Lothian Buses and ECB Discussion

[TheEastCoaster]

I noticed that ever since the 43 terminus changed to Regent Road the destinations now say Edinburgh “Waterloo Place” which got me thinking, why don’t ECB take on this helm and add subtitles to the services 104/124 such as Edinburgh “Haymarket” or Edinburgh “Lothian Road”

Unless you travel the service a lot saying Edinburgh is pretty vague,

 

[tramboy]

I've driven them on MAN and VDL chassis (both of which were awful), and they had concerns over build quality with the MCV B7RLE demo during my time at Cardiff Bus, although I didn't get an opportunity to drive that.

Here's hoping these are better.

The B8RLE/Evora that were built for Stagecoach Wales and went onto the T4 seem to be holding up quite well, and seem reasonably well built. Their build quality must have improved for the subsequent follow up order for busway use in Cambridgeshire.

 

[buslad1988]

Have to say I’m not a massive fan of these complicated new timetables for 26 and 31. Gaps of 12-24-36 minutes on the split sections. Not very customer friendly. Know they’re still critical but this latest set of changes is supposedly going to be lasting a while, with marine staying closed for another 6 months.

 

[Ryan Art]

Is there a Lothian buses 2020 fleetlists

 

[Bus9120UK]

Appears that the Airlink XLB's have had their logo changed, with the word Airlink now white instead of gold. All other text is still gold.

 

[cnjb8]

The B8RLE/Evora that were built for Stagecoach Wales and went onto the T4 seem to be holding up quite well, and seem reasonably well built. Their build quality must have improved for the subsequent follow up order for busway use in Cambridgeshire.

I think they were ordered for Cambridgeshire as the Volvo B8RLE is the only vehicle able to fit on it.

 

[CN04NRJ]

The B8RLE/Evora that were built for Stagecoach Wales and went onto the T4 seem to be holding up quite well, and seem reasonably well built. Their build quality must have improved for the subsequent follow up order for busway use in Cambridgeshire.

And the Welsh ones were specified and paid for by the Welsh Government. I've been told by a reliable source that if they were purchasing their own vehicles they would have been 6 cylinder full length MMCs.

 

[TheEastCoaster]

I noticed that ever since the 43 terminus changed to Regent Road the destinations now say Edinburgh “Waterloo Place” which got me thinking, why don’t ECB take on this helm and add subtitles to the services 104/124 such as Edinburgh “Haymarket” or Edinburgh “Lothian Road”

Unless you travel the service a lot saying Edinburgh is pretty vague,

oh yeah and the LCB routes X17,18,27,28,38 could also benefit with this too

 

[TheEastCoaster]

Have to say I’m not a massive fan of these complicated new timetables for 26 and 31. Gaps of 12-24-36 minutes on the split sections. Not very customer friendly. Know they’re still critical but this latest set of changes is supposedly going to be lasting a while, with marine staying closed for another 6 months.

where are the timetables now?

 

[buslad1988]

where are the timetables now?

If you want to view them they’re on Lothians website. No PDF’s at the moment you need to click on each particular service and view the day. I wasn’t going to post links to each particular one.

 

[Jordan Adam]

Does anyone know the current whereabouts of former East Coast Tours SN57 DCE?

East Coast Buses 20994 SN57DCE on Preston Rd, East Linton with the East Coast Tour from North Berwick.

New to Lothian Buses as 994 for the Airlink 100 service. The East Coast Tour centred on East Lothian with connections from Edinburgh Waverley Bridge.

www.flickr.com

 

[Lothian285]

Does anyone know the current whereabouts of former East Coast Tours SN57 DCE?

I believe both the East Coast Tours Scania's are in storage at Marine depot.

 

[scosutsut]

I hope the MCV rumour is only that, it would be frying pan to fire going from Wright's to them I fear.

The ECT Scanias are a funny one, if they are still tucked away you wonder why they weren't wheeled out with the last pair of OT Tridents to bolster the Edinburgh Tours fleet instead of going out and buying ex London Open Toppers like they ended up doing.

 

[Siemens Trains]

I noticed that ever since the 43 terminus changed to Regent Road the destinations now say Edinburgh “Waterloo Place” which got me thinking, why don’t ECB take on this helm and add subtitles to the services 104/124 such as Edinburgh “Haymarket” or Edinburgh “Lothian Road”

Unless you travel the service a lot saying Edinburgh is pretty vague,

Can't say I'm a fan of that change to the 43 destination screen by the way. No part of the 43 route leaves Edinburgh. In my opinion it should just say Waterloo Place (or Regent Road), like the previous version only said St Andrew Sq.
However I take your point about the ECB destinations, especially as the city centre terminus differs from one route to another. They seem to make an exception for the 113.
As a matter of interest, what do the Lothian City routes running from country areas show as destinations when terminating in the city centre? I'm thinking about services like X26, X31 and X33. Willing to be corrected but I think it's unlikely these just say 'Edinburgh'.

 

[scotrail158713]

As a matter of interest, what do the Lothian City routes running from country areas show as destinations when terminating in the city centre? I'm thinking about services like X26, X31 and X33. Willing to be corrected but I think it's unlikely these just say 'Edinburgh'.

I’m not 100% sure, but I want to say that the X26 and X44 (from East Lothian) say “West End”. I’ve not seen one in months though so can’t be certain.

 

[buslad1988]

Can't say I'm a fan of that change to the 43 destination screen by the way. No part of the 43 route leaves Edinburgh. In my opinion it should just say Waterloo Place (or Regent Road), like the previous version only said St Andrew Sq.
However I take your point about the ECB destinations, especially as the city centre terminus differs from one route to another. They seem to make an exception for the 113.
As a matter of interest, what do the Lothian City routes running from country areas show as destinations when terminating in the city centre? I'm thinking about services like X26, X31 and X33. Willing to be corrected but I think it's unlikely these just say 'Edinburgh'.

Express services I’ve seen generally say West End, Haymarket, Semple Street, Waterloo Place, Waverley or St Andrew Square.

I’m sure when ECB launched on the 124’s coming in from North Berwick they simply said Semple Street... but this didn’t last long and soon got changed to Edinburgh.

 

[Lothiangem22]

Noticed some of the early hybrids were back at central with the 12 operated by single decks today. With the weekday increase in services tomorrow I wonder if the 1 and 24 might also see single decks again.
Still don’t think we will see any b7rle’s back though in the city fleet

 

[overthewater]

How long will this current network be in place for? Is Lothian waiting until mid Sept when all offices are supposed to reopen along with Unis reopening? Its strange that most other place had restored a near full network.

 

[Lothiangem22]

How long will this current network be in place for? Is Lothian waiting until mid Sept when all offices are supposed to reopen along with Unis reopening? Its strange that most other place had restored a near full network.

I certainly noticed a big increase in passenger numbers over the last week on some the services I have been driving so hopefully we will see another increase around that time, however, I wouldn’t be surprised if they use this as an opportunity for a cull on any loss makers and maybe some changes to existing services.

 

[overthewater]

I certainly noticed a big increase in passenger numbers over the last week on some the services I have been driving so hopefully we will see another increase around that time, however, I wouldn’t be surprised if they use this as an opportunity for a cull on any loss makers and maybe some changes to existing services.

Where would you expect to see any cuts?

 

[scotrail158713]

I’m sure when ECB launched on the 124’s coming in from North Berwick they simply said Semple Street... but this didn’t last long and soon got changed to Edinburgh.

Yeah they did. I’d forgotten about that actually. Can’t remember if it lasted long enough to have appeared on the X5 as it terminates at the same place.

 

[CN04NRJ]

Noticed some of the early hybrids were back at central with the 12 operated by single decks today. With the weekday increase in services tomorrow I wonder if the 1 and 24 might also see single decks again.
Still don’t think we will see any b7rle’s back though in the city fleet

11-50 are at Longstone with 30 single decks needed/allocated for the 20/30/38/63. Although the 36 was fully single deck yesterday (Sunday) but I can't see singles being on that today as it would only leave 4 spare over the PVR. No B7RLEs of any age at Longstone either.

 

[DunsBus]

Where would you expect to see any cuts?

The X15 was scheduled for an extension to Eastfield in the March service changes, which as we know didn't happen due to Covid-19. The service is yet to be reinstated. Since its change a few years ago from the all-stops 15 to the limited-stop X15, and the chopping of the eastern end (first to Lochend and then to Waterloo Place) buses have been running mostly empty outside of the peaks. Most the places served by the X15 are well-served by other LB services anyway and I can't see the link between Hillend and Bush being much of a loss tbh if the X15 goes.

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

12, 36 and 42 all running with mainly singles today. Interesting to note all the traditional single deck routes that were deemed critical services - 1, 2, 24 etc (obvs minus 20 and 63 due to contract spec, and the 30 and 38 due to bridges) are running with Doubles, the others are not

571-578 are back out with LC and 451-465 are now at Central. 841-850 appear to have started heading to LC permanently with them having AVL’s fitted and some also repainted.

 

[oldman]

The X15 was very busy with students in the morning peak, with 11s being diverted to the Bush to provide capacity. It's future, and the 45, will likely depend on when, how, if the universities return to normality.

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

The X15 was very busy with students in the morning peak, with 11s being diverted to the Bush to provide capacity. It's future, and the 45, will likely depend on when, how, if the universities return to normality.

The Uni’s will likely take a balanced approach where students are only on campus every second day. I believe the colleges have taken this approach as well.

For planning a timetable it’s probably easier just to run a full timetable because not everyone will travel every day, and the capacity is also reduced so the numbers should be safe.

X15, 45 etc will return around 7th September, certainly no later than the 14th. I’d also expect a full timetable by this point as schools will in this mix.

 

[SpeedbirdA350]

Is there a Lothian buses 2020 fleetlists

https://www.ukbuses.co.uk/fleet/lothian.pdf

Omni has updated his one (IMO a far better one than the one linked) however his last update was April, and I think he said he won't be updating it during COVID-19 garage changes due to the number of buses moving between garages.

Noticed some of the early hybrids were back at central with the 12 operated by single decks today. With the weekday increase in services tomorrow I wonder if the 1 and 24 might also see single decks again.
Still don’t think we will see any b7rle’s back though in the city fleet

I always thought that service 1 needed to be deckers, PRE COVID-19, due to the number of new buildings popping up on that route, even more so now during COVID-19.

How long will this current network be in place for? Is Lothian waiting until mid Sept when all offices are supposed to reopen along with Unis reopening? Its strange that most other place had restored a near full network.

I can't see the majority of offices reopening in September when most staff members can still work from home, and this will continue to be the Scottish Governments default view. And with the risk of things closing down again being high, that might also be on their mind when thinking about the reopening of those buildings.

 

[Edirim]

Lothian have a fleet list on their website under the documents section but only for Q1 of 2020 as everything is up in the air at the minute and it's not exactly priority for them.

As well as Omni's fleet list there is also https://lothiangroupenthus.wixsite.com/website although looks to not have been updated since Lockdown - provides a visual database.

 

[TheEastCoaster]

Can't say I'm a fan of that change to the 43 destination screen by the way. No part of the 43 route leaves Edinburgh. In my opinion it should just say Waterloo Place (or Regent Road), like the previous version only said St Andrew Sq.
However I take your point about the ECB destinations, especially as the city centre terminus differs from one route to another. They seem to make an exception for the 113.
As a matter of interest, what do the Lothian City routes running from country areas show as destinations when terminating in the city centre? I'm thinking about services like X26, X31 and X33. Willing to be corrected but I think it's unlikely these just say 'Edinburgh'.

I thought that was strange too about the 43, I suppose it’s more attention to detail but your right it doesn’t leave Edinburgh at all so it seems redundant, even the X15 when it only ran to Regent Road just said Waterloo Place!

I hope that they manage to update that ones day, I know folk can just find out on the bus app itself but not everyone has those privilages!

The X15 was very busy with students in the morning peak, with 11s being diverted to the Bush to provide capacity. It's future, and the 45, will likely depend on when, how, if the universities return to normality.

The 45 also helps certain high schools catchment areas connect with one another like Currie to Firrhill or Merchinson or George Herriots, so I imagine that will be a bigger priority to return over the X15 since Schools plan to reopen this month.

The X15‘s link between Fairmilehead and Bush seems to be the only thing that can’t be replicated during this time, I know folk on Facebook were complaining that they can’t access Morningside directly from Penicuik, however is the 101/102 still running?

 

[OmniCity999]

Lothian have a fleet list on their website under the documents section but only for Q1 of 2020 as everything is up in the air at the minute and it's not exactly priority for them.

As well as Omni's fleet list there is also https://lothiangroupenthus.wixsite.com/website although looks to not have been updated since Lockdown - provides a visual database.

Theres an updated one a few pages back.