As I said last week, no other operator could facilitate the services with the current driver issues so this was the compromise.
I’ve been in West Lothian today and I have noticed First bus have become more reliable recently and Lothian Country are either not turning up or running very late.
There are no plans to cut services, they will see it out and after September 12th and reduction on 20,63 and should go a long way to addressing staffing levels on West Lothian services
No plans as of yet but remember that government funding being cut could cause cuts very easily as we've seen elsewhere already.
Oh without doubt that will have an effect on most operators network and Jeanette Bell has already begun planning for post subsidy life within first group and no doubt First Scotland East will see many changes going forward.
The main issues now are late shifts and weekends ,not surprising with the work life balance demands of new starts and amount of agency drivers coming into the industry.
The advantage I guess with West Lothian is that there are enough towns with sizeable populations to keep growth possible as some point.
Thanks for that.
Ah, the rumours I've heard the last few days may be true then.
Let’s hope McGills succeed where First didn’t. I presume the majority of FSE fleet will either go to scrap and the more modern stock will be cascaded out. I don’t imagine McGills would want to keep them?
It's only Midland Bluebird Ltd that is said to be getting sold so West Lothian and Bright Bus Tours would be unaffected in the short term.
I had to check that the date wasn't April 1st. No doubt the "source" will be the pet dog of one of the drivers, or whoever.
Thats incorrect its All of FIRST SCOTLAND EAST TO include BBT
Which report are you referring to? Your post is a bit vague!
I think that may will be true.
Are you doubting this is happening? As I can assure you as of Monday 19th September the whole operation transfers to McGills.
Reliability, punctuality, and passenger confidence, all of which were gone under First, especially in West Lothian.
I guess you haven't seen the state of the McGill's Xplore Dundee network.
The takeover of Xplore Dundee was announced on December 22nd 2020, taking effect January 1st 2021, so not too unusual.
Without giving to much away All First Scotland East Employees have been notified of the transfer.
No I havent .
To be honest as an Inverclodian myself McGill's seems give us all the nearly new buses so I'm not complaining! Customer service is stellar as well so I honestly can't fault them.
I stand corrected!