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First Greater Glasgow

PaulMc7

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9 Jul 2019
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You must just be unlucky as I've been down Duke Street more times than I've had hot dinners and I've never seen it busy to the point where it's taken a bus 10 minute to go between Bellgrove Street and Duke Street Station...

Yeah it's been around 10/11 times out of the last 15 lol. Usually bang on lunchtime or school time mainly
 
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RailUK Forums

PaulMc7

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Anyone else think the 19 and 38C are going to be as affected by Robroyston train station opening as the X2? It's as close to Glendale as it is to Millerston at Cumbernauld Road/Avenue End Road
 

69036

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4 Feb 2019
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Got a bit of a shock this morning, refurbed Gemini on the X1, fully branded...
 

PaulMc7

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Surprised the oracle of info that is SarahDFIG didn’t tell us this months ago.

All ex U1 Gemini’s bound for the X1.

Seen a few of the Geminis on the X1 and 21 mainly. Pretty good buses tbh. From what I've seen off peak the X1 has definitely looked busier than previous. Don't know how long it'll last but the fact they're committing to using set buses on it instead of any old vehicle is a good sign that it may have a future
 

CM

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28 Dec 2010
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Anyone else think the 19 and 38C are going to be as affected by Robroyston train station opening as the X2? It's as close to Glendale as it is to Millerston at Cumbernauld Road/Avenue End Road

Millerston isn't exactly poverty-stricken and has a fair amount of car ownership so I'd imagine most people will drive the short distance to the station and take the train the rest of the way. Personally, if I was First, when the new station and link roads open I'd extend the X2 to Millerston or further along to Stepps or Cardowan to at least try and pinch some punters from the rail service. It'll never happen though.
 

PaulMc7

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Millerston isn't exactly poverty-stricken and has a fair amount of car ownership so I'd imagine most people will drive the short distance to the station and take the train the rest of the way. Personally, if I was First, when the new station and link roads open I'd extend the X2 to Millerston or further along to Stepps or Cardowan to at least try and pinch some punters from the rail service. It'll never happen though.

Yeah I don't think First have done anything in Cardowan since the old 6 years ago that ran from Garscadden to Cardowan. Only chance First really has is if the trains become extremely unreliable because currently even the 19s and 38Cs outside of peaks aren't exactly busy up there. The 38C gets to Riddrie and completely emptys then from Muirhead there's the X3/X35/X37 that are all far more attractive into Glasgow
 

Scott mac

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24 Apr 2018
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Rumours are the 7 7a 9 9a are due the new buses for next year e200mmc is what's be talked about but will see surprised about the 2 getting e300 think the 65 plate e200mmc will be moved about a bit
 

PaulMc7

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Rumours are the 7 7a 9 9a are due the new buses for next year e200mmc is what's be talked about but will see surprised about the 2 getting e300 think the 65 plate e200mmc will be moved about a bit

The 7/7As would be an interesting move tbh. The 7A between Rutherglen and Westburn was practically empty when I've used it before so I'm surprised they've not chipped away at that although I'd imagine some backlash as it's the only bus in some parts of that section. The 9s are definitely a good idea though given the seemingly never ending battle that's occurred between them and Mcgills with the 38 over Paisley Road West
 

PaulMc7

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I wonder if any new routes will be tried out by First here. As someone pointed out on here before things have been so stagnant in terms of new ideas and routes. Only things I can really think of since 2012 that have been tried and worked wonders are "The One" and 77s. I don't expect anything new but it would be good to see what trying new things would do instead of just constant cuts every single time something makes a loss. Obviously I get the fact First are a private company but at the same time they still operate a public service so really I don't believe they can make any cut without it turning away even more people on top of those affected by these cuts. I think if they showed customers that they weren't giving up on services by trying new things with them it would work so much better. More deals on tickets could work well too I think. Even the family tickets aren't great in terms of value compared to cars/trains etc plus with all day tickets I reckon if they cut them to £3.50 for city zone and £5 for networks it would bring in more people. If that happened too it could make the bus more attractive as the train would be more expensive in more areas compared to bus.

I know it's a lot to run buses in terms of cost but in an industry where customer income levels influence service usage so much then they need to really consider that before price increases etc and considering bus use is going down constantly it would make far more sense to make it far more attractive to use bus over anything else
 
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Jordan Adam

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Rumours are the 7 7a 9 9a are due the new buses for next year e200mmc is what's be talked about but will see surprised about the 2 getting e300 think the 65 plate e200mmc will be moved about a bit

I think it's safe to say the 9/9A are pretty much confirmed, 7/7A is a surprise (if true), but i guess it makes sense given that most of the other main routes around it have new, nearly new or refurbished stock. Plus the 7/7A/75 somewhat interlink as they provided a combined 5 minute frequency during the day (15 minute evenings).

The 7/7As would be an interesting move tbh. The 7A between Rutherglen and Westburn was practically empty when I've used it before so I'm surprised they've not chipped away at that although I'd imagine some backlash as it's the only bus in some parts of that section. The 9s are definitely a good idea though given the seemingly never ending battle that's occurred between them and Mcgills with the 38 over Paisley Road West

But that's only a small section at the end of the route, cutting it could potentially lead to a decline in use making it less reliable, it could also cause capacity issues further towards the city centre. Agree with the 9/9A though, getting new vehicles for it entirely makes sense, especially given that it currently uses the somewhat worn out B7RLEs and is in direct competition with the McGills 38, although i suspect it's more friendly competition as the MDs of either company seem to get on fairly well...
 

PaulMc7

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I think it's safe to say the 9/9A are pretty much confirmed, 7/7A is a surprise (if true), but i guess it makes sense given that most of the other main routes around it have new, nearly new or refurbished stock. Plus the 7/7A/75 somewhat interlink as they provided a combined 5 minute frequency during the day (15 minute evenings).



But that's only a small section at the end of the route, cutting it could potentially lead to a decline in use making it less reliable, it could also cause capacity issues further towards the city centre. Agree with the 9/9A though, getting new vehicles for it entirely makes sense, especially given that it currently uses the somewhat worn out B7RLEs and is in direct competition with the McGills 38, although i suspect it's more friendly competition as the MDs of either company seem to get on fairly well...

Yeah I guess the way I see it is more that the new buses should be on services doing great across their full route and at no danger of any cuts to route or frequency although the 38 being cut shows nothing is really that safe from changes. Thought out of the Easterhouse Town Centre terminating buses it would be the last to be cut.

Yeah it'll be good to see new buses on 9s. Definitely busier than the 38s through to Cardonald and this might make more consider using them into Paisley town centre although it's definitely a town centre that needs big improvements to make it more attractive for people to visit. Like a ghost town compared to what I remember growing up
 

Jordan Adam

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Yeah I guess the way I see it is more that the new buses should be on services doing great across their full route and at no danger of any cuts to route or frequency although the 38 being cut shows nothing is really that safe from changes. Thought out of the Easterhouse Town Centre terminating buses it would be the last to be cut.

Yeah it'll be good to see new buses on 9s. Definitely busier than the 38s through to Cardonald and this might make more consider using them into Paisley town centre although it's definitely a town centre that needs big improvements to make it more attractive for people to visit. Like a ghost town compared to what I remember growing up

The 38 cuts were hardly anything major to be fair. New buses are typically allocated to services where the company anticipates the most growth or is up against competition. Routes that "do well" don't always get the newest vehicles. Look at Aberdeen for example, our most profitable route (1/2) uses 11 year old Enviro500s and (almost) 15 year old B7LAs! Albeit part of the reason they've lasted so long is due to the superior capacity.

The 9 being on a 5 minute frequency should mean that once it gets new vehicles it'll probably see a surge in growth.
 

JumpinTrainz

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30 Jul 2018
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Got a bit of a shock this morning, refurbed Gemini on the X1, fully branded...

When you say fully branded have the Gemini’s received the gold branding for Xpress services or have they kept the red from the old U1 services?
 

JumpinTrainz

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Rumours are the 7 7a 9 9a are due the new buses for next year e200mmc is what's be talked about but will see surprised about the 2 getting e300 think the 65 plate e200mmc will be moved about a bit

The 7/7A getting new buses over busy routes like the 2 is ludicrous. The 7/7A is not a particularly busy route as most of its route is covered by other busy services. Streetlites would be good for that route. 9/9A I fully agree with.
 

Volvodart

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The 7/7A getting new buses over busy routes like the 2 is ludicrous. The 7/7A is not a particularly busy route as most of its route is covered by other busy services. Streetlites would be good for that route. 9/9A I fully agree with.

It depends how many new buses they are getting. They would not want to part convert a route to new buses.
 

JumpinTrainz

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More route are due to be branded soon

I’m wondering which routes they’ll do. I’m reckoning the 60/60A will probably get a similar branding to the 61. I think they’ll probably do the 267. Perhaps some of the Kirky routes like the 87/88 will be branded. I was thinking orange going by the route maps but they’re nothing to go by considering the 2 is now lime instead of red.
 

Jordan Adam

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I’m wondering which routes they’ll do. I’m reckoning the 60/60A will probably get a similar branding to the 61. I think they’ll probably do the 267. Perhaps some of the Kirky routes like the 87/88 will be branded. I was thinking orange going by the route maps but they’re nothing to go by considering the 2 is now lime instead of red.

I think the 2 was just done in Lime because it crosses over the 18.
 
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I’m wondering which routes they’ll do. I’m reckoning the 60/60A will probably get a similar branding to the 61. I think they’ll probably do the 267. Perhaps some of the Kirky routes like the 87/88 will be branded. I was thinking orange going by the route maps but they’re nothing to go by considering the 2 is now lime instead of red.

Dont think the 87/88 will get done as these services interwork with each other at bbs
 

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