a reason for people to go there other than the Shopping Centre or Hospital. I doubt anyone from Glasgow is going to want to sit for an hour on a bus to go to the shops in Livingston when Glasgow is riddled with Shopping Centres.

I absolutely agree with this. The shopping centre in Livingston just felt like Silverburn/Braehead to me when I went before. Nothing unique really about it

 

[overthewater]

The good people of Queensferry and kirkliston use the service to glasgow aswell.

X51 also has a surprising amount of Glasgow to Livingston passengers.

 

[cnjb8]

Thanks for the responses.

It seems odd that West Lothian own about 1% of the bus company that operates in their area and about 99% of this company is owned by the other Lothian councils!
But at the end of the day, the councils lead to the government.

 

[Journeyman]

So...X38 launch tomorrow!

I'm planning to get the very first one, from Winchburgh to Edinburgh in the morning. A report will follow.

 

[overthewater]

Look out for a timetable. No one has anyone, if you get one it's like gold dust.

 

[CM]

Look out for a timetable. No one has anyone, if you get one it's like gold dust.

The timetable is easily viewable on the Lothian Country website so it's hardly "gold dust"...

 

[Journeyman]

Look out for a timetable. No one has anyone, if you get one it's like gold dust.

Will do! You can get a PDF off the website but I haven't seen printed ones. My local bus stop now boasts a map and fares info...but no timetable.

 

[A330Alex]

Website has been updated for tomorrow. Seems like they're just going for the overall network guide rather than individual timetables now: https://lothiancountry.co.uk/service-275/ (275 looks rather sad after it's shortening!)

 

[Journeyman]

Welcome aboard the X38! I'm on the first run into Edinburgh as we speak.

There were four people on board when I got on in Winchburgh, and we picked up several more in Kirkliston - not a bad load for early on a November Sunday, I reckon.

Nice smart vehicle - comfortable temperature, clean, smart and with USB chargers.

Given the state of First's fleet, this is vastly superior.

 

[Jordan Adam]

View attachment 70509
Welcome aboard the X38! I'm on the first run into Edinburgh as we speak.

There were four people on board when I got on in Winchburgh, and we picked up several more in Kirkliston - not a bad load for early on a November Sunday, I reckon.

Nice smart vehicle - comfortable temperature, clean, smart and with USB chargers.

Given the state of First's fleet, this is vastly superior.

Looks smart, just wish the seat backs weren't silver/grey as it doesn't really fit (but that's just the critic in me jumping out...). Hopefully this one doesn't catch fire :P

Certainly going to give First something to think about as their vehicles on the 38 are poor.

 

[Journeyman]

Certainly going to give First something to think about as their vehicles on the 38 are poor.

I didn't think they were too bad until recently, but they're certainly deteriorating and aren't looked after very well. I was on a 38 on Friday that was vibrating so badly it made me feel ill, and it seemed like it was shaking itself to bits.

 

[Jordan Adam]

I didn't think they were too bad until recently, but they're certainly deteriorating and aren't looked after very well. I was on a 38 on Friday that was vibrating so badly it made me feel ill, and it seemed like it was shaking itself to bits.

Don't suppose the bus in question was a Streetlite? If so i'm not surprised as Aberdeens are much the same, i really don't understand who thought they'd be good for the 38.

 

[Journeyman]

Don't suppose the bus in question was a Streetlite? If so i'm not surprised as Aberdeens are much the same, i really don't understand who thought they'd be good for the 38.

I have no particularly strong opinions on the Streetlites - they generally seem fine to me - but it does seem that the 38 is a demanding run, and it clearly needs something a bit more robust. Is this just First being cheap again?

 

[Jordan Adam]

I have no particularly strong opinions on the Streetlites - they generally seem fine to me - but it does seem that the 38 is a demanding run, and it clearly needs something a bit more robust. Is this just First being cheap again?

Pretty much, around the time the 38 last got new vehicles the Streetlite was the standard Single Decker for First. The main issue with the Streetlite is the fact that it's effectively just a glorified minibus. Had the 38 got new vehicles in 2012 or 2013 they would've likely been B7RLEs or E300s, both more suitable vehicles imo.

 

[Bus9120UK]

View attachment 70509
Welcome aboard the X38! I'm on the first run into Edinburgh as we speak.

There were four people on board when I got on in Winchburgh, and we picked up several more in Kirkliston - not a bad load for early on a November Sunday, I reckon.

Nice smart vehicle - comfortable temperature, clean, smart and with USB chargers.

Given the state of First's fleet, this is vastly superior.

Looks great, however the floor hasn't be upgraded as we thought.
Looks like LVF doesn't know where the X38 goes yet..

 

[Jordan Adam]

Looks great, however the floor hasn't be upgraded as we thought.
Looks like LVF doesn't know where the X38 goes yet.. View attachment 70512

I just use Bustimes.org, it has more detailed info and covers more operators.

 

[A330Alex]

Interestingly for Lothian the X38 buses have route branding at the rear!

I’m not particularly knowledgeable about WL but with the X38 it seems like LCB have covered most corridors. Is this a more final version of the network with minor, rather than major, changes in future?

 

[Bus9120UK]

Stuart Robert Barber has tweeted about the X38. I like the branding but would prefer if the Lothian Country logo was underneath the X38 on the front. https://twitter.com/Barberstig/status/1196008294692872193 (Not my pictures)

 

[Jordan Adam]

Stuart Robert Barber has tweeted about the X38. I like the branding but would prefer if the Lothian Country logo was underneath the X38 on the front. https://twitter.com/Barberstig/status/1196008294692872193 (Not my pictures)

Not a fan, it's a bit tacky imo, the gold X38 on a orange background makes it harder to read and it does little to advertise the service. Plus the orange doesn't match the colours used on the maps etc online.

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

Not a fan, it's a bit tacky imo, the gold X38 on a orange background makes it harder to read and it does little to advertise the service. Plus the orange doesn't match the colours used on the maps etc online.

Almost exactly what I was thinking

 

[Jordan Adam]

Almost exactly what I was thinking

It's an odd one, i would've went with the locations served above the windows. An "Every 20 Minutes" tag line where the orange is on the sides and then a gold "Service X38" somewhere nearer to the front. Perhaps on the cream area just ahead of the emergency exit door.

Lothian don't seem the best when it comes to colour coordination, first you had the "Green Arrow" express logos where they had green text on a green background and now you have this X38 logo!

 

[overthewater]

Where these passenger cash fares or where there using the M-tickets? I dare say the people in Kirkliston are using ridacard.

 

[Stan Drews]

Stuart Robert Barber has tweeted about the X38. I like the branding but would prefer if the Lothian Country logo was underneath the X38 on the front. https://twitter.com/Barberstig/status/1196008294692872193 (Not my pictures)

I wonder why they’ve scored out the X38 with that orange line?

 

[Jordan Adam]

I wonder why they’ve scored out the X38 with that orange line?

It makes no sense to me given the X38 is pink on all other publicity!

 

[Bus9120UK]

I wonder why they’ve scored out the X38 with that orange line?

It isn't if you look closely. It just looks like the gold and orange are mixing together!