So, just for clarification, is the bus 701 or 701e and does it even really matter?
I don’t think it matters. I’m probably just gonna refer to them without the suffix, & I think that it likely won’t last more than a few months.
Presumably 291-4 and 997 will have e added to their fleet number stickers for consistency
I think it’ll be the other way round (would be odd if they did).
What happens to 351 to 400 once all new buses in service ?
Nothing.
As for it being a marketing gimmick, I doubt any regular passengers ever notice the fleet number of a bus when boarding or alighting, let alone potential passengers.
I’m an enthusiast & I seldom bother to read the fleet number, so I doubt your average joe will either.
291-294 are a microfleet that stick out like a sore thumb in relation to the rest of the fleet thanks to their green colour scheme, and 997 is still technically only a demonstrator I believe? Now that electric buses are going to take up a significant proportion of the fleet, it makes sense to me to officially differentiate them from the regular diesel buses.
It might seem like an odd idea, but I wouldn’t be shocked if Lothian ordered a further 6 BYDs (295-300). Whether they’d have SPEN branding or normal Lothian branding, who knows.
I think that the more interesting question is what happens to those vehicles that are cascaded to other depots, particularly Musselburgh and Livingston. What improvements will we see on ECB and LC services?
I’d be surprised if they did get sent elsewhere.
Just took a trip to try out the new buses and ended up on 997 (again) but it felt different inside than when it was a demonstrator, this might just be my memory but has the interior of 997 been changed to be in line with the rest of the BZL‘s?
You might just be misremembering.
The displaced fleet should in theory be used to increase frequencies within the city fleet. I can’t see ECB gaining any extra buses as Musselburgh as far as I know is at capacity, but LC might gain a small number to increase frequencies or add new routes. Plenty of space to do it, more driver resource dependent than anything.
I think that a couple MMCs (601-610?) could theoretically get sent to Livingston for increases on the X27/8 & 72.
I’ve been thinking that once 701-750 arrive. Maybe some of 670-698 will move to Lothian Country as I’ve heard rumours that these batch may move west or east.
I think they’d go to the earlier half of the fleet.
Are the timetable changes with the 23, 24 and 27 going to take place with the spares that would be on the 8/9?
Considering some of the Central MMCs have moved to Marine (so far 672-680), I guess not.
I can see 926-928, 1000 & 1002-1003 moving to Lothian Country but no repaint (like what happened before the big cuts a while back). If anything, 1000, 1002 & 1003 will get repainted, either that or some other buses move. I have heard that some of Volvo B5TL E400MMCs are to move but it could just be a rumour.
I can see 926-928 moving, but I think 1000-1003 would move to Marine instead.
I've been told all the 400s are earmarked to be transferred out of Central as electrification progresses.
It’d be interesting to see if this happens (I doubt it will though).
Realistically, there will be around 4-8 electrics for Sunday at most. Fleet movements to other depots will be slow to start until the rest of the batch arrive.
Turned out to be 10.
I haven’t seen the full allocations for next week in entirety, though the 8/9 will definitely be “electrified” first.
Correct.
Odd to see that 670 has stayed at Central, unless it will be moved tonight.
I imagine it’ll arrive at Longstone or Marine in the next week.
I just saw 709 and 710. 710 was on the 8
To be fair that livery does go well on them. It’s esentially the same livery as pre Harlequin just with a few different bits of gold trim
When I saw the first few photos, I imagined that they’d look abysmal, but I honestly think they look great (bar the front, bit too much madder & it looks bad on the right hand side under the driver’s window.
670 and 671 still in Central, most of 672-678 out on Marine routes today, assuming these will be to cover the 15/45 extension and the extra peak work despite it only being a PVR increase of 4 or 5
Sounds plausible.
Several of 426-437 still haven’t moved so I think they’ll get round to them later.
I think they’ll use the Ex-Go Ahead G2s on the 22 temporarily, then move the remaining 15-plates over gradually over the next week or so.
Interestingly, the 19 is all 2017 Zoo-branded B5TL/Gemini 3s (normally 2014 B5TL/G3s), the 22 is all 2015 B5LH hybrids, and the 26 has a relatively large number of 2021 B5/E400s.
I was surprised by the 19. Less so the 22 though, only 4(?) 15-plates have moved so they’ll likely be refuelling.
Went on 707e today. Pleasant ride, massive fan of the new bus stop system! It does seems to get the routes in a messed up order (Interchange with: 29, 3, 31, 37, 47, 49, 7). I think it’s because it puts it in order of the first digit, not the number as a whole.
I think you’re on your own about the stop systems. The powerpoint looks like it was designed by an 8 year old, & it bombards you with more information than necessary. Worth noting that they are the same as 10’s trial announcements. I have heard that some drivers are just turning the announcements off altogether due to it being a nightmare (with which I agree), so I doubt they’ll last long before getting the “official” Lothian ones.
one effect of the new announcements is that there's hardly any pause in announcements, the monent it's finished there's only a number of seconds until the next announcement.
My point exactly.
I don’t understand the move away from Lato as well.
I wasn’t actually paying attention to that. Might try go on another after school tomorrow to analyse further.
Bring back the old announcements.
Yes.
The new BZLs are horrible!
From what I’ve heard, that seems to be the general consensus.
There’s always room for improvement but at least they aren’t as bad as the milk duds (StreetAirs).
I haven’t much experience with those unfortunately so I can’t say much.
Remember this is their first day in service so there is bound to be issues.
Fair.
I find it hard to believe that 708 was taken off then brought back out later on.
710 was too, 703 broke down at King’s Buildings so they sent 710 back out to replace it.
I believe a few bus spotter took photos of it happening as well.
I may or may not have been one of those bus spotters (photo linked below).
Overall, I’m mixed on the BZLs. I went on 5 of them (705>709>710>997>710), so I thinjI have compiled a pros/cons list for my thoughts on them.
- Pro: I think having both USB-A & USB-C instead of just one or two USB-A ports is a good idea, since quite a few tech companies are replacing their Type-A cables with Type-C, but I’m still probably gonna stick to using Type-A instead.
- Pro: The redesign at the back is a nice move. The small luggage racks are a neat little addition, along with the extra arm room.
- Pro: The red strips of light next to the main downstairs lights (which was one of the things I didn’t like about 997) has been removed.
- Pro: The seats are extremely comfy, & that’s coming from someone who doesn’t really like Lazzerini Highbacks.
- Con: They have the stretched blinds that the 15-plate hybrids (& 391/497) now have.
- Con: Why on earth are the handlebars light gray?
- Con: I don’t think I need to mention the next stop announcements/powerpoints.
- Con: The Everyone’s Journey display next to the door always has Everyone’s Journey in both italics & another font altogether for some inexplicable reason.
If I were to rate them out of 10, I’d give them a 7/10, but I completely understand why people would dislike them. I also got some photos of the interior of a few of them (along with my aforementioned shot of 708/9), which I shall link below.
