Been thinking as well if Lothian could buy some more Londoners then they could be used on the routes that don't need the full length Doubles but equally can't be singles: Some of the routes that definitely would suit include
21, 29, 49
Some Potential
1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 14, 15, 19, 24, 33, 36, 45, 47
Obviously the 29 is already one but I'm just listing them all
The 1 and 2 could go down to Every 20 with peak enhancements. Both are badly overcrowded during the peak. Some could increase or decrease. Not sure about 12. Some are probably bad suggestions (notably in the peak) but it's just from my own experiences when on them
Just to clarify the 6 Probably doesn't need these
Recently on the 1 there has been 1/2 deckers on the evening runs, usually been 1 ex London and 1 of the older geminis. Unsure if this is a Christmas market arrangement though. 12s run with a few deckers with good loadings in the peak.
to me the ex London ones would suit the 19, 21 and 49 looking at usual loading I see. Think a recast of the fleet utilisation may come with the new bus introduction.
Just rolling thought here not either a fully logical or perfect approach but few things I could see happening fleet wise:
New buses going onto some or proportions of the 3, 25, 31 & 44 (seem to be the best loadings without newer buses)
Ex Londons going onto the 1
Enviro Hybrids centred on one route (14 seems to be a logical choice)
Service wise. Am I the only one who thinks the 30 is a cumbersome and poor route. Gets worse this time a year when fort traffic can put 3 running together and the capacity issue due to the newcraighall railway bridge means there is an over crowding issue.
As for solutions? turning it back at the fort with a connecting service to Musselburgh (maybe provided from ECB) and putting deckers on at least some.
Another one that intrigues me is would combining the 6 and 61 into 1 route work.
Just pondering it yesterday (and by no means an informed solution) morning as buses poured out of central yesterday morning as I headed to work. Elm row between 6 and 8 is a good place to be for what I basically a convoy out of Annandale street.