Jordan Adam
Established Member
At a guess i'd say the 75 because it offers higher capacity (per hour) and it will have much lower running costs as the PVR is far lower.
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First Greater Glasgow
- Thread starter KGGXXXY
- Start date
At a guess i'd say the 75 because it offers higher capacity (per hour) and it will have much lower running costs as the PVR is far lower.
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R
RailUK Forums
Yeah definitely. Pretty sure the route length for the 75 is around 35/40 mins shorter than the 2 as well so fuel savings there on top of that plus being all decker definitely helps
Jordan Adam
Established Member
Fuel savings argument is debatable, the 2 may be longer however on the 75 you'd have more round trips. Over the course of a day i doubt there's much difference in mileage per bus.
Yeah I think we would definitely need a breakdown of how many full trips there are for each service each day. Can't be too much in it but it's not the deciding factor as capacity already helps the 75 massively
On another subject I managed to get the Strathclyde red painted bus on the 4 earlier. It's good to see the repainted buses into old liveries still around and if anything it would be good to see more of it. Would certainly get more people talking about the appearance of buses compared to the fairly bland livery we have currently. Could be a factor as there's no company with a livery here that stands out at all especially in terms of direct competition for First
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no one on here or any FB groups can confirm what route is the most profitable. only the higher ups know that info only. Anything posted is speculation.
Blantyre 201 branding looks to have stopped again with only a few completed while I was in Motherwell today with only 2 out of 6/7 vehicles that passed having decals applied. Not heard anything regarding it though nor have I been in Blantyre recently to ask.
Blantyre 201 branding looks to have stopped again with only a few completed while I was in Motherwell today with only 2 out of 6/7 vehicles that passed having decals applied. Not heard anything regarding it though nor have I been in Blantyre recently to ask.
JumpinTrainz
Established Member
- Joined
- 30 Jul 2018
- Messages
- 1,658
I think First have to continue working hard to have the full fleet in a uniform livery. I’m torn on the idea of “local” liveries. I think it’s a cool idea but some buses being blue, some being green and some being lilac isn’t very consistent for a huge company like First. I also think Glasgow should have had an orange and black livery or an incorporation of red somewhere dating back to the old Strathclyde colours which were renown in Glasgow. I don’t understand the whole generic lilac colour. Lots of buses have already moved from FSE to Glasgow after being fully repainted into the local livery and will now require being fully repainted again as they had the coloured wedge too. This doesn’t make anything simpler in my opinion and is just as much hassle as fully repainting a bus. They are all different colours anyway so what difference would it really make?
The old Strathclyde colours were great tbh and I agree that there should be something to remember that by hence my idea. It would be a long process to implement due the general timescale it takes to repaint as it is with so many services operating. Was thinking more of a tourism perspective because people over here for a holiday or being new to a country could definitely be swayed by an attractive livery instead of what we've been stuck with.
Even in terms of appearance, I'd say Scotrails trains would be more attractive to a newcomer to Glasgow than First's current look is. The branding is definitely helping a bit more but outside of that it's not great
Busman84
Member
The 2 will be up there but is not the biggest money maker now as it was many years ago. This is mainly due to “The One” being successful as the 2 isn’t as busy between Clydebank and Whiteinch as it was 10 years ago due to more 1s.. Back in the late 90s/early 2000s Parkhead Depot for its size was the most profitable. That’s why you seen many years of new buses on the 40,61,62.. The 54 also got new buses but that was only due to it been interworked with the 61 which was much busier.. Over the years (with management changes) First concentrated on which routes get new buses and not depots.. The 75 would be most profitable now due to the fact its double deckers which are always busy from start to finish. In the evenings the 75s are still busy compared to a lot of other routes..
75 is can be busy through the day , Castlemilk is one of them areas with lower car ownership and no rail station. 5 is like that too. not sure of the section to Milton
Still see purple e300 sitting at Caley
From what I've seen through Ashfield and Milton they're pretty busy. Surprising with Ashfield anyway considering Queen St is only 1 stop from there on the train so it would be so much quicker. Yeah the 5 is fairly busy too. Had family in Croftfoot and friends in Castlemilk for quite a while so I've used that a lot over the years and it's never really changed
The problem with Ashfield its its only every 30 min freq.
5 is usually reliable too , short route and dosent have to travel through town.
The 75 had an enhanced freq in the evening for a long time , every 15 or 20 mins .
5 and 75 have not really had any route changes too , that helps.
It seems to be most of the routes that haven't been touched that are the better and busier ones. 2, 18, 41, 61 and 75 along with the 1s have always been fairly good performers and they've all barely been touched. Obv there was the cut to the 2 between Baillieston and Airdrie but the main core of the route has always been the same. The main newer route I can think of that's been solid is the 77 mainly because of the West end demand and IKEA being paradise for students
18 is another usually busy and frequnt , though have noticed a lot of bunching recently an gaps from stops not far fro starting point.
Yeah they end up really close together both ways tbh. The traffic lights at Rutherglen cross don't help though and obviously the fact it covers from Glassford St all the way up to Holland St
Definitely agree with that. There's too many services with unrealistic timings around and I definitely think it's one of the biggest reasons First have lost customers tbh. Reliability on most services even outside of peak times isn't that good
Something management is supposed to be looking at in the near future, I drive the 240 on my backshift week and the time to get from overtown to Glasgow is stupid, luckily I’ve got 25 min layover in Buchanan but to arrive in BBS on time is hard going.
Yeah I've rarely seen a 240 on time into Glasgow. Sometimes they get to Viewpark on time and it all goes south from there. The 255 from Mount Vernon is the same. Fine for part of the route then downhill very quickly
Busman84
Member
The buses on the 18 can take a some of the blame for Buses Bunching. This is due to buses not being able to move until the doors are completely closed resulting in missing sets of lights ahead etc and eventually taking longer between timing points. This happened with the 5 when it had 65 plate E400s they would run together somebody would run late most of the route until they got back to Osborne St. The 5 runs far better with the Geminis where you’ll find buses run to time no bother unless there’s problems with the traffic.
JumpinTrainz
Established Member
- Joined
- 30 Jul 2018
- Messages
- 1,658
I noticed a YN08 plate B9TL has had the seats retrimed but it’s fabric and it’s been painted into the new livery. Looks really smart I always liked those buses. They are starting to appear more and more on the 21 since being displaced on motorway services. Also more singles appearing on the 6.
The 18 has hardly been "barley touched" over the years if anything it's actually had quite a lot of major changes. In the 90s it used to run from East Kilbride to Springburn. The route through the City Centre then was via George Square, Bath Street, Charing Cross and St. George's Cross it then went up Maryhill Road as far as the top of Queen Margaret Drive where it would turn right and go through Ruchill.
Later on, it was re-routed to go via Kelvin Hall and Byres Road and onwards to Summerston. And when they split the route the City Centre - Summerston section was replaced by the 23. The only part of the route that hasn't really seen much of a change in the City Centre - East Kilbride section.
The 41 also saw quite a major change when it was cut back from operating between Drumchapel and Easterhouse to just operating between the City Centre and Easterhouse.
That's what I was getting at by barely touched. The core busy section of the route is still the exact same as pre simplicity etc and the same goes for the 41. The split for the 41 has majorly helped it if anything
Seen a lot of Streetlites on the 21 even midweek lately now and there's definitely more singles on the 6. I'm glad though because the deckers on the 6 were never in great condition and haven't been for quite a while
The 41 has never been a majorly busy route, I've never seen one busy outside peak times and there's not much to cause it to be unreliable as apart from a wee trundle down Duke Street, all it does is go down Edinburgh Road which is hardly gridlocked.
Aw I've been on a few pretty busy ones this month tbh and seen a couple other busier ones. Seems busier in Easterhouse than the 60/60As normally are although they're far more unreliable than the 41s. Duke St can make most of the buses through there late quite often too. Seen it a lot where I've been on a bus and it's been stuck between Bellgrove st and the train station for a good 10/15 mins
You must just be unlucky as I've been down Duke Street more times than I've had hot dinners and I've never seen it busy to the point where it's taken a bus 10 minute to go between Bellgrove Street and Duke Street Station...