Lothian Buses and ECB Discussion

[TheGrandWazoo]

The hours cant be any worse than Amazon, 4-5 days with 12 hours shifts. and many companies will train you to drive the buses now adays.

Might be the case that people don’t even have a car license!

Also, with people like Amazon and other major distribution centres, you may have fixed work patterns that help in planning childcare etc whereas bus rotas tend to vary a lot more.

 

[overthewater]

Might be the case that people don’t even have a car license!

Also, with people like Amazon and other major distribution centres, you may have fixed work patterns that help in planning childcare etc whereas bus rotas tend to vary a lot more.

Fixed yes, been give mandatory overtime without warning does happen far to often

 

[ANWP Tom]

On the drivers and pay/hours front, my pal works at Lothian and is ex stagecoach and finds the single deck driving roster of marine fantastic. 4 on 4 off and of course with the driver shortage there is always overtime. To put into terms of cash with the OT he recons he could easily lift £23k for the year. Said hes enjoying it aswell and the company treats them a lot better than stagecoach did him.

Will be nice to see more new stuff for ECB and maybe the retrofitting of charging points to midlife vehicles would be good, maybe using the cross over of new vehicle introductions as an opportunity to drop them out of service for a few days. Have got into the habit of using ECB routes for my trips home from work if there is one due. 1005* fleet are about the best Lothian have id say.

 

[overthewater]

The problem with Lothian expanding is it would give them an monopoly.... At least within East Lothian it has Border buses, Eves and Prentice Coaches. Down in Midlothian, again Borders and Prentice Coaches are nipping around at the conners. West Lothian? It would give Lothian near complete control on all routes out of edinburgh to the east and south east. Apart from Blue bus, all commercial work belongs to First, I wouldn't be surprised if Lothian went after the better contracts like 31, 40 etc.

Also would the share offering within the company need to change? could West, east and mid lothian all take Edinburgh CC to court to get a bigger share?

 

[SpeedbirdA350]

The problem with Lothian expanding is it would give them an monopoly.... At least within East Lothian it has Border buses, Eves and Prentice Coaches. Down in Midlothian, again Borders and Prentice Coaches are nipping around at the conners. West Lothian? It would give Lothian near complete control on all routes out of edinburgh to the east and south east. Apart from Blue bus, all commercial work belongs to First, I wouldn't be surprised if Lothian went after the better contracts like 31, 40 etc.

Also would the share offering within the company need to change? could West, east and mid lothian all take Edinburgh CC to court to get a bigger share?

Lothian has a pretty near monopoly on most routes within Edinburgh anyway but I have to say that I don't have a problem with it, as long as the bus fares stay good value for money (which at the moment, they are) and the buses are kept up to date and modern (which they are too). I think it WOULD be good if Lothian did venture towards West Lothian, as a service to for example St Johns would be well used, same to places like Bathgate. Lothian anyway put on a single service 109 from Livingston to Longstone in the early morning so have SOME form of presence there. I don't see it is a bad thing at all.

The last presence first had in Edinburgh (in direct competition) was the 44 but that was axed a while ago.

The only gripe I have with Lothian is they'd do the same as they did with ECB and have different zones and charge in that way. However, if it was as I said value for money, then I'd be happy. Right now, the only way to get to St Johns for example is with First, although thankfully they have an updated fleet on that route now.

 

[overthewater]

So I popped into the Tourist office In Edinburgh, of course at the front door there is alot of tour guides, Day tours etc but there nothing from Lothian motorcoaches.. So how are their promoting this service?

 

[ANWP Tom]

The motorcoach promotion ive seen so far has been web based, social media and the have added an advert into the onboard screens on Lothian and ECB. As for travel shops I'm not sure. Wonder how long before full rear end ads start appearing similar to those for Edinburgh Tours. Maybe the reason 551 and one of the open tops have stayed in white, awaiting an advert livery

 

[kje7812]

I have seen leaflets in some buses but not many.

 

[overthewater]

Are those the places where tourists are going to look?

 

[ANWP Tom]

Are those the places where tourists are going to look?

If the amount of people who get on a bus and ask if it goes somewhere, how much it is or are baffled by the lack of change is anything to go by yes. Why people don't read bus stop information is completely beyond me. Lothian even write it in 7/8 languages......Sorry minor pet peeve of mine

 

[oldman]

The information isn't very well presented, it may be awkward to see if there are other people waiting at the stop, some people like reassurance in a strange place even if they really know already, .... My peeve of the day is the removal of the stickers on the front of the buses showing the basic single and day fares - a false economy for me. (And did I mention the leg-room )

 

[SpeedbirdA350]

My biggest pet peeve is the desination boards on the front of buses are having less info on them. I prefer the Mobitec dual track LED display rather than the single track. Does anyone know why LB seem to be getting rid of the dual track boards? I find the dual track far better as you have some idea if the bus (a service you might not get on regularly) is going in the direction you want for example.

 

[90019]

The Mobitec displays have been plagued with problems, especially with going dim and being unreadable in daylight, so the decision was made to switch to Hanover screens which have been much more reliable so far.

 

[SpeedbirdA350]

Thanks for that 90019, I knew about the issues on fleet 1-10 but I have to say I personally have never had an issue with Mobitec dual tracks before. Still, can Hanover not do dual track? I think LB are missing a trick here as DT gives much more information than a generic single line as some routes go to the same end point but via different places.

 

[Observer]

By dual track are you referring to the multiple boards at the front? Because that's certainly doable...they only went with one screen to save costs. Plus what they were doing was rather non standard nowadays...

 

[alexf380]

Even a scrolling line of select via points would be a welcome addition, as is used across the country. The screens are big enough that this could be displayed and still retain a large end destination.

 

[oldman]

It would be useful to show the route through the city centre because this can be confusing - the 4 and the 44 both go Jocks Lodge - Princes St - Haymarket, but by different routes. Probably not as important to tell people they both go via Slateford.

 

[overthewater]

There all on divisions at the moment and this will change in about two months with Leith street reopens. Its bad enough trying to found bus stops.

 

[oldman]

All the more reason to make an effort. I don't know how the system works but is it so difficult to programme 50 routes? Anyway the point is that just a destination is not very good.

 

[OmniCity999]

Introducing EastCoastTours

https://eastcoastbuses.co.uk/open-top-tours-with-east-coast-buses/

 

[carlberry]

It would be useful to show the route through the city centre because this can be confusing - the 4 and the 44 both go Jocks Lodge - Princes St - Haymarket, but by different routes. Probably not as important to tell people they both go via Slateford.

Surely the important thing is to have information at the bus stop. The display cant do everything and via points, as well as reducing the space just add potential confusion after the bus has passed the point.

 

[Hophead]

Surely one of the benefits of electronic displays is that they can be programmed to show whatever the company desires (within reason), so can be changed fairly easily as the routes change?

If linked to the on-board GPS, you can even vary the display on the move.

 

[SpeedbirdA350]

Surely the important thing is to have information at the bus stop. The display cant do everything and via points, as well as reducing the space just add potential confusion after the bus has passed the point.

Not every bus stop has easy access to see this. For example if it's a busy stop, and many people can be standing infront, blocking the view of said board. Also wheelchair users can't see some of those as they are high up, so having that via point at the front of the bus is critical.

To add a second row on to the desination board to include select via port of calls is something they certainly could do.

From the early days of the buses when they all had blinds, it showed the service number, end destination and via points. This is something LB were very good at and now we do have LED boards, which COULD even be linked up via Wi-fi, that they could be remote managed for diverts, which might just help some passangers especially if the divert is going to take them closer on a certain bus or further away from their destination.

I wonder if it's a lazyness thing or a cost thing, however it surely can't be cost as all you need to do is make the end point a few strips smaller and have a scrolling via point below although I would personally prefer the dual track such as on the 34 route.

 

[SpeedbirdA350]

Introducing EastCoastTours

https://eastcoastbuses.co.uk/open-top-tours-with-east-coast-buses/

It's good to see the Scanias being used here although I have to wonder if they could have maybe picked a slightly bigger Scania badge for the front of the bus. Compensating for something? I can't recall any of the fleet having those, apart from the little Scania badge above the window and below the blinds.

 

[Lothian_Bus]

I'm not sure if it works like this every year but I noticed that Marine is doing the Royal Highland show service 98 with the assistance of 5 buses (461-465) which have been temporarily moved from Longstone. I assume Longstone is running the 97 service.

321-330 appear to have moved from Central to Marine as well.

 

[oldman]

Surely the important thing is to have information at the bus stop.

You're in Dalry Road and you want a bus to the Bridges - a bus is approaching. The information is there but you have to look at 6 different timetables and try and work out which routes will go there. There is nothing wrong with a belt and braces approach to information, especially if it can be done cheaply. Never underestimate the glaikitness of the travelling public, especially the occasional user.

Lothian is not great at customer information - years behind on next stop information in a tourist city - and should do better.

For those who like numbers the accounts for 2017 have been published. LB passenger numbers up, but operating margin down from 9% to 6.7%. Driver turnover up from 3.9 to 6.4%. ECB lost 400K on turnover of £5M.

 

[90019]

It's good to see the Scanias being used here although I have to wonder if they could have maybe picked a slightly bigger Scania badge for the front of the bus. Compensating for something? I can't recall any of the fleet having those, apart from the little Scania badge above the window and below the blinds.

That's the original Scania badging - it was never incorporated into previous liveries, but the whole Lothian fleet is gradually getting original badging (or vinyl versions of the badges) applied.

 

[OmniCity999]

A couple of the new order for East Coast on pre interior instal test drive in Ireland.

Led to believe 15 are on order to replace 10101-10107 and 20794-20800. This will allow 10051-10065 and 10195-10199 to carry out X5's,106's, X7's, 139's and 140's. With these new arrivals and 20937-20950 primarily running on 104's 113's and 124's.

20794-20800 will be the first of the current batch of B7's to leave the Lothian group fleet.

James' Bus Photos on Flickr. Other photos available.

 

[Lothian_Bus]

A couple of the new order for East Coast on pre interior instal test drive in Ireland.

Led to believe 15 are on order to replace 10101-10107 and 20794-20800. This will allow 10051-10065 and 10195-10199 to carry out X5's,106's, X7's, 139's and 140's. With these new arrivals and 20937-20950 primarily running on 104's 113's and 124's.

20794-20800 will be the first of the current batch of B7's to leave the Lothian group fleet.

James' Bus Photos on Flickr. Other photos available.
View attachment 48704

Are these on top of the 25 B5TL's and 20 B5TL's we are expecting this year at Lothian

 

[OmniCity999]

Are these on top of the 25 B5TL's and 20 B5TL's we are expecting this year at Lothian

I'm lead to believe so.