Edinburgh Tour Operators: Bright Bus, Lothian (Majestic, Three Bridges) etc.

[Jordan Adam]

It's not broken down it's pushing the tow truck

Don't be DAFt!...

 

[Driver362]

Bright Bus doing pretty well this far. ...Next !!

Nice cheap Irish plates hiding the age off the vehicle. Nice to see they've coppied our lead in wasting money on vanity projects eh? Pot and kettle

 

[Driver362]

But the 2 markets they cant really control are Tours and Airport ...tourists and Airport passengers have no loyalty and no real connections to Lothian ,they will take what is there and probably cheaper the better.

Like the 600 from West Lothian?

 

[Driver362]

Is he ever.....!!!

You're absolutely right. If they're making £400 a day per vehicle, they are depriving Lothian of £640. Tourists will be drawn in by the bright colours, and won't worry about the age of the vehicles. I doubt the attractions of the tram will have much impact on that.

They have cheap Irish plates hiding the age so they really won't be any the wiser on age of bus. Tut tut what a cheap trick

 

[Jordan Adam]

Nice cheap Irish plates hiding the age off the vehicle. Nice to see they've coppied our lead in wasting money on vanity projects eh? Pot and kettle

They have cheap Irish plates hiding the age so they really won't be any the wiser on age of bus. Tut tut what a cheap trick

The plates came with the vehicles. Nothing on first's part there, otherwise the President's would have them too!

 

[buslad1988]

The plates came with the vehicles. Nothing on first's part there, otherwise the President's would have them too!

Exactly. Thank you. These plates came with the vehicles.

And there really is some nonsense going on in this chat... no offence but some people are struggling to understand basic business sense/maths and how the tourist market works!

It’s not all about the newest buses and local reputation - that goes out the window with tourists.

What I have heard (and seen) however is that it appears Lothian have seconded a number of drivers from their garages to the tours - I’ve seen drivers in LCB uniforms on tours this week. And the shared Waverley stand seems to permanently have a queue of Edinburgh Tours vehicles stacked to get onto it (maybe trying to not give First a look in?).

Also Princes Street shelters, a number of phone boxes and Haymarket station are now adorned with City Sightseeing adverts.

 

[overthewater]

Lothian Staff are now all over the city including Royal Mile, Grassmarket to say get on our tours, but First are clicked on. If we didnt know better Lothian isn't happy or trying to overpower First. Only one bus per tour is really allowed on waverley bridge at each time

 

[Observer]

The plates came with the vehicles. Nothing on first's part there, otherwise the President's would have them too!

The MXZ plates are certainly new!

 

[Jordan Adam]

The MXZ plates are certainly new!

Silly me, hadn't noticed the DAF's had been re-registered. Clearly keeping the original's on the Trident/President's was a dig at Lothian, a bit petty perhaps but Lothian have done worse regarding registration plates recently.

All that being said the original dig made by Driver362 (a employee at LCB) is instantly invalid given that Lothian have not long done the same with their Ex-London Gemini's among other vehicles.

 

[Observer]

The Tridents are getting new plates too. One of them at least is on a MXZ plate.

 

[GusB]

In the name of the wee man - can we please stop this petty First/Lothian sniping? It's happening across three separate threads now, and it is becoming *very* boring.

 

[CM]

Silly me, hadn't noticed the DAF's had been re-registered. Clearly keeping the original's on the Trident/President's was a dig at Lothian, a bit petty perhaps but Lothian have done worse regarding registration plates recently.

All that being said the original dig made by Driver362 (a employee at LCB) is instantly invalid given that Lothian have not long done the same with their Ex-London Gemini's among other vehicles.

I really do doubt that keeping the regs on the Trident/Presidents is a deliberate dig at Lothian, jesus wept.

 

[Jordan Adam]

I really do doubt that keeping the regs on the Trident/Presidents is a deliberate dig at Lothian, jesus wept.

Well given they've retained the private plates on the ALX400's, put new MXZ plates on the DAF's and yet retained the original plates on the Lothian vehicles it does come across as exactly that.

The Tridents are getting new plates too. One of them at least is on a MXZ plate.

Albeit if this is the case then maybe not...

 

[CM]

Well given they've retained the private plates on the ALX400's, put new MXZ plates on the DAF's and yet retained the original plates on the Lothian vehicles it does come across as exactly that.

That means absolutley sod all, the buses were bought with those plates and just because First haven't changed them does not automatically mean they are having a dig. Changing the registration of a vehicle takes time and it could easily be a case of First haven't got round to it yet.

It's about time people stopped reading into things to much....

 

[Jordan Adam]

That means absolutley sod all, the buses were bought with those plates and just because First haven't changed them does not automatically mean they are having a dig. Changing the registration of a vehicle takes time and it could easily be a case of First haven't got round to it yet.

It's about time people stopped reading into things to much....

The point i was making was that First retaining the plates rather than putting age hiding Irish ones on was perhaps a dig. However another member has stated one of the Ex-Lothian vehicles has a MXZ plate now so that it perhaps not the case.

No need to get in to an enraged tangent about it!

 

[In Focus]

Apologies for the poor picture but this one is definitely broken down.

Buses break down ,its a fact of life and hardly groundbreaking news

 

[In Focus]

Nice cheap Irish plates hiding the age off the vehicle. Nice to see they've coppied our lead in wasting money on vanity projects eh? Pot and kettle

Yup and unlike some , tourists wont even notice .

 

[In Focus]

Lothian Staff are now all over the city including Royal Mile, Grassmarket to say get on our tours, but First are clicked on. If we didnt know better Lothian isn't happy or trying to overpower First. Only one bus per tour is really allowed on waverley bridge at each time

Seems they dont like a bit of competition, more aggressive tactics to try and force the issue, others just need to do similar and fight fire with fire .

 

[lastbus]

They have cheap Irish plates hiding the age so they really won't be any the wiser on age of bus. Tut tut what a cheap trick

Highly doubt a tourist is going to care about the age of a bus.

 

[Fryschocream]

Always had staff all over the city centre. Of course if you're well resourced and not bringing in agency and students and giving them a t shirt and throwing them on the streets without a clue you'd have a successful tour operation.

 

[In Focus]

Always had staff all over the city centre. Of course if you're well resourced and not bringing in agency and students and giving them a t shirt and throwing them on the streets without a clue you'd have a successful tour operation.

More waste of taxpayers hard earned cash having folk wandering the city ?
Don't see many other companies throwing money about ,only possible if its other peoples I guess .

 

[Fryschocream]

Funny....LB returned nearly £7 million to the shareholders last year. Don't see a penny coming the other way. Oh....before you start about concessions.. this is revenue that all operators have to take part in by law and receive a below cost return on per pax. Next?

 

[oldman]

More waste of taxpayers hard earned cash having folk wandering the city ?
Don't see many other companies throwing money about ,only possible if its other peoples I guess .

Oh dear. Go to any major tourist city and you'll find touts flogging tour tickets.

 

[Gingerbus1991]

Buses break down ,its a fact of life and hardly groundbreaking news

Yes, but I as of yet don't recall any 2016 B5TL tour bus breaking down, recently..

 

[90019]

What I have heard (and seen) however is that it appears Lothian have seconded a number of drivers from their garages to the tours - I’ve seen drivers in LCB uniforms on tours this week.

That happens every year - its easier to have a few drivers transfer across for the summer period than to recruit a load of new people for only a few months work.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Think the febrile atmosphere on this thread has got to a few people with overly partisan twaddle on both sides. Let's be grown up and honest about this...

• The idea that bus companies are doing anything underhand in putting dateless plates on vehicles is ridiculous. Both First and Lothian have done it and, as stated, many of the BBT arrived with said plates
• The idea that any fleet has a monopoly on breakdowns is clearly rubbish. The BBT fleet is clearly older and that may prevent more challenges but you're going to have maintenance issues even with newer fleet
• Lothian will obviously respond to the attack on their tours business and having on street sellers (aka touts) is perfectly understandable
• That Lothian will use staff from across their operations to support their tours operations is again entirely logical

I don't know if the comments on this thread are worthy of a moderator intervention but we're seeing some very skewed views and interpretations on what are widely accepted industry practices.

 

[Robertj21a]

I'm guessing that some of the posts on here recently are from quite young people who don't really understand much about bus operations.

 

[winston270twm]

I'm guessing that some of the posts on here recently are from quite young people who don't really understand much about bus operations.

Or business & competition.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I'm guessing that some of the posts on here recently are from quite young people who don't really understand much about bus operations.

Or business & competition.

I don't know if youth is a factor or whether it's a lack of knowledge and experience of bus operations (and the wider commercial business world) or whether the tribal aspect of these battles is skewing people's views. Whatever it is, some of the comments are so biased as to be risible (not in a Michael Palin voice).

 

[SpeedbirdA350]

I don't know if youth is a factor or whether it's a lack of knowledge and experience of bus operations (and the wider commercial business world) or whether the tribal aspect of these battles is skewing people's views. Whatever it is, some of the comments are so biased as to be risible (not in a Michael Palin voice).

Apple v Microsoft, iPhone v Android, Asda v Tesco, First v Lothian. Fanboys will always be there no matter what. Personally, I can't understand why anyone would be a fanboy of one over the other when as a consumer, it means we have choice which in my opinion, is a better thing to have in life than just one option.

Poor Stagecoach must be feeling left out lol.

Think the febrile atmosphere on this thread has got to a few people with overly partisan twaddle on both sides. Let's be grown up and honest about this...

• The idea that bus companies are doing anything underhand in putting dateless plates on vehicles is ridiculous. Both First and Lothian have done it and, as stated, many of the BBT arrived with said plates
• The idea that any fleet has a monopoly on breakdowns is clearly rubbish. The BBT fleet is clearly older and that may prevent more challenges but you're going to have maintenance issues even with newer fleet
• Lothian will obviously respond to the attack on their tours business and having on street sellers (aka touts) is perfectly understandable
• That Lothian will use staff from across their operations to support their tours operations is again entirely logical

I don't know if the comments on this thread are worthy of a moderator intervention but we're seeing some very skewed views and interpretations on what are widely accepted industry practices.

I questioned why Lothian put NI plates on the ex london fleet, but I knew it was not about age given Lothian have some 04 plates running still (B7RLEs) but it was said this was done due to them being refurbished so why not, however I questioned it out of curiocity. I honestly can't see First doing the same with the BBTs. Yes, some are 20 years old but they won't be the oldest buses in service in the First company so if they were going to hide the age of the BBT, why are they not doing it with older other in service ones? As for Lothian using staff from LCB/ECB to do tours - it makes sense as they don't need to go through the hire and fire process, they don't need to do more checks, etc... Oh and as for breakdowns, Lothian have had some newer buses (within a couple years old) break down, so age is not a factor, nor is maintanance levels. If something is going to break, it will break no matter if it is 1 day old or 50 years old.