Lothian Group discussion (Lothian City, Lothian Country Bus and East Coast Buses)

[overthewater]

Why do they need a weekly ticket. There is a weekly cap on taptapcap.

Why is the rider card still a thing? Seems like waste of admin if that the case.

Also Midland bluebird is still cheaper.

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

Also Midland bluebird is still cheaper.

Lothian not expanding Ridacard to cover outside zones has always been a massive failing. A network ridacard at something like £100 a month would be ridiculously popular. A nice round number to work with too.

I also noticed McGill’s offering an Edinburgh day return that seemed to be cheaper from Winchburgh than Kirkliston. At least that’s what the bus was advertising.

I’m not sure long term what will happen with this corridor to be honest. McGill’s will lose a fair amount of Kirkliston passengers regardless as it’s in the Ridacard area. Whether they lose them all is another question. Winchburgh is a trickier one. Lothian have the whole town covered while McGill’s only serves the ‘original part’.

I know myself, I would like to see the X19 reach Springfield, Linlithgow and Linlithgow Bridge via the M9 but I question how viable this actually is.

 

[wlbusser]

I don't think Lothian need a weekly ticket, for me it's just cheaper to use the X38 regardless of taptapcap and then if I did want bundled tickets they only do them in 5 or 20 so not a full week or month.

I also noticed McGill’s offering an Edinburgh day return that seemed to be cheaper from Winchburgh than Kirkliston. At least that’s what the bus was advertising.

It's £4.50 from Winchburgh and £3.50 from Kirkliston at least from their website unless they've changed it but not updated the site yet or the bus advert is printed wrong?

 

[TheEastCoaster]

I don't think Lothian need a weekly ticket, for me it's just cheaper to use the X38 regardless of taptapcap and then if I did want bundled tickets they only do them in 5 or 20 so not a full week or month.

It's £4.50 from Winchburgh and £3.50 from Kirkliston at least from their website unless they've changed it but not updated the site yet or the bus advert is printed wrong?

I'm sure I read that it's now £4.50 day return to Kirkliston on the X38, but could of misread that.

Lothian do £22 for a week on tap tap cap, which is 4 1/2 days for unlimited day travel as far as Kirkliston, and it's an extra £12 a week if you live out at that little extra stretch in Winchburgh.

£34 for a week is a £5 dayticket for 7 days, if you travel on the bus everyday that is, and it covers all of Edinburgh and West Lothian on top of it.

Mcgills might have cheaper tickets but Lothian do offer better value for other services which is credit where it's due, not handy for those who only use the one service and back but for those looking to travel further out it's the better option.

They could of offered a discounted deal to draw passangers on when the service launched (a late black Friday deal) but they didn't, only time will tell however if folk will make the move.

 

[overthewater]

It like Dog chasing its tail, I think we should move on....

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

It's £4.50 from Winchburgh and £3.50 from Kirkliston at least from their website unless they've changed it but not updated the site yet or the bus advert is printed wrong?

It was showing it as the other way round. The advert is on the display. Suspect it was an error. Haven’t seen an X38 today to confirm.

 

[CN04NRJ]

506, 508 and 1126 all made appearances on the 100 today. 1128-40 starting to really show their age/usage now.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Hopefully 2025 does bring new vehicles. For the sake of simplicity, I would hope that they simply just order another lot of diesel buses and get them in traffic quickly

 

[Resuwen]

I think it's very unlikely Lothian will be buying any more diesel vehicles

 

[Blindtraveler]

Where there isn't an electric yet that can handle the demands of airlink and if they're going to have buses running out of juice too early in the day, then they're going to either need to have a much larger fleet or some other solution. And I can't imagine more vehicles that aren't necessarily earning money because they're being charged is the answer

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

Where there isn't an electric yet that can handle the demands of airlink and if they're going to have buses running out of juice too early in the day, then they're going to either need to have a much larger fleet or some other solution. And I can't imagine more vehicles that aren't necessarily earning money because they're being charged is the answer

There’s also the issue of standard BZL’s being too small. I really don’t know what they’re going to do with Airlink, but doing nothing is now not an option.

 

[stevenedin]

There is only really the option of second hand diesel at the moment which I doubt will be cheap if you get than 19 plate so they are probably better to just stick with what they have until manufacturers release a better electric product.

 

[37114]

There’s also the issue of standard BZL’s being too small. I really don’t know what they’re going to do with Airlink, but doing nothing is now not an option.

ADL do an E500EV for the far east which for a large enough order I imagine they would adapt for UK use but of course it is not a Volvo which seems to be an issue for Lothian.

 

[AndrewTaylor95]

ADL do an E500EV for the far east which for a large enough order I imagine they would adapt for UK use but of course it is not a Volvo which seems to be an issue for Lothian.

They won't order anything other than Volvo so it's off the table to suggest anything else we'll be going round in circles with these suggestions until anything materialises it'll be the XLBs for now.

 

[stevenedin]

707 is on the 33 today

 

[Jordan1296]

707 is on the 33 today

As is 709.

 

[FP transport v]

In my opinion if Lothian absolutely need new buses for Airlink in the next year or so they'd be best buying more B8L's. The E500EV would be great for what the company are going for but the technology is just not there yet for EV's to run the 100 full time with the buses for it only getting a couple of hours off service before going straight back out, it just wouldn't work with what is available currently. But if they were to get more B8L's then they are still euro 6 and same or similar capacity to the current stock and could easily be sold off for a pretty penny in the future if viable EV's become available.

 

[AndrewTaylor95]

In my opinion if Lothian absolutely need new buses for Airlink in the next year or so they'd be best buying more B8L's. The E500EV would be great for what the company are going for but the technology is just not there yet for EV's to run the 100 full time with the buses for it only getting a couple of hours off service before going straight back out, it just wouldn't work with what is available currently. But if they were to get more B8L's then they are still euro 6 and same or similar capacity to the current stock and could easily be sold off for a pretty penny in the future if viable EV's become available.

Only option they'd probably go with is the Evoseti tri-axle B8Ls

 

[Blindtraveler]

This could well be the answer


It's either that or standard size double deck with a higher frequency. Or perhaps they are happy to let bright bus take some of the custom
They could of course always reduce the capacity of the service and rip out some stops, I see no need for a dedicated airport bus to stop as much as airlink does

 

[Vectron383]

This could well be the answer


It's either that or standard size double deck with a higher frequency. Or perhaps they are happy to let bright bus take some of the custom
They could of course always reduce the capacity of the service and rip out some stops, I see no need for a dedicated airport bus to stop as much as airlink does

Completely agree, I take the 100 very frequently and often see people using at as a faster way to get around town. Making all stops pick up only towards the airport would definitely decrease the number of people onboard

 

[stevenedin]

Completely agree, I take the 100 very frequently and often see people using at as a faster way to get around town. Making all stops pick up only towards the airport would definitely decrease the number of people onboard

There is also the need X19 as well as the X18, X38 and 900 for quick trips to the city centre

 

[TheEastCoaster]

There is also the need X19 as well as the X18, X38 and 900 for quick trips to the city centre

I can understand for 100 more, but to give the X18/X19 credit they do provide handy links, as I imagine folk in West Lothian would use these services to access areas like Corstorphine and Edinburgh Zoo also.

 

[Bus9120UK]

The 100 is the main one to use due to its frequency. However if an X18 or X19 turned up first, that would be used instead.

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

Completely agree, I take the 100 very frequently and often see people using at as a faster way to get around town. Making all stops pick up only towards the airport would definitely decrease the number of people onboard

I think the issue is the 100 couldn’t do that all day. At certain points of the day (specifically overnight) it’s the only real option. So unless you introduced an N31 to East Craigs, it won’t work. The likelihood of the ‘N100’ returning for such a scenario isn’t practical either.

I think Lothian have to be very careful what they do.

 

[Lothianbus703]

I think the issue is the 100 couldn’t do that all day. At certain points of the day (specifically overnight) it’s the only real option. So unless you introduced an N31 to East Craigs, it won’t work. The likelihood of the ‘N100’ returning for such a scenario isn’t practical either.

I think Lothian have to be very careful what they do.

No need for a N100 as the 100 already runs all night.

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

No need for a N100 as the 100 already runs all night.

I think you’ve failed to understand my point. I am well aware the 100 runs 24/7.

The issue is that the 100 overnight is the only Lothian bus to serve the busy stop at Maybury. By making it pick up only against the city, then Maybury has no overnight bus to town.

My point was that they won’t bring back the N100 to run as a unique service to cover Maybury overnight. The other stops between Drum Brae and the city are mostly too busy to cope with just the N26 as well. That’s why I was referring to the N100.

 

[CN04NRJ]

I think you’ve failed to understand my point. I am well aware the 100 runs 24/7.

The issue is that the 100 overnight is the only Lothian bus to serve the busy stop at Maybury. By making it pick up only against the city, then Maybury has no overnight bus to town.

My point was that they won’t bring back the N100 to run as a unique service to cover Maybury overnight. The other stops between Drum Brae and the city are mostly too busy to cope with just the N26 as well. That’s why I was referring to the N100.

Could make it pickup/setdown only except for Maybury, which as you said is a busy stop.

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

Could make it pickup/setdown only except for Maybury, which as you said is a busy stop.

During the day I think this would probably work. I just think at night the corridor as a whole is left short. The N26 is hourly weekdays and half hourly at weekends which I don’t believe would be enough.

 

[Siemens Trains]

Unless my eyes are seeing things, there is no reference to the X19 running on the column for 26th Dec but there is an hourly timetable from 0800-1800 on P6 of the booklet. Perhaps an admin error.

I picked up a printed booklet for Lothian Country festive services the other day and its summary table lists the X19 running on 26 December. So probably a mistake on page 2 of the original website file.

However as with the website file, the printed booklets state Day Ticket fares for City and CityWest zones are £5.50, including TapTapCap. Pretty sure these are the old fares. Recently I've been charged £4.80 max, or £5 for a paper ticket.

Child fares seem wrong in the booklet too. Maybe a bit late to issue a correction now.

 

[stevenedin]

I picked up a printed booklet for Lothian Country festive services the other day and its summary table lists the X19 running on 26 December. So probably a mistake on page 2 of the original website file.

However as with the website file, the printed booklets state Day Ticket fares for City and CityWest zones are £5.50, including TapTapCap. Pretty sure these are the old fares. Recently I've been charged £4.80 max, or £5 for a paper ticket.

Child fares seem wrong in the booklet too. Maybe a bit late to issue a correction now.

I noticed a lot of errors as well. The 43 good be under the ‘West Edinburgh Services’ section and the 72 should be in the ‘to and from Edinburgh’ section as it goes to Kirkliston.