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First Greater Glasgow

ScotRail158725

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Hi to the regulars on this thread. I posted a few months ago that I was planning a visit to the area and I will be travelling up to Scotland for a visit next week. I have planned to have two days in Glasgow and want to see as many of the new deliveries in the last 12 months or so as I can.

I have got an idea of some of the routes they are on by following this thread, but not much idea of best places to go as I do not know the city that well.
Last time I visited Glasgow I spent most of my time in the city centre however I understand that some of the new buses are on routes which don't always serve this part.

So can I appeal to the posters who know Glasgow well for some help with this. Finally is Caley depot visible from outside. Looking at google maps is of some help however it dosen't look that promising.

Thanks in advance.
Caley depot isnt bet for views. Cathcart road is your best and probobly only option
 
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RailUK Forums

92002

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Hi to the regulars on this thread. I posted a few months ago that I was planning a visit to the area and I will be travelling up to Scotland for a visit next week. I have planned to have two days in Glasgow and want to see as many of the new deliveries in the last 12 months or so as I can.

I have got an idea of some of the routes they are on by following this thread, but not much idea of best places to go as I do not know the city that well.
Last time I visited Glasgow I spent most of my time in the city centre however I understand that some of the new buses are on routes which don't always serve this part.

So can I appeal to the posters who know Glasgow well for some help with this. Finally is Caley depot visible from outside. Looking at google maps is of some help however it dosen't look that promising.

Thanks in advance.

There's not one place where all the new deliveries converge.
If you settled in the city centre on Union Street, at the side of Central station you would get the 18, 38 and 75. As well as some of the Lanarkshire services on the 200 range. However this week has added the 77 to the latest deliveries and these start ftpm Buchanan Bus Ststion, then round the one way system to head West. Probably as good a place as any for these is the bridge which goes a cross the top of Queen Street Station. The added plan to that is where the 38 crosses before heading to Union Street.

The out of city service that you probably are thinking of is the 34/A. Probably the best place for these would be to head to Shawkands Cross on a 38 and the 34 crosses in the opposite direction there.

You may need to head out of town for some of the Lanarkshire services. Probably somewhere like Motherwell at the Cross is as good a place for these as any.

Bit of a tall order for a two day trip though.
The other place would be any that are out of service between the peaks, like Caledonia Depot, which you could take a 75 from the city. Not the best place to see things it can be quite busy even during the day.
 

83G/84D

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92002, your help is appreciated. I am actually in Scotland for over a week but have other places to visit. I might try to find some extra time to spend in Glasgow. Thanks again
 
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92002

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92002, your helps appreciated. I am actually in Scotland for over a week but have other places to visit. I might try to find some extra time to spend in Glasgow. Thanks again

The other unknown probably is the unbranded single and double decks which have came too. There's no real plan for them, although the single decks quite often turn up on the 2, but have seen use on things like the 57. These use Union Street, but they could turn up on anything. Hence the unbrabding. The double decks are just as variable. Have seen usr on the 57, 60 and 61. All of which use Union Street. However can turn up on anything at times.
 

Volvodart

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The other unknown probably is the unbranded single and double decks which have came too. There's no real plan for them.

The unbranded new buses are spare buses so you do not have a lot of wrong coloured buses on other routes. The single deckers are on the 2 until they lose the colours. I presume the repainted unbranded buses are just spares too, unless there is a plan to brand and refurbish buses for other routes in time.
 
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SarahDFIG

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9 Jan 2019
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381
the other B10BLE that left Blantyre is 61597 to replace Dumbarton's 62177 which is now awaiting it's fate.

33120 VOR - possibly withdrawn

Edit: Back on road. it lives on for now
 
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JumpinTrainz

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Good to hear first have went hi spec with the airport buses again.

The only annoying thing with them being high spec is that when they are displaced on the 500, Glasgow never seems to be able to keep them and they go down south.
 

route101

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92002, your help is appreciated. I am actually in Scotland for over a week but have other places to visit. I might try to find some extra time to spend in Glasgow. Thanks again

The bridge over the M74 on Cathcart Road has a good view over caley . On sunday you will see biglines of e400MMCS not in service .
You will see plenty of e400MMCs e200s , once you seen one youve seen them all!!
 

route101

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The unbranded new buses are spare buses so you do not have a lot of wrong coloured buses on other routes. The single deckers are on the 2 until they lose the colours. I presume the repainted unbranded buses are just spares too, unless there is a plan to brand and refurbish buses for other routes in time.

Quite often unbranded one on 75 , surely theres enough 75 branded for the 75.
 

route101

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The other unknown probably is the unbranded single and double decks which have came too. There's no real plan for them, although the single decks quite often turn up on the 2, but have seen use on things like the 57. These use Union Street, but they could turn up on anything. Hence the unbrabding. The double decks are just as variable. Have seen usr on the 57, 60 and 61. All of which use Union Street. However can turn up on anything at times.

Pink E200s on the 2 , wonder if they are for a route at all ?

The normal 65 plate E200MMCs are usually on ex PARKHEAD routes .
 

route101

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New E400MMC on the 77 today. They look incredibly smart from the outside. The luggage racks are a nice bonus on board and they suit being slightly longer than the other E400s.

They could be doing with a longer E400 on the 1 service during peaks as the B9TLs are always at top capacity!

Seen one on the 77 too , not sure how many new ones were on the route .Never noticed the length nor the rack
 

route101

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There’s 100% no way First will ever order artics again. They tried them before and they always ended up getting punted to London or Aberdeen. Glasgow streets are not built for bendys sadly. Unless they had more bus friendly areas in the city centre (ie less twists and turns and more go through areas) it would never work. Also they do not use the rear entrances to avoid fare dodgers so that doesn’t work either like it does in places like London so waste of time you need to walk down the long aisle to get off the bus which can be difficult during peak times!

Yeah , that was the problem if you sat at tthe back and it was busy , was hard to get off . I have that problem on the singles , like on the 2 other day , better waiting for 61.
 

route101

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The issue i have is with people (particularly bus enthusiasts) who function perfectly fine going around the country to the middle of nowhere on random buses. I agree that the odd day out here and there is fine, but there's a different between the odd day out and abusing the system to tick off random buses and visit every corner of the country.

Gets them out and about than staying in . Though i do wonder if concession pass holders book out citylink services , hardly get cheap tickets on them now
 

JumpinTrainz

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Yeah , that was the problem if you sat at tthe back and it was busy , was hard to get off . I have that problem on the singles , like on the 2 other day , better waiting for 61.

I used to think the 2 worked well with singles because of its high frequency but I think having some E400s on the route would definately help. Sometimes it’s just too busy regardless of whether they come often or not.
 

route101

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I would have always thought the 6 was profitable considering it received new East Lanc Nordics which were pretty big buses. Once they had gone off lease new low height E400s were ordered for the route. Not to mention newer (then) Scania’s operated this route. Perhaps over the years the route has quietened down it’s not unheard of. Look at the 4 even this route has got quieter over the years when it used to be such a huge route (at one point Streamline like the 62).

There must be a reason for singles appearing on the 6 though or management wouldn’t be allowing them to appear on other routes. Perhaps they’re starting to see a change with some routes having deckers and actually needing deckers. The 60 is the same it tends to have a mixture of deckers and singles nowadays. Routes like the 3 and 9 which in recent years went single deck operated are now starting to see E400s and Gemini’s appear on them. Hopefully they do the same with the 2 as it seems to get really busy at peak times - don’t think complete single operation always works for a route that busy.

6 is still busy , id say its one of the most important routes , links the Southside with East Kilbride , Southside to GWR . 6 is busier than the 4 off peak for sure . Rare for a 4 to be singles . Though its every 12 minutes i think , its been at a better frequency up to every 5 mins to see off caley buses in 07 , also find it bit unreliable with big gaps . You want a sightseeing tour of Glasgow take the 6.

The low heights were for the 66 , kinda a waste of its low height capability if on other routes.

Bendy used to do a Busby short , not sure if it was allowed up EK bus station.
 

route101

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I used to think the 2 worked well with singles because of its high frequency but I think having some E400s on the route would definately help. Sometimes it’s just too busy regardless of whether they come often or not.

If the 2 was every 5 minutes and had no gaps then singles work . But in reality that does not happen , another problem is the 3 , 240 and 255 which run alongside it are singles mostly . Took a 2 last week from PARTICK to Parkhead E300, busy busy and hard to get off .
 

JumpinTrainz

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Pink E200s on the 2 , wonder if they are for a route at all ?

The normal 65 plate E200MMCs are usually on ex PARKHEAD routes .

The 65 plate E200MMCs were ordered for the 2 to replace the 62 plate E300s which went from Parkhead to FSE. Still confused as to why random pink fronted E200s are appearing on the 2. They are nice buses but seems a bit odd. They should rebrand them for the 34/34A as I’ve noticed a few B7RLEs on that route as of recent. Are they still short for this route?

It would be nice if the 2 got new E200s and E400s then they could cascade the 65 plate E200s and E300s on to other routes on the network and get rid of more Euro 3 buses.
 

Scott mac

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The 65 plate E200MMCs were ordered for the 2 to replace the 62 plate E300s which went from Parkhead to FSE. Still confused as to why random pink fronted E200s are appearing on the 2. They are nice buses but seems a bit odd. They should rebrand them for the 34/34A as I’ve noticed a few B7RLEs on that route as of recent. Are they still short for this route?

It would be nice if the 2 got new E200s and E400s then they could cascade the 65 plate E200s and E300s on to other routes on the network and get rid of more Euro 3 buses.
The 34/34a has a pvr off 16 Monday to Friday and 12 on a Saturday and 4 on a Sunday so yes they are short
 

laststop@96

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Is WX06OMV now at dumbarton because am sure i seen it on the 1c would not like being on that on expressway.
 

awsnews

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Is WX06OMV now at dumbarton because am sure i seen it on the 1c would not like being on that on expressway.
Scotstoun have one or two workings on the 1C in the both the morning and evening, in addition there is at least one 1D from Moutblow to the city in the morning and a 1 which runs from Clydebank to the city in the morning. Not sure if there are any comparable 1 or 1Ds out of the city in the afternoon.
 

38A-Z

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6 is still busy , id say its one of the most important routes , links the Southside with East Kilbride , Southside to GWR . 6 is busier than the 4 off peak for sure . Rare for a 4 to be singles . Though its every 12 minutes i think , its been at a better frequency up to every 5 mins to see off caley buses in 07 , also find it bit unreliable with big gaps . You want a sightseeing tour of Glasgow take the 6.

The low heights were for the 66 , kinda a waste of its low height capability if on other routes.

Bendy used to do a Busby short , not sure if it was allowed up EK bus station.

The 66 used to be every 10 mins, mostly Scanias and some tri-axle Nordics (there were only 10 of the Nordics I think).
If I remember correctly, when the low height E400s arrived, they changed the 66 from every 10 to 12 minutes as it was to be all decker.
When Simplicity started, and renumbered the 6, it went back to every 10 minutes. (I think it was to give a 5 minute service with the 5 and 6 between Battlefield and St Enoch).
I suppose they don’t feel at 10 minute service that it needs to be all decker.
When I see the 6 it is mostly decker but do see some singles on it. It probably works for most of the day until the single deckers hit at peak times!
As they were brought in for the 12 min service, not sure if they could have run that at 10 mins but they have cut the Clydebank to Mountblow part, I’d guess they could run most of it if not all as decker.
They put some single deckers on the 38s at times, including peaks which wasn’t good. Now the 38 is all decker.
When First brought in the E300s, the focus was on single decks, they made that clear that it was the plan, lower cost buses/ fuel costs etc but is good to see that they realise Glasgow need deckers.
 

Volvodart

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When First brought in the E300s, the focus was on single decks, they made that clear that it was the plan, lower cost buses/ fuel costs etc but is good to see that they realise Glasgow need deckers.

They probably had no choice, because at that time First Bus did not want to buy a lot of double deckers. It is just in subsequent years that a lot more double deckers have been bought nationally.
 

SarahDFIG

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9 Jan 2019
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Been told this morning the following B7Ls are now off fleet.
61306,61587,61590,61591

a few more are due very soon.

I have also been told this might not be the end of the new vehicles for this year. Guessing it's got something to do with the financial year ending.

In regards to the electric vehicles I have no info as yet.
 

JumpinTrainz

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I honestly don’t get why First always favoured single decks over a decker with such a big city like Glasgow. A route like the 2 (previously the 62) has had singles on it since First took over. Hopefully like some other routes they’ll realise that deckers are still needed.

As for the next order I think they may need some more E200MMCs to fully wipe out the remaining B7Ls and B10BLEs.
 

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