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First Greater Glasgow

CentralSMT

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Thanks for the thoughts folks. Perhaps car usage is higher in Glasgow/Manchester than Edinburgh. Edinburgh is a nightmare to drive around as the road system is very small with two way overcrowded streets. Still not sure how Lothian manage to operate a dozen hourly service routes, some heading out into the sticks and it is a proper service, as in, operates in both directions, not just clearing punters out of the city centre. Was just genuinely taken aback that bar Glasgow airport to city, nothing was in play. Thing is...why would anyone drop self drive BEFORE an adequate transport system is in play?
 
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ScotRail158725

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Perhaps car usage is higher in Glasgow/Manchester than Edinburgh.
aswell as Glasgow and Manchester have proper suburban rail network unlike edinburgh which public transport wise gibes a lot more to the bus than train where glasgow and manchester have more using the train however i guess at night that may not be the case
 

JumpinTrainz

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Would seem more sensible to give the early start and late finish 2s to Blantyre rather than Caledonia.

Particularly when the 2 ran to Airdrie, I never understood why certain workings weren’t done from Blantyre. Perhaps space?
 

lastbus

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Particularly when the 2 ran to Airdrie, I never understood why certain workings weren’t done from Blantyre. Perhaps space?
It’s a First Glasgow (NO1) route. Blantyre operating any of the 2 would open up a can of worms.

Would seem more sensible to give the early start and late finish 2s to Blantyre rather than Caledonia.
It’s not sensible if you factor in where the driver is meant to get his break or where reliefs would take place.
 

CentralSMT

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Do First Glasgow share routes between depots? Had a stint with Western Scottish on the 04 Ayr to Glasgow shared between Ayr & Kilmarnock depots. Mealbreaks are often the biggest issue when wanting to utilise more geographically relevant depots to reduce dead mileage.
 

route101

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Thanks for the info. Was looking for some midweek transport down Dumbarton Road. Think I have been spoiled over the years by Lothian... a dozen night routes every day of the week and not just within the city limits. Glasgow used to have EK-Mountblow a few years back...are there really no punters out and about at night...nae students? Are they all in Edinburgh?? May I say someone wants to get a grip of transport in this country...it deteriorates at a rate of knots. Cheers for the info though.

There used to be fora short while an hourly service through the week . Remember catching a 66 . Love to see later services not just ended at 12 midnight .
 

route101

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Do First Glasgow share routes between depots? Had a stint with Western Scottish on the 04 Ayr to Glasgow shared between Ayr & Kilmarnock depots. Mealbreaks are often the biggest issue when wanting to utilise more geographically relevant depots to reduce dead mileage.

Didnt realise Ayr done the 4 too. Theres quite a few shared routes. 6 is shared between Scotstoun and caley . 2 aswell. The 1 c and D. Caley do a few runs on the 21 and 18 , interesting how many caley drivers would know the route/
 

awsnews

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The 1 variant of 'the one' seems to be staking a claim for the most number of diversions for a single route. On top of the closure of the road through Old Kilpatrick to accommodate bridge reconstruction and the restriction at Dumbarton town centre resulting in all buses having to use Riverside Lane westbound from today Lomond Road in Balloch has also been closed, with services using Balloch Road instead.
 

Busman84

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Didnt realise Ayr done the 4 too. Theres quite a few shared routes. 6 is shared between Scotstoun and caley . 2 aswell. The 1 c and D. Caley do a few runs on the 21 and 18 , interesting how many caley drivers would know the route/

Larkfield done about half of the 21 for a number of months at one point. It was back in the days Blantyre had a major shortage when a chunk of there drivers chucked it and went to Parks. This was just after No2 drivers got no pay rise to match No1 drivers.
 

PaulMc7

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The 1 variant of 'the one' seems to be staking a claim for the most number of diversions for a single route. On top of the closure of the road through Old Kilpatrick to accommodate bridge reconstruction and the restriction at Dumbarton town centre resulting in all buses having to use Riverside Lane westbound from today Lomond Road in Balloch has also been closed, with services using Balloch Road instead.

The Balloch 1 and 1A and the Helensburgh 1B are usually unreliable at the best of times so they've definitely not been helped today especially since the 1 and 1A swap into each other at Balloch and the 1A and 1B swap into each other at Osborne St. Checked the app tracker a few times and at Scotstoun both ways there were a few that were 20/25mins late today and even 2 Balloch 1s together at Scotstoun on it. The problem is that this doesn't just happen when there's roadworks. It's common for them to be late on normal days with little traffic congestion.

I think the thing that hides the lateness though is that they come when the bus or 2 after is due so people who don't even look at timetables won't know the difference and how late they are unless you need a specific one
 
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CentralSMT

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Larkfield done about half of the 21 for a number of months at one point. It was back in the days Blantyre had a major shortage when a chunk of there drivers chucked it and went to Parks. This was just after No2 drivers got no pay rise to match No1 drivers.

I guess there is some business tactic behind keeping the companies legally seperate. I noticed that Kelvin Central Buses still exists as a 'dormant' company under First Glasgow and still produce annual accounts. Same with Western Buses which lay dormant for around 15 years before Stagecoach brought them back to life.
 

lastbus

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I guess there is some business tactic behind keeping the companies legally seperate. I noticed that Kelvin Central Buses still exists as a 'dormant' company under First Glasgow and still produce annual accounts. Same with Western Buses which lay dormant for around 15 years before Stagecoach brought them back to life.
(NO2) drivers get paid less than (NO1) which is something to do with why they are separate companies.
 

route101

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The Balloch 1 and 1A and the Helensburgh 1B are usually unreliable at the best of times so they've definitely not been helped today especially since the 1 and 1A swap into each other at Balloch and the 1A and 1B swap into each other at Osborne St. Checked the app tracker a few times and at Scotstoun both ways there were a few that were 20/25mins late today and even 2 Balloch 1s together at Scotstoun on it. The problem is that this doesn't just happen when there's roadworks. It's common for them to be late on normal days with little traffic congestion.

I think the thing that hides the lateness though is that they come when the bus or 2 after is due so people who don't even look at timetables won't know the difference and how late they are unless you need a specific one

Noticed 2 75 bunched up yesterday , 2 5s bunched up going either way . Middle of day. Do they not sort it out?
 

route101

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Larkfield done about half of the 21 for a number of months at one point. It was back in the days Blantyre had a major shortage when a chunk of there drivers chucked it and went to Parks. This was just after No2 drivers got no pay rise to match No1 drivers.



I recall them doing Rutherglen shorts on sundays. I know the first town to ek 21 forms the first ek to town 31.

When Blantyre and Cumbernauld took over the 20 and 18 , did they ever do the full route ie drum/summerston to ek?
 

Busman84

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Yeh Larkfield did do half the 21 might have been around 2011/12 and was daytime boards only.. Cumbernauld started doing the 18s around 2010 and it stayed that way until the depot closed. It was also the same time when Blantyre took the 18 when it stopped running to Summerston. Might have been a year or so later when they did some 20 boards all the way to Drumchapel. Scotstoun still did most of the 20 and also still did the 16 and was all change in 2013 with Simplicity..
 

PaulMc7

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Noticed 2 75 bunched up yesterday , 2 5s bunched up going either way . Middle of day. Do they not sort it out?

The 75s bunch up constantly no matter what they try tbh. Been days I've seen 3/4 together and it's been way outside of peaks
 

PaulMc7

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Thought other buses bunch up. Just caught this on the app for the 38s. Top of Wishart St just after the Royal
 

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Albaman

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Yeh Larkfield did do half the 21 might have been around 2011/12 and was daytime boards only.. Cumbernauld started doing the 18s around 2010 and it stayed that way until the depot closed. It was also the same time when Blantyre took the 18 when it stopped running to Summerston. Might have been a year or so later when they did some 20 boards all the way to Drumchapel. Scotstoun still did most of the 20 and also still did the 16 and was all change in 2013 with Simplicity..

The other change that took place before the " Simplicity " project was effective from 8 January 2012 when the 20 was alteredto terminate in Glasgow City Centre and the 21 introduced to cover the section from Glasgow City Centre to East Kilbride.
 

Busman84

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That sounds right as I don’t remember Blantyre doing Drumchapel 20s for a long period of time. The 21 ran 12 minutes when it started that was across the entire route. When the 20 ran before that to EK it was a busy and well used route.
 

Busman84

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The 75s bunch up constantly no matter what they try tbh. Been days I've seen 3/4 together and it's been way outside of peaks

These E400MMCs with the door/handbrake carry on add to the bunching up. Not that this didn’t happen before with Geminis but it’s just worse now and there no extra running time and less layover.. Diversion on the 5 and now Victoria Rd been a shambles of a street would add to buses running late..
 

CentralSMT

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These E400MMCs with the door/handbrake carry on add to the bunching up. Not that this didn’t happen before with Geminis but it’s just worse now and there no extra running time and less layover.. Diversion on the 5 and now Victoria Rd been a shambles of a street would add to buses running late..

Agree that the fact the bus dictates how the driver drives became a huge factor in me stepping away from that line of work....how I miss the Ailsa Volvo with no self-cancelling indicators...(we shall not mention driving with both the cab sliding door open and the entrance doors too). The second issue that killed it for me was the introduction of high-frequency routes that resulted in hugely reduced layover time to minimise the number of vehicles required. The 240/267 out of Motherwell Depot offered 7 mins at all terminal points and insufficient running time melted the customer experience...and the driver experience. 5 hours of chasing your tail. They are all at it now, Stagecoach have butchered Kilmarnock, breaking up thru services, offering minmum turn around. Reliability is way down the pecking order...shareholders & shareholders.
 

Busman84

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Have to agree with that. It’s all about shareholders these days. Bus industry is going down the pan. As for high frequency services go back 10 years ago layover at a number of terminus was decent. The 62 got 20 minutes either end Faifley and Baillieston. I remember both terminus have 6/7 buses sitting at them at the one time. The 40 also got good layover at Clydebank daytime it was 20-25 minutes. The 66 did well too at EK that was usually 20 minutes or more. The 57 and 75 were also decent layover. All changed now where so many buses turn up at terminus after departure times so they leave late. Bunching up happens a lot earlier on the routes now than it used to.
 

PaulMc7

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Have to agree with that. It’s all about shareholders these days. Bus industry is going down the pan. As for high frequency services go back 10 years ago layover at a number of terminus was decent. The 62 got 20 minutes either end Faifley and Baillieston. I remember both terminus have 6/7 buses sitting at them at the one time. The 40 also got good layover at Clydebank daytime it was 20-25 minutes. The 66 did well too at EK that was usually 20 minutes or more. The 57 and 75 were also decent layover. All changed now where so many buses turn up at terminus after departure times so they leave late. Bunching up happens a lot earlier on the routes now than it used to.

It's the reliability of a lot of services that's killed bus use tbh especially in Glasgow. The train being decent plays a part too but if the buses were even remotely reliable even outside of peaks they would be more used.

I can get the 1s, 2 and 6 from 3/4mins away from my house and the 3 and X4 are about 10 mins away yet out of them only the 1C and X4 outside of peaks are even remotely reliable. Very often ends up 3/4 2s and 6s within 10mins due to bunching up both ways. Feel for drivers in that situation too because they take the worst of the blame from customers but it's 100% not their fault.

It might be costly but adding back in more recovery time and more drivers with more buses might be the only way to stop the decline going forward although a lot of what I read and hear from people is that they're done with buses for good unless the train becomes a disaster or car cost goes up so massively they can only afford bus.
 

PaulMc7

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Anyone know what the 19A cancellation is about? Seen this on the Andy Preece site
 

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