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Lothian Buses and ECB Discussion

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overthewater

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as far as the ex-London in country livery maybe a bebrand on the 63 maybe? To make it a full decker route and draw attention to it. With the first cuts to Winchburgh although

No63 is a council bus, First 38 isn't that busy per say I can see plenty of empty ones but It can run full when need be.
id be more than happy with a regular Lothian service to Linlithgow or even on to Bo'ness that only has 2 a day from the capital I think (X19 PW)
Wow your years behide :D Bo'ness has a near hourly service, thanks to Citylink 909 and Bo'ness community transport C19 each providing links:

* https://www.citylink.co.uk/timetables/Summer 18/WEB_909.pdf
* https://bonesscommunitybus.scot/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/C19-Timetable-Aug-2017.pdf
 
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Volvodart

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https://www.lothianbuses.com/news/2018/06/service-change-29-july/
Soneone said I have to edit this post, so there goes!
Service Change – 29 July
Lothian announces service improvements
June 28, 2018
From Sunday 29 July, a number of changes will be introduced to our network in line with the re-opening of Leith Street and to combat the effect increasing congestion and slowing road speeds across the city continues to have on its services and reliability.

Our Airport Services will be boosted with the launch of the new Service 400, connecting Edinburgh Airport with Fort Kinnaird via Oxgangs, Colinton and the Gyle, introducing vital links for customers from the south east and south west of the city directly to the airport. Service 300 will also be rerouted to now serve Cameron Toll, linking air travellers with hotels and guest houses in the Southside of the city.

We will also enhance our student offering with the introduction of the new Service 35 between Ocean Terminal and Riccarton Campus, complimenting services 25 and 34 and increasing the number of buses serving the Napier University Campus at Sighthill and Heriot Watt University at Riccarton Campus.

As part of the regeneration of South East Edinburgh and the ongoing retail development and expansion at Fort Kinnaird, the company is improving Service 30 with enhanced frequency on evening journeys and Saturday daytime journeys creating additional transport opportunities for customers to and from the retail park.

After it’s withdrawal some nine years ago, we will also re-introduce the historic Service 29 link to Silverknowes Promenade following requests from local businesses and significant investment by City of Edinburgh Council into the redevelopment of this stunning area.

Nigel Serafini, Commercial Director, said:

Ahead of the reopening of Leith Street and with congestion in the city continuing to cause daily challenges, our commercial team have taken the opportunity to review our network, building on the changes introduced in February this year. These improvements incorporate feedback from our customers, local community councils and stakeholders and have been made to benefit our customers and the communities we serve.

As Edinburgh Airport continues to expand and customer demand on our Airport Services continues to grow, it is important that Lothian recognise this and support the necessity for direct, reliable, value for money services to various key locations in Edinburgh. The introduction of our new Skylink 400 service and the route alteration to our Skylink 300 service will boost our existing Airport offering and better connect residents and visitors with our city.

Services returning to Leith Street are 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 14, 19, 22, 25, 34, 45, 49, N7, N11, N16, N22, N25, N26, N34 and N44.

Main changes include:

Service 18 / 400

This service will be re-numbered from 18 to 400 and will extend from Gyle Centre via RBS Gogarburn and Ingliston P&R to Edinburgh Airport. Buses will omit RBS Gogarburn on Saturdays & Sundays. Revised timetable introduced with earlier morning journeys at weekends and later evening journeys on all days of the week.

Service 19

Revised timetable. Monday to Friday daytime frequency increased from every 20-mins to every 15-minutes. Sunday service will now be operated by double deck vehicles to increase capacity.

Service 21

Revised Monday to Friday afternoon peak timetable, with minor changes to the morning peak timetable.

Services 22

Revised timetable with minor frequency reductions on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and in the early evenings on all days of the week.

Service 29

Route extended to and from Silverknowes Promenade with some minor timetable changes as a result.

Service 30

Revised timetable: the Saturday daytime frequency increased from every 12-mins to every 10-mins. The evening service is increased from every 20-mins to every 15-mins on all days of the week. The Monday to Friday morning journeys which currently commences from Whitecraig will now commence from Musselburgh Grammar School.

Service 31

Revised timetable introduced with an improved peak frequency on Mondays to Fridays to and from Bonnyrigg in order to increase capacity. A new later evening journey will be introduced to and from Polton Mill on Mondays to Saturdays.

Service X31

Revised timetable with additional time added to morning journeys in order to improve reliability. New earlier morning journey from Rosewell and later evening journey to Rosewell introduced after requests from the local Community Council.

Service 34

Revised timetable introduced with Monday to Friday daytime frequency reduced from every 12-mins to every 15-mins.

Service 35

NEW service between Ocean Terminal and Riccarton, covering the current route of Skylink 300 from Ocean Terminal to Sighthill Colleges (omitting Asda Chesser), then extending via Hermiston P&R to Riccarton Campus. The daytime frequency will be every 15-mins Mon – Sat and every 30-mins in the evening and on Sundays.

Services 36

Service extended on Mondays to Saturdays to operate slightly later into the evening. On Sundays, the service will commence earlier in the morning and operate later into the evening.

Service 37

Additional morning peak journey introduced from Roslin to Silverknowes to increase capacity.

Service 43

Route extended from Sommerville Gardens to the new terminus at Scotstoun. Revised timetable introduced on Sundays, with all journeys now operating via Ferrymuir Retail Park.

Service X44

Additional Monday to Friday afternoon peak journey introduced from Haymarket to Tranent to provide additional capacity.

Service 47

Additional afternoon peak journey introduced from Granton to Penicuik to increase capacity.

Service 200

Revised route with buses now serving Ingliston P&R. Minor timetable changes as a result.

Service 300

Revised route & timetable introduced. At South Gyle, the route will now operate via Edinburgh Park then direct via South Gyle Broadway, no longer serving South Gyle Crescent. At Chesser Avenue, the route will now omit Asda/Corn Exchange to reduce journey times and improve reliability. From Forrest Road, the route will extend to Cameron Toll (Lady Road), operating via Nicolson Square then direct via South Clerk Street and Minto Street. The daytime frequency on Mondays to Fridays will be reduced to every 20-mins with the Saturday, Sunday and evening frequency maintained at every 30-mins.

Service 63

Route extended from Sommerville Gardens to the new terminus at Scotstoun. No change to timetable.



Timetables for all services will be available online in the coming weeks.
 
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overthewater

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There is no mention of the 36 getting cut back has people got the wrong end of the stick? 300 is getting cuts in freq to 20mins weekday and 30mins at other times.

HERE ARE the East coast buses changes: it does look like its increase the competition against the local operators. It's a shame there still no improve fast link for the people of Tranent...
https://eastcoastbuses.co.uk/service-changes-29-july/


We are delighted to announce further improvements to your services from 29 July.

Along with changes to improve reliability across our network, we will be adding earlier journeys to service 104 and 106 and enhancing capacity on key routes in East Lothian including the doubling of frequency on Service X7 to every 30 minutes. We will also be introducing a new Sunday service on the Service 106, providing vital links between Musselburgh and Macmerry/Haddington.

Mark Heritage, General Manager, East Coast Buses said:

“We now carry over 97,000 customers each week across our East Coast Buses services and are delighted to be able to offer further improvements and enhancements across our network for the benefit of our customers. Our team work exceptionally hard to deliver a fantastic customer experience and we look forward to building on our success across the remainder of 2018.”

Main changes include:

Service 104
Minor timetable changes on all days. First morning journey from Tranent on Mondays to Saturdays is extended to commence from Haddington to provide an earlier morning journey to the City Centre.

Service 106
Revised timetable on all days. New earlier morning and later afternoon journey introduced to/from Haddington and the Fort on Mondays to Fridays. New Sunday service introduced, providing new direct links between Musselburgh and Macmerry/Haddington during the day.

Service 124/X24
Revised timetable introduced to improve reliability. Improved Saturday and Sunday morning timetables introduced with earlier journeys from North Berwick to the City.

Service X5
Minor timetable changes to improve reliability.

Service X7
Revised timetable introduced with the main daytime service on Mondays to Saturdays doubled in frequency to every 30-minutes. Additional afternoon peak journey introduced from the City Centre to Haddington, departing Melville Street at 16:54. No change to the number of journeys operated on Sundays.
 

kje7812

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Service 34

Revised timetable introduced with Monday to Friday daytime frequency reduced from every 12-mins to every 15-mins.

Service 35

NEW service between Ocean Terminal and Riccarton, covering the current route of Skylink 300 from Ocean Terminal to Sighthill Colleges (omitting Asda Chesser), then extending via Hermiston P&R to Riccarton Campus. The daytime frequency will be every 15-mins Mon – Sat and every 30-mins in the evening and on Sundays.
Sounds quite good. I get the 34 to Heriot-Watt everyday (PhD) so having the new 35 as an alternative is nice.
 

overthewater

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What way will the 35 go if it omnit Asda? Surly you would think students, asda...

If the 300 stops at Edinbugh uni, then maybe you could get a 500 which could go Airport - gyle - Replace the 36 to Craiglockhart, then follow the 38 route to Cameron toll?
 

kje7812

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What way will the 35 go if it omnit Asda? Surly you would think students, asda...

If the 300 stops at Edinbugh uni, then maybe you could get a 500 which could go Airport - gyle - Replace the 36 to Craiglockhart, then follow the 38 route to Cameron toll?
How I read it is that it will still go down Chesser avenue but won't turn into the corn exchange bit (new market rd) which in my experience can add a lot of time. It would still stop at the Slateford Station bus stops and the stops by Edinburgh West Retail Park (aldi etc).
 

tbtc

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Generally positive changes. Little details matter - like Lochend hopefully getting a better balanced four buses per hour with both the 19 and 34 running every fifteen minutes (instead of three buses per hour on one and five buses per hour on the other).

The service to the Airport is covering more and more of the city - rather than the tram killing off buses to the Airport, it seems to have encouraged direct links from other parts of the city.

The southern half of the old 32/52 has had a significant turnaround in recent years - from dwindling down to a tendered hourly service to a half hourly service extending to the Airport.

I notice that Lothian Coaches have added 10 B9TLs to the fleet too. They are 57 plates on private vanity plates though.

https://twitter.com/LothianCoaches/status/1012640681431588866

Will there be more outrage about the cost of the registration plates?

(hopefully not, it seems a reasonable business expense, a drop in the ocean in the grand scheme of things, but you know how some people like to be outraged!)

There is no mention of the 36 getting cut back has people got the wrong end of the stick?

No mention of all 104s running via Mussleburgh, no mention of the 49 going back via the Wisp, no mention of the 300 running via Morningside, no mention of a co-ordinated 300/400 from the Gyle to the Airport (one will be every twenty minutes, the other one every half hour), no mention of the 21 running via Cameron Toll, no mention of changes to the 38, no expansion into West Lothian... its almost like we are just guessing (and making assumptions based on the out-of-date information on VOSA registrations)! I'm sure @TheGrandWazoo would suggest that such speculation rarely hits the target.
 

overthewater

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To be fair I would be very surprised if the 300/400 were not co-ordinated on a Saturday ;) It looks like one extra bus is going via muss on 104 ;)

Vosa really should get those doc sorted out, because its misleading to have incorrect details, why isn't Gyle listed as its termanite point on the registration? I have no idea why people kept on thinking Lothian are going to expanded in the West Lothian.
 

SpeedbirdA350

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Will there be more outrage about the cost of the registration plates?

(hopefully not, it seems a reasonable business expense, a drop in the ocean in the grand scheme of things, but you know how some people like to be outraged!)



No mention of all 104s running via Mussleburgh, no mention of the 49 going back via the Wisp, no mention of the 300 running via Morningside, no mention of a co-ordinated 300/400 from the Gyle to the Airport (one will be every twenty minutes, the other one every half hour), no mention of the 21 running via Cameron Toll, no mention of changes to the 38, no expansion into West Lothian... its almost like we are just guessing (and making assumptions based on the out-of-date information on VOSA registrations)! I'm sure @TheGrandWazoo would suggest that such speculation rarely hits the target.

I don't think Lothian had to buy vanity plates in the first place as the original plates were good enough but the cost is small in the grand scheme of things as you said. That said, did they put vanity plates on the buses to hide the fact they are nearly 11 years old? I don't see why that would even be an issue as lothian currently (although not for much longer) have 14 year olds in the fleet.

As for the speculation and guessing of the new routes, I think it's part and parcel of life that we can guess where things go but no one knows for sure unless they are in the main group at LB, and lets face it, some suggestions were better than the outcome.
West Lothain would be more than welcome but we are stuck with First bus or the early 109.
300 going via Morningside would give a direct link from Airport, Slateford, Fountainpark to Morningside/Grange/Blackford on to Lady Road but instead is going to mirror 35 from Bankhead Roundabout all the way to Forrest Road
36 being cut was not bad specualtion either because the registration on VOSA site does say the terminus would be Glenlochart not Gyle and the bus DOES terminate at Gyle.
Speculation is not a bad thing, as long as people do not say something as matter of fact when it is not and so far, I see no one saying anything for fact.
 

Tom1791

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Those buses will be either for upgrading the 63 to Lothian country, improving the quality of buses on the 43 or for a new service - perhaps one from town to kirkliston with first cutting the 38 to every 30 minutes? I can't imagine them going any further west than that.

Also:

PM1007722/16 Registered
EDINBURGH BUS TOURS LTD

Route: Waverly Bridge, Edinburgh to Waverly Bridge, Edinburgh via Stockbridge, Leith, Portobello, Duddingston, Colinton, The Meadows

Service number: 20 Days of Summer

Service type: Excursion or Tour

Effective date: 04 Aug 2018
 

Volvodart

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Why would they be doing that already, when the outcome of the consultation is not known?
 

smtglasgow

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Can’t see Lothian heading west – they seemed a bit reticent about going to South Queensferry when Stagecoach pulled out. Don’t think many companies would choose to start competing over a marginal route in the current climate.

Although I still think they are by some distance the best operator in Scotland, I wonder if we’re now at peak Lothian. They’ve grown a lot over the last few years and added a few new brands and maybe it’s time to consolidate. Edinburgh is still growing (particularly to the west), so they’ll be in a strong position for years to come, but maybe the rapid expansion of the last few years is over. Even Lothian won’t be immune to the headwinds affecting the industry (and haven't they just reported a drop in passenger numbers?).
 

overthewater

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Lothian has already made cuts in it's network last year. Said cuts are still in place. Its doing what everyone else has done. More buses on busy section while cutting or retiming other buses to provide a joint level of service.
 

OmniCity999

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Those buses will be either for upgrading the 63 to Lothian country, improving the quality of buses on the 43 or for a new service - perhaps one from town to kirkliston with first cutting the 38 to every 30 minutes? I can't imagine them going any further west than that.

Also:

PM1007722/16 Registered
EDINBURGH BUS TOURS LTD

Route: Waverly Bridge, Edinburgh to Waverly Bridge, Edinburgh via Stockbridge, Leith, Portobello, Duddingston, Colinton, The Meadows

Service number: 20 Days of Summer

Service type: Excursion or Tour

Effective date: 04 Aug 2018


249/250 and friends are to operate this to compliment the festival. There was talk of some B7RLE's and Solos operating this route but nothing has come to fruition as of yet. A number of early eclipses and solos have been resprayed white (as they are offered for sale) in preparation and and talk was that some eclipses were to get a wrap to advertise the tour.
 

oldman

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Even Lothian won’t be immune to the headwinds affecting the industry (and haven't they just reported a drop in passenger numbers?).

There was this in the Evening News the other day:

Traffic congestion in the Capital threatens the reliability of the city’s bus services, according to the managing director of Lothian Buses.

Richard Hall told the Evening News that increasing congestion is turning customers away from using bus services as the company announced improvements and new routes ahead of the reopening of Leith Street, which has been closed since September 2017.

Department for Transport statistics show that there has been a 5.8 per cent decrease in bus use since the same period last year, with the city’s nose-to-tail traffic thought to be at fault

The last paragraph is, of course, total and utter nonsense. They reported an increase for last year (the snow may make a difference to this year's figures). The point about traffic is real enough and it's good to see Hall talking about it, not that the council will do anything about it.
 

michael769

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I have no idea why people kept on thinking Lothian are going to expanded in the West Lothian.

Because they are? :) Announced today:

Get ready, West Lothian!

We’re excited to announce the launch of our new services to Bathgate and Whitburn from August 19.

Sign up to our Early Access List to be the first to know more

Source

If I were First I'd be seriously worried about their West Lothian operation's future.
 

Darklord8899

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Generally positive changes. Little details matter - like Lochend hopefully getting a better balanced four buses per hour with both the 19 and 34 running every fifteen minutes (instead of three buses per hour on one and five buses per hour on the other).

The service to the Airport is covering more and more of the city - rather than the tram killing off buses to the Airport, it seems to have encouraged direct links from other parts of the city.

The southern half of the old 32/52 has had a significant turnaround in recent years - from dwindling down to a tendered hourly service to a half hourly service extending to the Airport.



Will there be more outrage about the cost of the registration plates?

(hopefully not, it seems a reasonable business expense, a drop in the ocean in the grand scheme of things, but you know how some people like to be outraged!)



No mention of all 104s running via Mussleburgh, no mention of the 49 going back via the Wisp, no mention of the 300 running via Morningside, no mention of a co-ordinated 300/400 from the Gyle to the Airport (one will be every twenty minutes, the other one every half hour), no mention of the 21 running via Cameron Toll, no mention of changes to the 38, no expansion into West Lothian... its almost like we are just guessing (and making assumptions based on the out-of-date information on VOSA registrations)! I'm sure @TheGrandWazoo would suggest that such speculation rarely hits the target.
The 300 isn't going anywhere near Morningside, from Forest Rd will run via Potterow, Nicholson Square, Clerk and South Clerk Streets, Minto Street to Cameron Toll (Lady Road)
 

Lothian_Bus

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I notice that none of 201-215 have been allocated to service 10 today. There are a few on services 11 and 14. I wondered if anyone knew what the plans are for these buses going forwards
 

ANWP Tom

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201-215 have been regular on 10s for the 4 years ive lived in Edinburgh, 14s seems a more recent thing as for future plans for them once the older stuff is dealt with they may go as nonstandard
 

Darklord8899

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This afternoon coming home from work, I saw one of the wee Central based electric buses that were bought for the 1 on a 45 to Queen Margaret Uni.
I always thought that the 45 was run from Marine? No?
 

Lothian_Bus

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This afternoon coming home from work, I saw one of the wee Central based electric buses that were bought for the 1 on a 45 to Queen Margaret Uni.
I always thought that the 45 was run from Marine? No?
Yes I believe the 45 is Marine. Could have been a one off or one of the electric buses has temporarily been moved to Marine. On a similar note buses 469 and 470 from Marine (branded Your New 26) have been operating on Service 37/x37 (based at Central) all day today.
 

Darklord8899

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Yes I believe the 45 is Marine. Could have been a one off or one of the electric buses has temporarily been moved to Marine. On a similar note buses 469 and 470 from Marine (branded Your New 26) have been operating on Service 37/x37 (based at Central) all day today.
Maybe some shuffling going on in readiness for the service changes??
 

Lothian_Bus

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Maybe some shuffling going on in readiness for the service changes??
It's possible although I doubt any of the 26 fleet would get moved. Several buses were involved with the 'Driver of the year' event at Ingliston so I suspect Central borrowed the 26's just for today. Surprised they went out on the 37 as opposed to the 8 though.
 
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