Local bus provision there however isn't great which could lead to lengthy connection times at which point you'd be as well going via Dundee City Centre anyway. Perhaps Ninewells would be better since it offers connections to most of the city with a bus to the city centre every few minutes?
Would that matter much though? The Walnut Grove stop for Perth on the current route doesn't have a great deal of local services nearby.
To be fair from everything here , personal experience and chatting I don't think there is much on the way of good managers in the bus industry in Scotland or at least the west coast
It wasn't really a serious suggestion more offering an unlikely solution for the Dundee dilemma.
It does given the service mostly appeals to non-car users. Integration is key for public transport to work and Ninewells is still near the A90 while providing direct connections to most of the city. The Walnut Grove stop for Perth makes no sense either, it's in the middle of nowhere and has no facilities (not even a bus shelter) with an at best hourly service to Perth.
The A94 isn't any faster. The thing with Dundee is sometimes you'll get through it no bother but other times more often than not the Kingsway and Forfar Road are like a car park. It's not unheard of to take an hour just to get past Dundee alone. The sooner a bypass is built similar to Aberdeen's AWPR the better.
Well if they haven't already started planning for one then, if the glacial progress of the AWPR is anything to go by, Ember will be on their fourth or fifth generation of their fleet!
Why dont Ember go into Broxden?
Probably because of its location; it would take an extra 10-15 minutes to serve Broxden on the Dundee-Edinburgh route
Yes - you are indeed correct. I was thinking in terms of easy and quick accessibility from the Kingsway so as not to slow down services as well as there being plenty of parking.
Pre booking is preferred and gives cheaper fares but walk ups available - unless a request stop and needs booking but can be up to 10 mins before
Interesting! How have they managed to wangle that? Presumably Edinburgh Trams aren't doing this purely out of the goodness of their hearts, someone somewhere has sweetened the deal?
I wonder how this will affect the direct, non-stop service that xplore run from Dundee though? Previously Ember was cheaper - but only went to Ingliston. That advantage for xplore is gone now.
It's £6.50 for a tram from Edinburgh City Centre to the airport yet just a pound more to take the Ember service and tram from Dundee City Centre!Going by the announcement they seem to be emphasising the all-electric journey
All electric travel to Edinburgh Airport
Edinburgh Trams is joining forces with a local bus operator to drive ‘green’ travel between Dundee and Scotland’s largest airport.edinburghtrams.com
I wonder how this will affect the direct, non-stop service that xplore run from Dundee though? Previously Ember was cheaper - but only went to Ingliston. That advantage for xplore is gone now.
Overall it seems a good move for Ember.
It's £4.40 from Kinross P&R, including a service 12 minutes after when I was searching.
| PM2025892/3 New | EMBER CORE LTD | E3 | Malmaison, Dundee | Buchanan Bus Station, Glasgow |
Electric coach firm Ember to expand Scottish network with Glasgow-Dundee service followed by Fort William
The UK's first inter-city electric coach firm is to launch a new Glasgow-Dundee route in August with plans to extend its network to the Highlands and carry more bikes, The Scotsman has learned.
© Ember launched its first route between Edinburgh and Dundee in October 2020
Ember’s expansion follows the operator launching its debut service between Edinburgh and Dundee in 2020 and stepping up its frequency in February from eight to 14 services a day in each direction.
It is also developing vehicle charging capacity in Fort William ahead of a planned service to and from Edinburgh and/or Glasgow, while Oban is also being considered.
Ember’s current fleet of four coaches can accommodate two bikes each free of charge, but it is investigating whether four new coaches acquired for the Glasgow-Dundee route will have space for up to six cycles each.
Co-founder Keith Bradbury said: “We're working on launching a new route between Glasgow and Dundee in early August.
"That will serve smaller towns and villages along the way too.
"Beyond that, we're working on launching more routes across Scotland and want to run a full zero emission network.
"Launching zero emission inter-city services requires capable charging infrastructure and this is something we're working on building in several Scottish cities.
"Once these hubs are live we'll be launching many more services.”
Mr Bradbury said Fort William was also in development, and while there was “no active progress” with Oban, it was also being looked at.
He said Ember’s wider aim was to transform attitudes to coach travel in addition to highlighting its environmental credentials.
He said: “Zero emission is not enough to change the perception and ridership of public transport.
"Doing that takes a deeper layer of technology to provide passengers with a seamless experience, from booking, to travelling, to cancellations and refunds."
Mr Bradbury said the Scottish Government’s target of reducing car kilometres by 20 per cent by 2030 “would only be possible if public transport measures are improved and if the passenger experience of public transport is elevated to something better than the car.
"That's fundamentally what we're working on by combining our technology with zero emission inter-city bus routes.
"An early example of this is our integration with Edinburgh Trams so that our tickets can be accepted onboard their network to allow seamless connections to and from the airport.
"It's a simple concept but it has driven a shift in our customer base towards multi-modal travel as a reliable norm.”
Mr Bradbury said Ember would look for further such link-ups with other zero emission “final mile” providers – Edinburgh’s trams are also electric – on other routes across Scotland.
The developments come as many of Scotland’s bus operators are expanding their electric vehicle fleets, with the world's first hydrogen-powered double deckers, which are also zero emission, being trialled in Aberdeen.
It would appear so. The whole article is an interesting read but the quote below shows that numbers seem to be doing well.
www.route-one.net
