Lothian Buses and ECB Discussion

[Jordan Adam]

A Friend of mine claimed that he saw a photo on flickr that looked like it was in Birmingham and it had the Lothian Interior but with NWXM seating, I don't believe him as I couldn't find the photo.

I doubt that's the case. I don't see why NXWM would randomly buy a non standard B7RLE. More to the point why Lothian would randomly sell a bus so young.

 

[OmniCity999]

A Friend of mine claimed that he saw a photo on flickr that looked like it was in Birmingham and it had the Lothian Interior but with NWXM seating, I don't believe him as I couldn't find the photo.

If you squint, from 50m away and close your right eye whilst looking at a NXWM bus it may look similar to a Lothian bus, nothings been sold in the last seven weeks. Any departures in that time had been pre arranged and they were Geminis.

 

[ScotRail158725]

If you squint, from 50m away and close your right eye whilst looking at a NXWM bus it may look similar to a Lothian bus, nothings been sold in the last seven weeks. Any departures in that time had been pre arranged and they were Geminis.

aye^, older nxwm buses have a sinilar interior to lothian. doubt anything will be getting sold anytime soon

 

[CN04NRJ]

A Friend of mine claimed that he saw a photo on flickr that looked like it was in Birmingham and it had the Lothian Interior but with NWXM seating, I don't believe him as I couldn't find the photo.

The Green Bus company have a load of ex Lothian B7TLs, maybe it was one of them and he was confused?

 

[Graeme Duncan]

Is there any possibility that 579-590 will be joining the Lothian Country Fleet in the foreseeable future joining 571-578 amongst several others.

 

[ScotRail158725]

Is there any possibility that 579-590 will be joining the Lothian Country Fleet in the foreseeable future joining 571-578 amongst several others.

why would they? they’ve just been put into lothian colours recently and are working fine in the city fleet.

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

Any idea if the fleet is getting swapped about at the end of the week? Was thinking some of 416-430 (minus the Tattoo wrapped one and 427) possibly coming out, maybe those Zoo wrapped Gemini3’s that have yet to make an appearance plus some of the first 3 weeks of vehicles used (ex London B9TL’s etc).

 

[OmniCity999]

Any idea if the fleet is getting swapped about at the end of the week? Was thinking some of 416-430 (minus the Tattoo wrapped one and 427) possibly coming out, maybe those Zoo wrapped Gemini3’s that have yet to make an appearance plus some of the first 3 weeks of vehicles used (ex London B9TL’s etc).

Another vehicle swap soon.

 

[ScotRail158725]

Any idea if the fleet is getting swapped about at the end of the week? Was thinking some of 416-430 (minus the Tattoo wrapped one and 427) possibly coming out, maybe those Zoo wrapped Gemini3’s that have yet to make an appearance plus some of the first 3 weeks of vehicles used (ex London B9TL’s etc).

the older 07, 57, 08, 59, Marine 11 plate plate B9s and B7s need a shot they’ve been sat still for 5 weeks now while ex londoners were out only 2 weeks ago

 

[OmniCity999]

the older 07, 57, 08, 59, Marine 11 plate plate B9s and B7s need a shot they’ve been sat still for 5 weeks now while ex londoners were out only 2 weeks ago

It's not just about who is due "a shot". It mostly comes down to MOT and having people available to shunt vehicles around.

What is out now all have MOT's. A lot of buses are laid up without MOTs or with short MOT's as a lot of engineering staff have been off, furloughed. There is only a skeleton team currently at work.

Buses that are stored at Newbridge and the back of Longstone and Livingston all had less time on their MOT's, so were laid up long term. Enough buses were kept at each depot with longer MOT's to be rotated between service and short term out of use. That's not to say that all the vehicles at Newbridge have short MOT's.

Some more engineers are going back in soon and the backlog will start to be dealt with, but it will take some time.

 

[Lothiangem22]

Changing topic slightly... I’ve noticed how busy the 30 route is recently - surely one of Lothian’s busiest right now. There is a few comments on twitter suggesting routing via A1 and providing double deckers. Just wondering peoples thoughts on this?

 

[ScotRail158725]

Changing topic slightly... I’ve noticed how busy the 30 route is recently - surely one of Lothian’s busiest right now. There is a few comments on twitter suggesting routing via A1 and providing double deckers. Just wondering peoples thoughts on this?

been discussed numerous times before. that leaves newcriaghall, especially with all the additional new houses, and part off musselburgh with no direct bus service to the city and the one that remains being infrequent. the main solution would be artics but who knows i reckon it will just stay as is

 

[CN04NRJ]

been discussed numerous times before. that leaves newcriaghall, especially with all the additional new houses, and part off musselburgh with no direct bus service to the city and the one that remains being infrequent. the main solution would be artics but who knows i reckon it will just stay as is

The bridge at the QMU, particularly coming back out, would make me nervous in an artic. Not much room for error there, and trust me trying to reverse a bendy bus isn't much fun !

Hopefully any new single decks will have more capacity than the 7900s.

 

[OmniCity999]

Changing topic slightly... I’ve noticed how busy the 30 route is recently - surely one of Lothian’s busiest right now. There is a few comments on twitter suggesting routing via A1 and providing double deckers. Just wondering peoples thoughts on this?

been discussed numerous times before. that leaves newcriaghall, especially with all the additional new houses, and part off musselburgh with no direct bus service to the city and the one that remains being infrequent. the main solution would be artics but who knows i reckon it will just stay as is

The bridge at the QMU, particularly coming back out, would make me nervous in an artic. Not much room for error there, and trust me trying to reverse a bendy bus isn't much fun !

Hopefully any new single decks will have more capacity than the 7900s.

In the next few years they will be building houses either side of the A1 around QMU.

The existing short slip road at QMU will be extended and a new one created in the opposite side with and underpass created, a road with the A1 bridging over - a lot of work.

A new bus lane/gate like the one at RIE is to be created behind B&Q. This would allow the 30 to be double deck. The 30 could run through Fort Kinnaird, down past B&Q and take a left. Here it would go into new retail units, onward to the new housing estate on the south side of the A1. It would then pass under the A1 onto QMU. Then on to regular 30 route to Musselburgh.

They'd need to strengthen routes through Newcraighall village. For this I'd imagine they'd make the 106 hourly from Dunbar, through Newcraighall to Fort Kinnaird and onto RIE. With extra hourly 106's maybe from Wallyford or Whitecraig through Wallyford P&C, through Musselburgh, Fort Kinnaird and onto RIE. Making a half hourly 106 from Wallyford P&C to RIE via Newcraighall and Firt Kinnaird.

 

[Bus9120UK]

By the looks of it a new Seating Moquette is coming, I am not a fan of this as I prefer the current one we have.
EDIT: I have been mistaken, they are just for the high school as a design competition, and they asked Lothian and the public to vote which one was the best. https://twitter.com/on_lothianbuses/status/1256249652791447553/photo/2

 

[alexf380]

The rest of the tweet states it's just a high school art project and there's no intention of changing the moquette. They do all look like the sort of thing youd see on a bus though!

 

[SpeedbirdA350]

Changing topic slightly... I’ve noticed how busy the 30 route is recently - surely one of Lothian’s busiest right now. There is a few comments on twitter suggesting routing via A1 and providing double deckers. Just wondering peoples thoughts on this?

been discussed numerous times before. that leaves newcriaghall, especially with all the additional new houses, and part off musselburgh with no direct bus service to the city and the one that remains being infrequent. the main solution would be artics but who knows i reckon it will just stay as is

Only other way they could do it would be have 30 as a decker to Fort Kinnaird, and then a 30B single from Fort Kinnaird to Musselburgh. Or increase frequency. Given it's every 30 minutes during the pandemic, if it is busy, then perhaps it needs to go to every 20 minutes or so, but that depends on a number of factors ie drivers availiblity and bus availibility.

 

[TheEastCoaster]

In the next few years they will be building houses either side of the A1 around QMU.

The existing short slip road at QMU will be extended and a new one created in the opposite side with and underpass created, a road with the A1 bridging over - a lot of work.

A new bus lane/gate like the one at RIE is to be created behind B&Q. This would allow the 30 to be double deck. The 30 could run through Fort Kinnaird, down past B&Q and take a left. Here it would go into new retail units, onward to the new housing estate on the south side of the A1. It would then pass under the A1 onto QMU. Then on to regular 30 route to Musselburgh.

They'd need to strengthen routes through Newcraighall village. For this I'd imagine they'd make the 106 hourly from Dunbar, through Newcraighall to Fort Kinnaird and onto RIE. With extra hourly 106's maybe from Wallyford or Whitecraig through Wallyford P&C, through Musselburgh, Fort Kinnaird and onto RIE. Making a half hourly 106 from Wallyford P&C to RIE via Newcraighall and Firt Kinnaird.

Never knew a bus gate was getting created behind B&Q! at least that way the 30 could finally go double decker and still serve a portion of the route still linking it to the city.

As for the 106, perhaps linking it to the RIE via the Wisp could pick up some more passengers that way, not only would it be a faster alternative to the 111 but since it’s under Lothian fares, pass users will most likely use it towards Musselburgh and Tranent

 

[DunsBus]

Looking at a map, I'd imagine that the revised 30 will be serving Mucklets Road. This was the old back road into Musselburgh, severed when the A1 bypass was built in 1985, and never served by buses when it was a through road.

 

[scotrail158713]

As for the 106, perhaps linking it to the RIE via the Wisp could pick up some more passengers that way, not only would it be a faster alternative to the 111 but since it’s under Lothian fares, pass users will most likely use it towards Musselburgh and Tranent

It would probably pick up some Haddington passengers as well as the 111 isn’t the most direct from Haddington to the RIE

 

[OmniCity999]

Looking at a map, I'd imagine that the revised 30 will be serving Mucklets Road. This was the old back road into Musselburgh, severed when the A1 bypass was built in 1985, and never served by buses when it was a through road.

Which one is Mucklets Road? I can only find Avenue and Drive?

The proposed route between The Fort and QMU is sketchy, but i believe their building more commercial units behind B&Q and i believe there are going to be many bridges and underpasses around Millerhill depot. It's really not an ideal place to build houses but planning has been submitted and granted.

There will be houses either side of QMU, right up to the houses in the east and right up to Newcraighall Village in the North. South of the A1, Old Craighall, Millerhill, Danderhall and Fort Kinnaird will effectively be joined.

Attached is an image of the couple of routes i think they 30 could take. Difficult as theres no roads there yet.

 

[DunsBus]

Which one is Mucklets Road? I can only find Avenue and Drive?

The proposed route between The Fort and QMU is sketchy, but i believe their building more commercial units behind B&Q and i believe there are going to be many bridges and underpasses around Millerhill depot. It's really not an ideal place to build houses but planning has been submitted and granted.

There will be houses either side of QMU, right up to the houses in the east and right up to Newcraighall Village in the North. South of the A1, Old Craighall, Millerhill, Danderhall and Fort Kinnaird will effectively be joined.

Attached is an image of the couple of routes i think they 30 could take. Difficult as theres no roads there yet.

Mucklets Road doesn't exist as such now as much of it lies under the QMU site. The only bit of it left is the bridge at Musselburgh station which the 30 uses to access the QMU.

Until the A1 bypass was built, it formed part of the back road between Edinburgh and Musselburgh, branching off Newcraighall Road where the Fort is now as Whitehill Road and heading in a generally easterly direction past the goods yard at Millerhill (visible on your image). East of where the A1 is, it became Mucklets Road and then Whitehill Farm Road through Stoneybank, becoming Stoneybank Terrace for its last few yards before meeting Monktonhall Terrace.

When the A1 bypass was built, in 1985, Whitehill Road became a dead end at the goods yard whilst Mucklets Road was sealed off at the Stoneybank end and downgraded to a footpath - albeit a rather wide one - which was realigned when the QMU was built. A new road, the present Olivebank Road, was put in between Newhailes Road and the western end of Mall Avenue as part of the A1 scheme, to maintain a link to Stoneybank and central Musselburgh from the Edinburgh side.

Mention of Mucklets Avenue - as you may know this was the terminus of the 15/15A for many years, and a calling point for the 30 until 2009. On the LRT fare stages for the 15/15A it was listed as Mucklets Avenue (Pylon), after the giant electricity pylon which occupies the central island at the former terminus.

 

[stantheman]

Is Musselburgh Scotrail station served by buses ? Haven’t been there in a while .

 

[SpeedbirdA350]

30 and 111 go near the station. 45 too I think. Would need to walk to QMU from the station (about 3 minute walk)

 

[OmniCity999]

Is Musselburgh Scotrail station served by buses ? Haven’t been there in a while .

That station itself isnt directly served by a bus service.

The Lothian Buses 30 and 45 and Prentice 111 pass directly over it but the nearest walking distance stop is 3-5 minutes either side.

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

I've heard some Volvo B8RLE's have been ordered by Lothian. I've been told it's not an ADL body which would therefore make me think it's more likely to be the MCV eVoRa (surely not?). I'm not sure on exact number but believe it is a substantial amount to replace a large chunk of the single deck fleet (including 04 & 55 plates, ex Arriva's and the 07 & 57 plates).

This to go along with a number of B8L's, B5LH's and B5TL's due this year.

 

[overthewater]

Have been order? are getting order? Because one is delaying orders left right and centre.

 

[CN04NRJ]

I've heard some Volvo B8RLE's have been ordered by Lothian. I've been told it's not an ADL body which would therefore make me think it's more likely to be the MCV eVoRa (surely not?). I'm not sure on exact number but believe it is a substantial amount to replace a large chunk of the single deck fleet (including 04 & 55 plates, ex Arriva's and the 07 & 57 plates).

This to go along with a number of B8L's, B5LH's and B5TL's due this year.

If they're not MCV or ADL what would that leave? Wright would surely be completely out of the question too.

 

[OmniCity999]

If they're not MCV or ADL what would that leave? Wright would surely be completely out of the question too.

Optare? Haha

I'm led to believe its ADL and they'll have the same front end as the XLB's. I'm pretty sure it wont be MCV's as their build quality was shocking. We're also trying to build a relationship with ADL, who are willing to commission new products for us. Look at the XLB's and the Leopards, the were originally commissioned by us.

 

[ScotRail158725]

Optare? Haha

I'm led to believe its ADL and they'll have the same front end as the XLB's. I'm pretty sure it wont be MCV's as their build quality was shocking. We're also trying to build a relationship with ADL, who are willing to commission new products for us. Look at the XLB's and the Leopards, the were originally commissioned by us.

is there any chance of seeing a fully ADL product in the future? such as a standard Enviro 200MMC or Enviro 400 MMC?