West Lothian buses

[overthewater]

Evening and Sunday service to Livingston looks very sparse to me. Obvious use of the money if West Lothian are still interested in evenings or Sundays.

This is about to kick in: https://www.firstgroup.com/uploads/...nchburgh - Kirkliston - Edinburgh Airport.pdf

The money should be spent on like as i said making the 600 every 30mins to livingston or a new link to north Edinburgh

 

[backontrack]

This is about to kick in: https://www.firstgroup.com/uploads/node_images/WL 600 - Livingston - Broxburn - Winchburgh - Kirkliston - Edinburgh Airport.pdf

The money should be spent on like as i said making the 600 every 30mins to livingston or a new link to north Edinburgh

So there's a new link from Livingston to the Airport. Whoopdy-doo. Meanwhile, Kirkliston and Winchburgh have their central Edinburgh/Linlithgow frequencies halved and Winchburgh loses its direct service to the Gyle...surely there are more pressing matters at hand?

 

[overthewater]

So there's a new link from Livingston to the Airport. Whoopdy-doo. Meanwhile, Kirkliston and Winchburgh have their central Edinburgh/Linlithgow frequencies halved and Winchburgh loses its direct service to the Gyle...surely there are more pressing matters at hand?

The buses are not that busy going onto Edinburgh, I have seen plenty of daytime 38/38A around edinburgh and there never busy.... Winchburgh/kirkliston still still get 3ph down to city limits and bus straight into the airport. I dont want to see more money wasted.

Its now 14mins later and no one has postaghed the link to the new times times: https://lothiancountry.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/LC-X27-X28-275-WEB.pdf

The timings seem very tight...

 

[Darklord8899]

.... still no mention of fare structure or stopping arrangements for the new services though....

 

[Journeyman]

The buses are not that busy going onto Edinburgh, I have seen plenty of daytime 38/38A around edinburgh and there never busy.... Winchburgh/kirkliston still still get 3ph down to city limits and bus straight into the airport. I dont want to see more money wasted.

I use the 38/38A regularly between Winchburgh and Edinburgh - it's regularly three-quarters full at least.

 

[Edirim]

Stopping pattern for the X27/8 will be all stops Bathgate to Sighthill (Napier University) then Longstone Road, Westfield Road (Sainsbury's), Fountainpark then all stops to Regent Road and same in reverse according to their Facebook.

 

[Darklord8899]

Stopping pattern for the X27/8 will be all stops Bathgate to Sighthill (Napier University) then Longstone Road, Westfield Road (Sainsbury's), Fountainpark then all stops to Regent Road and same in reverse according to their Facebook.

Ahh thanks for that, thought they would have put that info on website as well as timetable.
Never thought to check their FB page

 

[overthewater]

I use the 38/38A regularly between Winchburgh and Edinburgh - it's regularly three-quarters full at least.

What of the day is would be that be? I also agree there can be busy journeys like a Saturday morning. Alas timekeeping has been dreadful with buses running in pairs or 20mins late..

 

[Observer]

The 38 problem could have been fixed with it not going into The Gyle Centre any more, that seemed to be the main cause of the timekeeping issues. Obviously they have fixed that now but at a major expense.

 

[Edirim]

Re the stopping pattern. They posted it as a comment replying to a question on Facebook so I'm sure they'll announce it properly in due course

 

[Darklord8899]

The 38 problem could have been fixed with it not going into The Gyle Centre any more, that seemed to be the main cause of the timekeeping issues. Obviously they have fixed that now but at a major expense.

The problem could have been fixed by terminating the 38A at the Gyle, leaving the 38 to run into Edinburgh City Centre.
I don't know how busy the 38 actually is, especially outwith peak times, but I would have thought 2bph from Newbridge/A8 would be more than enough? No?

 

[overthewater]

If it was me I would cut the service in two at Falkirk and make the Edinburgh side every 20mins but until the silly billy release that the best way forward were stuck,

 

[Bluebirdscot66]

The 38 problem could have been fixed with it not going into The Gyle Centre any more, that seemed to be the main cause of the timekeeping issues. Obviously they have fixed that now but at a major expense.

every 38A ive been on going from falkirk towards edinburgh always gets a good few from likes of polmont , linlithgow etc going to gyle, same in return with most .timekeeping is not just the gyle , length of the route from end to end and it can be really busy falkirk to stirling and back and then youve got the split of the 38a which can mean if the 38 and 38A are running together stirling to falkirk you cant really separate them as then youve got 1 missing out bridgend or gyle and nobody likes to see a bus running not in service and just dropping off passengers to make up time .then theres kirkliston . 6 stops to cover in about 4 mins with a set of lights that take 2 mins to change and worse if your coming from edinburgh where the queue can start at the bottom stop and take 10 to 15 mins to get through to the top stop around the corner . its a hit n miss cause the schedules that have a wee bit extra running time there can some days be early and have to wait,..... and ive not even got to the "dont comprimise saftey over running times" bit .

 

[oldman]

I wonder if First would think of retaliating by going back to Queensferry. Half-hourly limited stop, miss out Dalmeny, would only cost four buses and would show Lothian they were serious. If they are serious, that is.

 

[Darklord8899]

I wonder if First would think of retaliating by going back to Queensferry. Half-hourly limited stop, miss out Dalmeny, would only cost four buses and would show Lothian they were serious. If they are serious, that is.

...I'm not sure they are in a position to, even if they wanted to...

 

[overthewater]

I have to agree Stirling network is getting cut back to nothing the way its going.

 

[Robertj21a]

I wonder if First would think of retaliating by going back to Queensferry. Half-hourly limited stop, miss out Dalmeny, would only cost four buses and would show Lothian they were serious. If they are serious, that is.

I doubt that First has the interest, resources or finance to do anything of the sort these days.

 

[oldman]

I didn't realise things were so desperate that they couldn't put four buses on the road! Head office may decide West Lothian is a lost cause, but if not this would be a way of fighting back.

 

[backontrack]

I didn't realise things were so desperate that they couldn't put four buses on the road! Head office may decide West Lothian is a lost cause, but if not this would be a way of fighting back.

Especially if they can undercut the Lothian fares.

 

[TheEastCoaster]

I wonder if First would think of retaliating by going back to Queensferry. Half-hourly limited stop, miss out Dalmeny, would only cost four buses and would show Lothian they were serious. If they are serious, that is.

they'd be nuts to consider that considering how popular the 43 is, A new operation from first in the Edinburgh area seems unlikely in the future.

 

[smtglasgow]

As others have said, I don’t think First are in much of a position to fight back in Edinburgh. No base near the city, few resources, no spare vehicles etc, etc. Any ‘fighting fund’ they do have will probably go on fare cuts/promotions in West Lothian, but they might be tempted to register something just in front of LCB if they feel threatened.

 

[Journeyman]

The 38 problem could have been fixed with it not going into The Gyle Centre any more, that seemed to be the main cause of the timekeeping issues. Obviously they have fixed that now but at a major expense.

The 38A is certainly a lot slower going into town. I go to the Gyle quite regularly, but it's very easy to walk there from the stops at the Maybury/Marriott.

 

[Journeyman]

As others have said, I don’t think First are in much of a position to fight back in Edinburgh. No base near the city, few resources, no spare vehicles etc, etc. Any ‘fighting fund’ they do have will probably go on fare cuts/promotions in West Lothian, but they might be tempted to register something just in front of LCB if they feel threatened.

Certainly seems like they're shying away from the longer-distance market into and out of Edinburgh and deciding instead to focus on traffic within West Lothian/Falkirk/Stirling. Probably makes sense, they're no match for the train in terms of speed, but it's a real inconvenience for us in Winchburgh as we don't have a station yet.

 

[TheEastCoaster]

The new services start in 3 weeks time, is there any news regarding the fares or anything?

I don’t think even ECB kept their passengers waiting long with that info 2 years ago

 

[Stef434]

I didn't realise things were so desperate that they couldn't put four buses on the road! Head office may decide West Lothian is a lost cause, but if not this would be a way of fighting back.

Depending what HO your talking about

 

[Stef434]

they'd be nuts to consider that considering how popular the 43 is, A new operation from first in the Edinburgh area seems unlikely in the future.

I doubt that First has the interest, resources or finance to do anything of the sort these days.

First were glad to see the back of the 43s,this service was financially draining Livingston ,
the lost mileage was pushing up the depot percentage
the driver costs were above the weekly costings,
the customer complaints were high so in essence the profits made from live operations were propping up the depot making the margins on the 43s less profitable.

 

[MrHopefull]

this is all I could find when fiddling about with my wayfare

https://imgur.com/a/zlLaH7R

 

[oldman]

First were glad to see the back of the 43s,this service was financially draining Livingston ,
the lost mileage was pushing up the depot percentage
the driver costs were above the weekly costings,
the customer complaints were high so in essence the profits made from live operations were propping up the depot making the margins on the 43s less profitable.

I am talking about a spoiler service not a commercial service. Fighting a hostile intervention costs resources and taking some actual passengers of Lothian is a possible way of doing it.

 

[overthewater]

this is all I could find when fiddling about with my wayfare

So is West lothian and Edinburgh day ticket going to be a fiver?

 

[MrHopefull]

So is West lothian and Edinburgh day ticket going to be a fiver?

currently I have no idea that's all that comes up when I click on it