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Lothian Buses and ECB Discussion

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GusB

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They've also sorted the 281 now. Earlier the Livingston - Deans leg of the timetable was missing.

Although on the place names in the 281 timetable there's still issues with the names being automatically cut which could be confusing to people from outside the area. For example "St. John's Hospital" shows as "St. John's Hospi". Likewise with "Deans Primary Sc", "Royston Roundabo", "Bathgate Fire St", "Bathgate Town Ce" and "Bathgate Morriso". Yet bizarrely "J4 M8 Distribution Park" shows in full despite being a longer name than those other locations.
None of those place names are confusing for anyone who has an ounce of common sense.
 

Jordan Adam

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None of those place names are confusing for anyone who has an ounce of common sense.

"Bathgate Fire Street" what's that? :lol:

The issue with the timetables is they're 90% of the time taking the stop names off traveline and then shortening them. For The Centre in Livingston the timetables state "Livingston" and then the stance number (For example: "Livingston B"), while it may be clear to us that it's referring to stance B at The Centre it may not be the case for the average punter or someone less familiar with the area. Likewise on the 275 there's "Health Centre", what health centre is it referring to? Yes to us who know the network it's clear that it's referring to Bathgate Health Centre, but again how is someone not familiar with the area meant to know that, there could be another health centre near by... First are very guilty of this too, compare that to Stagecoach where the place names are typically far more logical as their online timetables are manually inputted rather than automated.
 

Swanny200

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"Bathgate Fire Street" what's that? :lol:

The issue with the timetables is they're 90% of the time taking the stop names off traveline and then shortening them. For The Centre in Livingston the timetables state "Livingston" and then the stance number (For example: "Livingston B"), while it may be clear to us that it's referring to stance B at The Centre it may not be the case for the average punter or someone less familiar with the area. Likewise on the 275 there's "Health Centre", what health centre is it referring to? Yes to us who know the network it's clear that it's referring to Bathgate Health Centre, but again how is someone not familiar with the area meant to know that, there could be another health centre near by... First are very guilty of this too, compare that to Stagecoach where the place names are typically far more logical as their online timetables are manually inputted rather than automated.


Exactly that, there are at least 3 in Livi that you would just call a health centre, granted Howden Health Centre is at St Johns Hospital, but you also have Craigshill Health Centre and Carmondean Health Centre when you look at the 275 online it shows Livingston to Edinburgh on the timetable with no mention of Bathgate so one would assume that the bus is going there, considering First used to and may possibly still run with Livingston Centre on their screens, it makes sense for it to be clearer, especially to the average punter or traveller.
 

TheEastCoaster

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Exactly that, there are at least 3 in Livi that you would just call a health centre, granted Howden Health Centre is at St Johns Hospital, but you also have Craigshill Health Centre and Carmondean Health Centre when you look at the 275 online it shows Livingston to Edinburgh on the timetable with no mention of Bathgate so one would assume that the bus is going there, considering First used to and may possibly still run with Livingston Centre on their screens, it makes sense for it to be clearer, especially to the average punter or traveller.

If I’m not mistaken don’t Lothian Country Buses have Livingston Bus Terminal on their stop announcements? I’m sure I’ve heard it on the X27/X28!

but besides that I can agree it’s all very vague and could do with some updating, with some additional info (Lothian)
 

Swanny200

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To be honest, a place as big as Livingston, the bus station (if you want to call it that) is a shambles, the old bus station, granted was an absolute dive although there are plenty of people with fond memories of it, but it isn't a "bus station", for one I'm surprised that someone hasn't been run over especially with how busy it can be going from the centre to the outlet at times. I always wondered if one of the outdoor car parks could have been put to use in a Buchanan Street sort of affair or somewhere like Union Square or Bath Bus Station.
 

Ricky Kane

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See this old one has finally appeared at marine last night is it the X584 training bus photo credit to Stuart rillie
 

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OmniCity999

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See this old one has finally appeared at marine last night is it the X584 training bus
it was to be used as public relations vehicle or on service at the same time as the open top tridents, but it fell through when hall left.

That image also isnt your property.
Where in Marine was this taken from? Doesn't look like the Marine I remember to be honest.
From Seafield Road East, down the hill.
 

Ricky Kane

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it was to be used as public relations vehicle or on service at the same time as the open top tridents, but it fell through when hall left.

That image also isnt your property.

From Seafield Road East, down the hill.
My apologies I forgot to credit Stuart for the photo I have now edited it he has now been credited
 

CN04NRJ

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Are they planning an event or just going to push them out?

I'd imagine there will be a photo shoot and social media campaign/media coverage.

Excellent PR opportunity launching a new fleet during these times.
 
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Lothiangem22

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I'd imagine there will be a photo shoot and social media campaign/media coverage.

Excellent PR opportunity launching a new fleet during these times.

Sadly, I think there is only still 1 or 2 in Edinburgh with the rest being reported at Volvo Ely several weeks ago.
Looking forward to Lothian releasing more information of where they will be based and when they will enter service
 

ScotRail158725

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I take it x584 will more than likely be sold off
the only use at lothian i could see for it is spares for 572 (IF 572 is staying) but even then 584 looks like its been in a scrapyard for about 5 years so i doubt that would be happening

Talking of non standard is the UVG Dart still kicking about?
if that’s that v reg publicity one then yes i seen it from the train at Newbridge depot last week
 

OmniCity999

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the only use at lothian i could see for it is spares for 572 (IF 572 is staying) but even then 584 looks like its been in a scrapyard for about 5 years so i doubt that would be happening


if that’s that v reg publicity one then yes i seen it from the train at Newbridge depot last week

584 had recently just been painted, thats its first coat. It needs a good wash and a second coat of colour and a couple coats of white.
 
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On the 37 timetable showing services out of order, my experience of looking at different services over the past few weeks is that there is actually the same logic being used across all the timetables - it's just stupid logic to use! Basically all timetables list the services in order of the departure time at the service's first stop, regardless of how far down the route that first stop is. This is in contrast to all timetabling convention I've seen anywhere else (bus and train), which is to ensure that all services are in the correct order at each stop/station listed.
 

nesw

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The website timetable generator has been incorrectly formatted since it started a few years back and some simple changes to the coding would fix the issues. The could easily add some code to generate a pdf. Indeed, it's easy enough to generate pdf files from the scheduling software that they use. It's also not user friendly to have to enter a date to see a timetable and there's a good chance that some people will not change the date. Luckily, full timetables are on Traveline Scotland.

When I talked to planning officer at Lothian a while back , he was of the opinion that most people use journey planners and Google maps with '80% of customers having smart phones.'. Timetables are seen as having a lower priority with customers nudged towards using the app or Google maps.
 
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When I talked to planning officer at Lothian a while back , he was of the opinion that most people use journey planners and Google maps with '80% of customers having smart phones.'. Timetables are seen as having a lower priority with customers nudged towards using the app or Google maps.
If most people use Google Maps then they should hurry up and get the route colours back to what they should be!! :lol:
They were fine before the COVID timetable, but withdrawing some of the routes (or part-routes) must have reset the colours as some of those routes have gone back to the default colours (eg at least the 2, 4 and 44 are using the default).
 

GusB

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