First Greater Glasgow

[Jordan Adam]

The 747 did run out to the airport and was every 30 minutes.

For the avoidance of doubt attached in the spoiler is the old 747/757 route map and the 747 timetable.

Spoiler: First Glasgow 747 Route Map + Timetable

 

[lastbus]

Well confused as ive not seen any Overtown bus in Glasgow City centre on 240 unless its oVERTOWN drivers or its the sunday service

Blantyre and Overtown share the 240 and the majority of city journeys are operated by Overtown. The 240 short workings Motherwell to burnhead are all operated by Blantyre. Also you won’t see an Overtown bus in the city on a Sunday as the depot is closed.

 

[adrock1976]

Was it half hourly ? Used to run to Partick bus station only .

I can remember it running Airport - Botanic Gardens a long time ago.

 

[SarahDFIG]

A few more withdrawals. These vehicles have been removed from fleet but not mentioned for scrap just yet.

President's (not many left )
33012, 33025, 33114, 33122

ALXs
33363, 33364, 33386

 

[JumpinTrainz]

While they’re starting to withdraw some of the 53 plate buses, what are there plans for the LK03 tridents on the X8. I know there aren’t many but just a thought. Glad the 51 and 02 plate presidents are going they’ve had their day now.

 

[SarahDFIG]

While they’re starting to withdraw some of the 53 plate buses, what are there plans for the LK03 tridents on the X8. I know there aren’t many but just a thought. Glad the 51 and 02 plate presidents are going they’ve had their day now.

all tridents will leave Glasgow Fleet this year. Not got any info what will replace them on this service sorry

 

[Whiteway215]

A few went to Livingston during the week. Not sure of the fleet numbers that went but possibly was these ones. 2 ALXs also went 33343/46 which I reported previously as being on the scrapped line. Not sure if they are going on duty with Livingston or being stored there before scrapped.

President 33025 next to be withdrawn.

Overtown seem to have got a few Caetano Darts on fleet now which have been spotted on the 266.

77 deckers due to arrive very soon, possibly by the end of the week. Airport deckers will follow soon after. No info on branding etc.

SarahDFIG Has 33025 been officially withdrawn now? Thank you.

 

[SarahDFIG]

SarahDFIG Has 33025 been officially withdrawn now? Thank you.

yes forgot to post that. have edited my post

 

[Whiteway215]

yes forgot to post that.

Many thanks

 

[90sWereBetter]

While they’re starting to withdraw some of the 53 plate buses, what are there plans for the LK03 tridents on the X8. I know there aren’t many but just a thought. Glad the 51 and 02 plate presidents are going they’ve had their day now.

If I could be a pedant for a second, the LK03 Presidents on the X8 are actually B7TLs. All six of them were painted last year and they're only a few months older than the oldest Geminis, I assume they'll be around for a while longer.

Hopefully there'll still be a few of the 53-plate ALX400s around when I visit Glasgow in May.

 

[SarahDFIG]

If I could be a pedant for a second, the LK03 Presidents on the X8 are actually B7TLs. All six of them were painted last year and they're only a few months older than the oldest Geminis, I assume they'll be around for a while longer.

Hopefully there'll still be a few of the 53-plate ALX400s around when I visit Glasgow in May.

they are B7TLs but president bodied. They will be leaving the Glasgow fleet this year.

 

[Gingerbus1991]

they are B7TLs but president bodied. They will be leaving the Glasgow fleet this year.

For some other poor relative to get them I suspect?

 

[SarahDFIG]

For some other poor relative to get them I suspect?

Possibly or even scrapped. too early to say yet

 

[GaryMcEwan]

For some other poor relative to get them I suspect?

Wouldn't be surprised if they go to East Scotland where the rest of them are.

 

[JumpinTrainz]

For some other poor relative to get them I suspect?

The B7TL presidents are actually rather nice buses. I’d say they were my favourite out of the ex-London stock. They’re very quiet on the top deck and pretty comfy. The tinted windows are a bonus too. There’s a lot worse on the fleet and some of the B7TL Gemini’s make an awful racket especially in the downstairs saloon.

 

[route101]

While they’re starting to withdraw some of the 53 plate buses, what are there plans for the LK03 tridents on the X8. I know there aren’t many but just a thought. Glad the 51 and 02 plate presidents are going they’ve had their day now.

One on the 5 today , caley route

 

[route101]

ALX 400S appear to have replaced some tridents on 31 .

 

[route101]

I can remember it running Airport - Botanic Gardens a long time ago.

Totally forgot about that .

 

[route101]

The B7TL presidents are actually rather nice buses. I’d say they were my favourite out of the ex-London stock. They’re very quiet on the top deck and pretty comfy. The tinted windows are a bonus too. There’s a lot worse on the fleet and some of the B7TL Gemini’s make an awful racket especially in the downstairs saloon.

Feel more solid and have comfier seats . The alx 400s feel the same too but very square . Seen one broke down , whicg is worrying if going on infrequent route like 31

 

[route101]

The 747 did run out to the airport and was every 30 minutes.

Was it not every 20 mins too airport at one point ?

 

[JumpinTrainz]

Feel more solid and have comfier seats . The alx 400s feel the same too but very square . Seen one broke down , whicg is worrying if going on infrequent route like 31

The ALX400s are alright buses but they’re a lot nosier and they’ve been hammered on the 60/60A so they looked tired inside. Despite returbishment you can tell they’re older buses. They break down quite a lot too. The 60 needs refurbished buses or better still new ones. Peak time buses need deckers as it’s a busy route but throughout the day singles would be good too.

 

[Gingerbus1991]

The B7TL presidents are actually rather nice buses. I’d say they were my favourite out of the ex-London stock. They’re very quiet on the top deck and pretty comfy. The tinted windows are a bonus too. There’s a lot worse on the fleet and some of the B7TL Gemini’s make an awful racket especially in the downstairs saloon.

They may ride better them being far heavier built and older as alot of many older buses do, but at the end of the day, there still 16 years old, Falkirk should have there tridents replaced with ex-glasgow 2006/07 Geminis, Glasgows Wright B7's may not be much newer but with a reasonable refurb could at least appear to be far newer than the trident.

Understanding that refurbishments can completely remake an old bus look great, of course being that there mainly used by Falkirk for capacity on school contract that will absolutely never happen.

 

[route101]

The ALX400s are alright buses but they’re a lot nosier and they’ve been hammered on the 60/60A so they looked tired inside. Despite returbishment you can tell they’re older buses. They break down quite a lot too. The 60 needs refurbished buses or better still new ones. Peak time buses need deckers as it’s a busy route but throughout the day singles would be good too.

60 ,too many singles on it . Hopefully not unrealible buses coming to 31 . The alx400s feel a lot heavier than the tridents . The B7TLs feel heavy to compared to B9TLS

 

[sannox]

The 77 has been a real success story. Obviously the hospital is a big part of it, but it gets very busy at city end too. The bus station - West End link didn’t really exist before (the old 747 wasn’t frequent enough). With Glasgow Uni starting to move into the old Western Infirmary site from next year, Dumbarton Rd services are going to get busier, so extra capacity is good.

Worth pointing out Arriva ran a similar route the 27 - Bishopton-Glasgow but it never did well!

The 77 shows the issues with fragmentation of the bus network really because I always feel it should do better in Renfrew bit like McGill's should do better on the Glasgow section of 17. If people were able to grab any bus....

 

[JumpinTrainz]

60 ,too many singles on it . Hopefully not unrealible buses coming to 31 . The alx400s feel a lot heavier than the tridents . The B7TLs feel heavy to compared to B9TLS

Sometimes I think it’s confused what routes actually need deckers and which route enthusiasts want to have deckers. The 60 has been run for the past few months with predominantly singles and as a user of the route has actually coped pretty well considering. The old 40 used to be run with singles then went to decker operation so the numbers must reflect for First to revert back. I would say deckers would be needed for peak runs however. The route can get extremely busy during peaks.

 

[Gingerbus1991]

Singles may work well for most routes, particularly off peak, but the reassurance the space a decker has.

The 77 route going DD operated is one thing I didn't think was nessasary, a better benefit would've been to increase the frequency to every 8 minutes.

I am very much under the impression that especially with the LEZ approaching capacity should certainly have particular attention payed to it, there will be some kind of passenger increase I would thi k even if it is only slight.

I would still like to see a flat fare in Glasgow, it would make things simpler, straight forward and possibly better value for occasional bus users.

Other changes/improvements to FiG services would be the return of Return Tickets on the outer extremities of there services from the likes of Balloch, Lanarkshire, Kilsyth, Lennoxtown and Kirkintilloch.

All of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen could use singles Off-peak, but of course again the reassurances of DD shouldnt be ignored.

 

[gnolife]

The fare in Glasgow is as close t flat fare as I feel it can possibly get - 1.65 to travel Maryhill Fire Stn to Renfrew Street (as an example of roughly how fare it takes you), or 2.40 all the way from Milngavie or Clydebank to Easterhouse - bargain!

 

[tbtc]

The 77 shows the issues with fragmentation of the bus network really because I always feel it should do better in Renfrew bit like McGill's should do better on the Glasgow section of 17. If people were able to grab any bus....

It feels a bit like a "placeholder" route... a bit like First are saying "we are running a half hourly service from Partick etc to Braehead and the Airport that just happens to run through Renfrew on the way, but if McGills were ever to step on our toes in Glasgow then we could easily be running a ten minute frequency from Renfrew into Glasgow without needing to increase our PVR by much".

Just a cynical thought but it looks good strategically to have something you could very easily extend into the ex-Clydeside territory.

Also interesting to compare the 77 (brand new double deckers) with the City - Partick - Hospital service run by McGills (17) cut by a quarter (from every fifteen to every twenty)... I know that the two services aren't quite the same (one obviously goes to the Airport, the other to Paisley), but it shows where First now seem to have an upper hand.

 

[Jordan Adam]

I would still like to see a flat fare in Glasgow, it would make things simpler, straight forward and possibly better value for occasional bus users.

All of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen could use singles Off-peak, but of course again the reassurances of DD shouldnt be ignored.

Glasgow is far too big for a flat fare, even in Aberdeen it wouldn't work.

With Aberdeen most routes don't require deckers, and when they do it tends to be only a certain singular run. That said we are seeing a very slow shift, If you go back 15 years ago Aberdeen didn't really have any high capacity routes, the 1/2 were converted to Artic operation in 2005 (now predominantly Enviro500s), the 19 got converted to high capacity with the Geminis in late 2013 and with the new Hydrogen Streetdecks due later this year it's looking like another route will be getting high capacity buses (My bets being on the 12).

 

[GaryMcEwan]

Glasgow is far too big for a flat fare, even in Aberdeen it wouldn't work.

With Aberdeen most routes don't require deckers, and when they do it tends to be only a certain singular run. That said we are seeing a very slow shift, If you go back 15 years ago Aberdeen didn't really have any high capacity routes, the 1/2 were converted to Artic operation in 2005 (now predominantly Enviro500s), the 19 got converted to high capacity with the Geminis in late 2013 and with the new Hydrogen Streetdecks due later this year it's looking like another route will be getting high capacity buses (My bets being on the 12).

I wouldn't say that it's too big at all. If it was a £2.00 flat fare within Glasgow City and certain surrounding areas, ie East Kilbride, Paisley, it woud certainly make me use the bus more often.