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

[winston270twm]

Life will go on whoever clears their desk .

Not necessarily as First Group if Coast Capital get their way......

 

[In Focus]

Not necessarily as First Group if Coast Capital get their way......

Not something new in business what CC are doing ,agitating for change *think this discussion is more suited to another thread on First group though *

 

[winston270twm]

Not something new in business what CC are doing ,agitating for change *think this discussion is more suited to another thread on First group though *

I'm aware. They want change are they are tired of nothing happening.

 

[Robertj21a]

Not something new in business what CC are doing ,agitating for change *think this discussion is more suited to another thread on First group though *

Yes, there's already a separate First Group Improvement etc thread in existence.

 

[In Focus]

I'm aware. They want change are they are tired of nothing happening.

Yup as I said agitating ,not the first wont be the last ,whether they get their wish we shall have to wait and see .

 

[In Focus]

Yes, there's already a separate First Group Improvement etc thread in existence.

Yes there certainly is .

 

[James Pond]

EDINBURGH’S bus wars are set to become a battle over ticket prices as private operator First Bus charges £10 a head for its new open-top tours, undercutting Lothian Buses by £6.

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman....enger-offers-cheaper-open-top-tours-1-4936302

 

[overthewater]

Lothian will go to £8 and First will head for £5, and it will still make money and it will cut of the money tree to Lothian....

 

[Robertj21a]

Lothian will go to £8 and First will head for £5, and it will still make money and it will cut of the money tree to Lothian....

Dream on....

 

[In Focus]

Dream on....

You upset ?
Plenty money for everyone on the tourist market ,same as Airport, plenty for everyone !!,West Lothian on the other hand not much excess cash floating around hence the empty buses ( both comapnies) .

 

[overthewater]

You upset ?
Plenty money for everyone on the tourist market ,same as Airport, plenty for everyone !!,West Lothian on the other hand not much excess cash floating around hence the empty buses ( both comapnies) .

Your on the Ball on this, to everyone else First is trying to cut off the head to the Lothian beast. If it was going waste time it would have stared bus routes which would have been a flop

 

[Robertj21a]

You upset ?
Plenty money for everyone on the tourist market ,same as Airport, plenty for everyone !!,West Lothian on the other hand not much excess cash floating around hence the empty buses ( both comapnies) .

Why on earth should I be upset ?. What a strange comment.
I was merely commenting on the view as to how it might now all proceed. I think you'll find it won't be as suggested.

 

[smtglasgow]

The obvious thing for Lothian to do would be to introduce their own low-cost tour. Use some of the many buses freed up by the recent deliveries, give them a different branding to distinguish them from their ‘premium’ offering and price it as low as they can. But as others have said, the Edinburgh market is huge. Plenty of business for everyone, and I reckon First have picked a smart price-point for their tours. Don’t think Lothian will take the competition well – I think they’ve got used to having it all to themselves – so they’ll definitely respond.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The obvious thing for Lothian to do would be to introduce their own low-cost tour. Use some of the many buses freed up by the recent deliveries, give them a different branding to distinguish them from their ‘premium’ offering and price it as low as they can. But as others have said, the Edinburgh market is huge. Plenty of business for everyone, and I reckon First have picked a smart price-point for their tours. Don’t think Lothian will take the competition well – I think they’ve got used to having it all to themselves – so they’ll definitely respond.

The question is that if they then introduce another value offering, would they simply abstract more traffic from their own premium offering?

 

[overthewater]

The question is that if they then introduce another value offering, would they simply abstract more traffic from their own premium offering?

At the End of the day, if that happens, Lothian will have double workforce out and still only get half the money coming in, which will only cover the double expensives.

 

[smtglasgow]

True, but worth doing for a season if it gets rid of the competition?

 

[In Focus]

Why on earth should I be upset ?. What a strange comment.
I was merely commenting on the view as to how it might now all proceed. I think you'll find it won't be as suggested.

I think you will find not a lot of what's written on here wont happen as suggested
"Dream on " whose actually dreaming the posters point was fair enough in price reductions ,no dreaming just stating how it may transpire .

 

[In Focus]

The obvious thing for Lothian to do would be to introduce their own low-cost tour. Use some of the many buses freed up by the recent deliveries, give them a different branding to distinguish them from their ‘premium’ offering and price it as low as they can. But as others have said, the Edinburgh market is huge. Plenty of business for everyone, and I reckon First have picked a smart price-point for their tours. Don’t think Lothian will take the competition well – I think they’ve got used to having it all to themselves – so they’ll definitely respond.

But the like to move aggressively into other areas thinking they are "big boys " a small local authority run company with delusions of grandeur mostly at the tax payers expense, you wonder just how they will react !

 

[In Focus]

True, but worth doing for a season if it gets rid of the competition?

Jist wait until First decide to take on the Airlink that should be done good banter then if a tour is causing them to be upset

 

[winston270twm]

True, but worth doing for a season if it gets rid of the competition?

But it's adding additional operating costs, may be just worth reducing the fares on the existing tours / offering promotional fares / packages.

LCB could consider slashing it's fares in West Lothian to starve First of revenue there & introduce discounted weekly / monthly tickets to generate loyalty.

No doubt it will eventually get silly....

 

[Robertj21a]

Perhaps the news due from First Group tomorrow will give us all a clue as to how much funding they will have available for any similar innovations in the future.

 

[KendalKing]

But as others have said, the Edinburgh market is huge. Plenty of business for everyone,

One just need to look at how many tour operators, there are in London! Edinburgh is no different.

 

[SpeedbirdA350]

While Lothian could take the buses down in price, and beat First, then have first do same and lothian; what is stopping Lothian from using its network for an advantage. For every tour ticket at £10, £11, £12, you get a free daysaver ticket too. So, people would have a choice of £10 on first, or similar with Lothian, and a free day ticket. Puts the ball back in the corner of First. Could they go sub £6?. It would not really cost Lothian much more to do this in the grand scheme of things, but it's something First could not do.

 

[carlberry]

While Lothian could take the buses down in price, and beat First, then have first do same and lothian; what is stopping Lothian from using its network for an advantage. For every tour ticket at £10, £11, £12, you get a free daysaver ticket too. So, people would have a choice of £10 on first, or similar with Lothian, and a free day ticket. Puts the ball back in the corner of First. Could they go sub £6?. It would not really cost Lothian much more to do this in the grand scheme of things, but it's something First could not do.

If people wanted to spend all day on local buses they'd get a daysaver in the first place (if they had the correct change!).

 

[Yorks185]

While Lothian could take the buses down in price, and beat First, then have first do same and lothian; what is stopping Lothian from using its network for an advantage. For every tour ticket at £10, £11, £12, you get a free daysaver ticket too. So, people would have a choice of £10 on first, or similar with Lothian, and a free day ticket. Puts the ball back in the corner of First. Could they go sub £6?. It would not really cost Lothian much more to do this in the grand scheme of things, but it's something First could not do.

That would be a smart idea by Lothian,but First could always do a add on/discount ticket for tourists using their Transpennine Trains into Edinburgh,possibly doing it online/Mobile only so they would get the revenue before Lothian even had a chance to get them onboard.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

While Lothian could take the buses down in price, and beat First, then have first do same and lothian; what is stopping Lothian from using its network for an advantage. For every tour ticket at £10, £11, £12, you get a free daysaver ticket too. So, people would have a choice of £10 on first, or similar with Lothian, and a free day ticket. Puts the ball back in the corner of First. Could they go sub £6?. It would not really cost Lothian much more to do this in the grand scheme of things, but it's something First could not do.

Hmmm... how many tourists are going to want a daysaver? At the end of the day, the end result is that if they drop to £10, they are going to lose a lot of revenue.

Fag packet maths: If they’re turning over £5m on that main tour, and they drop to £10 a head, they’ll be losing >£1.5m in revenue. That is certainly what First will be hoping for.

 

[Gingerbus1991]

One way to perhaps battle against this is through the Airlink service where I suspect many visitors travel from into the city.

If people pay say £30 at the airport for an all inclusive LRT tour ticket say for a week or 2, a tourist ticket if you will, then surely advertising that for a whole weeks travel on all buses including the airlink and tours for your return after your visit, it would hurt finances perhaps but stall many jumping to this new FSE service.

Lothian certainly have the eco-system around edinburgh to put in a good defence.

 

[winston270twm]

One just need to look at how many tour operators, there are in London! Edinburgh is no different.

The London tourist market is far bigger than Edinburgh & has lots more attractions. The two cities don't compare.

 

[overthewater]

One way to perhaps battle against this is through the Airlink service where I suspect many visitors travel from into the city.

If people pay say £30 at the airport for an all inclusive LRT tour ticket say for a week or 2, a tourist ticket if you will, then surely advertising that for a whole weeks travel on all buses including the airlink and tours for your return after your visit, it would hurt finances perhaps but stall many jumping to this new FSE service.

Lothian certainly have the eco-system around edinburgh to put in a good defence.

A weeks travel on tour buses and return on Airlink?

£16 x 5 = £80 Two weeks is £160
£7.50 Open Return

First would love this idea!, no tourist give two monkey about Eco System there just traveled on a plane..

 

[Gingerbus1991]

A weeks travel on tour buses and return on Airlink?

£16 x 5 = £80 Two weeks is £160
£7.50 Open Return

First would love this idea!, no tourist give two monkey about Eco System there just traveled on a plane..

I'm talking about hypothetical prices here!

But lothian has the ticket booth at Edinburgh Airport to its advantage.