Lothian Group discussion (Lothian City, Lothian Country Bus and East Coast Buses)

[ScotRail158725]

Do you have a source for this info?

The “source” for this will be the Ensign sales list and the end of the month

Don't forget 305!

He didn’t mention 305 hence why I left it out, how could I forget the best of those 3 at Central

 

[cnjb8]

The “source” for this will be the Ensign sales list and the end of the month


He didn’t mention 305 hence why I left it out, how could I forget the best of those 3 at Central

Nope, just found it. It’s on Derby Bus Depot fleet news if anyone is interested

The Derby Bus Depot

 

[Graeme Duncan]

666 is on the 44 today.

 

[vla50]

Have Lothian now got rid of the ex London City Tours B9s?

 

[Bus9120UK]

I presume 667 and 668 have arrived at Longstone.

They have not arrived yet - and still are parked outside at Seafield.

Have Lothian now got rid of the ex London City Tours B9s?

No, they are still parked inside at Marine.

 

[ScotRail158725]

They have not arrived yet.

They’re both parked at Seafield with 673-675

 

[Bus9120UK]

They’re both parked at Seafield with 673-675

I meant they haven't arrived at Longstone yet, poorly worded it and sorted it now! Apologies.

 

[GusB]

A bit of good news for Lothian:

Lothian receives Good Practice Award - Bus & Coach Buyer

Lothian has received a Good Practice Award in the 2021 VIBES Scottish Environment Business Awards. The VIBES Scottish Environment Business Awards rewards, recognises and promotes environmental best practice that brings benefits to business and the wider community. Lothian has invested over £78...

www.busandcoachbuyer.com

Lothian has received a Good Practice Award in the 2021 VIBES Scottish Environment Business Awards.

The VIBES Scottish Environment Business Awards rewards, recognises and promotes environmental best practice that brings benefits to business and the wider community. Lothian has invested over £78 million since 2011 in a bid to reduce our emissions, and during this period, more than 300 vehicles have been replaced with more efficient, lower emission vehicles

It has implemented its Bus 2020 strategy, aimed at achieving a wide range of environmentally focused goals, including a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 42%. Building on Bus 2020, the operator is working more closely with Green Tourism to develop a new strategy planned to include an evaluative online ‘Sustainability Assessment’ platform designed to allow it to demonstrate its environmental performance to internal and external stakeholders in real-time.

“Our vision is to be an integral part of the future success of Edinburgh and the Lothians by providing world class environmentally-friendly and socially inclusive transport” – Claire McVicar, Environmental Officer for Lothian

Claire McVicar, Environmental Officer for Lothian, said: “We are delighted to have been recognised by VIBES Scottish Environment Business Awards, particularly this year given the COP26 summit will be held in Scotland and world leaders will be descending on Glasgow at the end of the month to set out their plans on tackling runaway climate change.

“During the Covid-19 pandemic, we worked tirelessly to keep Edinburgh moving and our customers and colleagues safe, and were still able to fulfil a significant order for additional Euro VI buses, allowing us to remove some of our older vehicles from the fleet.

“Our vision is to be an integral part of the future success of Edinburgh and the Lothians by providing world class environmentally-friendly and socially inclusive transport. We will continue to invest in technology – and people – to make sure our services exceed the needs and expectations of our customers as we work towards the City of Edinburgh Council’s goal of becoming a net-zero carbon organisation by 2030.”

 

[TheEastCoaster]

boarded a pretty busy X27 today and got to see the new route via Calderwood! it was a nice new section but it felt like 5-10 detour minutes!

also tried the 280 for the first time which was fully loaded around 3ish! not sure if this may have to do with First services journeys being cancelled but it was good for Lothian anyway

 

[ScotRail158725]

boarded a pretty busy X27 today and got to see the new route via Calderwood! it was a nice new section but it felt like 5-10 detour minutes!

also tried the 280 for the first time which was fully loaded around 3ish! not sure if this may have to do with First services journeys being cancelled but it was good for Lothian anyway

that tour round calderwood is a nightmare, especially with all those traffic calming measures, its unbelievable how many speed bumps, islands, and one way priority measure there are

 

[Graham Alexand]

boarded a pretty busy X27 today and got to see the new route via Calderwood! it was a nice new section but it felt like 5-10 detour minutes!

also tried the 280 for the first time which was fully loaded around 3ish! not sure if this may have to do with First services journeys being cancelled but it was good for Lothian anyway

I've seen a good few 275's lately which are around 65% full.

 

[Busman757]

that tour round calderwood is a nightmare, especially with all those traffic calming measures, its unbelievable how many speed bumps, islands, and one way priority measure there are

Sending a bus through there was certainly the last thought of the developers.

 

[Auld reekie]

that tour round calderwood is a nightmare, especially with all those traffic calming measures, its unbelievable how many speed bumps, islands, and one way priority measure there are

Was on that route last week.
No big deal.
At least people have a bus service.
If there wasn’t people would be moaning.

 

[freddiem]

Anytime I have been on the X27 through Calderwood the bus has had to wait at the Primary school stop for the bus going in the opposite direction which can result in a wait of up to 6/7 minutes because the driver can't take the chance of meeting another bus at a narrow point further along! Definitely seems the bus was an after thought....

 

[Busman757]

Anytime I have been on the X27 through Calderwood the bus has had to wait at the Primary school stop for the bus going in the opposite direction which can result in a wait of up to 6/7 minutes because the driver can't take the chance of meeting another bus at a narrow point further along! Definitely seems the bus was an after thought....

Must’ve been a new driver. Plough on through. If you meet another bus, you meet another bus. Not worth sitting waiting. Same with Kirknewton.

 

[CN04NRJ]

Must’ve been a new driver. Plough on through. If you meet another bus, you meet another bus. Not worth sitting waiting. Same with Kirknewton.

On the 20 we had to wait for the bus to come down from Ratho if we hadn't seen it before going up through the lane or get out and check the app to see where it was tracking.

Made the mistake once of going straight up thinking I was the only bus early on a Saturday morning - fortunately I met it just before the bridge and not in the lane!

 

[Busman757]

On the 20 we had to wait for the bus to come down from Ratho if we hadn't seen it before going up through the lane or get out and check the app to see where it was tracking.

Made the mistake once of going straight up thinking I was the only bus early on a Saturday morning - fortunately I met it just before the bridge and not in the lane!

Aye that’s understandable as there’s no way you are fitting two buses up there. Calderwood isn’t even that tight, it’s just where the corners are.

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

On the 20 we had to wait for the bus to come down from Ratho if we hadn't seen it before going up through the lane or get out and check the app to see where it was tracking.

Made the mistake once of going straight up thinking I was the only bus early on a Saturday morning - fortunately I met it just before the bridge and not in the lane!

I remember waiting on Harvest Drive for ages some years ago when I think the 12 serviced Ratho. At the back of my mind I knew we were late and I just had no idea why we didn’t move, and that explains it! As right enough we moved as soon as the Citybound 12 passed. Seems so obvious now.

 

[mb88]

On the 20 we had to wait for the bus to come down from Ratho if we hadn't seen it before going up through the lane or get out and check the app to see where it was tracking.

Made the mistake once of going straight up thinking I was the only bus early on a Saturday morning - fortunately I met it just before the bridge and not in the lane!

I once had the opposite happen to me when I worked for Metrobus we had a route with 2 vehicles and one very tight section and you were not permitted to enter until you’d passed the bus coming the other way. What they failed to tell me was that after 7pm it went down to one bus, so there was me sat there waiting on a bus that was back at the yard.

Regarding Calderwood, you can easily get two buses by each other there if you plan ahead and give way at the wider points. Kirknewton is far worse as there is a blind bend with parked cars often on both sides. It’s especially bad if people abandon, sorry park, their cars outside the wee shop on the corner as that’s your only passing place.

 

[nathanchansc]

I once had the opposite happen to me when I worked for Metrobus we had a route with 2 vehicles and one very tight section and you were not permitted to enter until you’d passed the bus coming the other way. What they failed to tell me was that after 7pm it went down to one bus, so there was me sat there waiting on a bus that was back at the yard.

Regarding Calderwood, you can easily get two buses by each other there if you plan ahead and give way at the wider points. Kirknewton is far worse as there is a blind bend with parked cars often on both sides. It’s especially bad if people abandon, sorry park, their cars outside the wee shop on the corner as that’s your only passing place.

I have also been wondering if there is similar situation/arrangement for the 30 going in and out of Queen Margaret University? The bridge is one lane as I recall and the 30 is so frequent. Just wondering if they can see the bus coming across or how they avoid meeting each other half way through the bridge? (Sorry if it's stupid question!)

(P.S. First time posting here - hello guys!)

 

[TheEastCoaster]

Was on that route last week.
No big deal.
At least people have a bus service.
If there wasn’t people would be moaning.

To be fair every stop had someone boarding it so at least the re-route has its benefits

on another semi-unrelated note I was also on the 276 from Bathgate to Broxburn (had time to kill and i know an X18 would of saved me 50 minutes at least )

Wasnt that busy overall but I did notice folk from Bathgate/Blackburn got on and then got off at West Calder/Polbeth so it’s safe to say that the direct link has its uses, although the route from Blackburn to Loganlea is very peaceful it’s also very Hilly, got that motion sickness feeling all over but besides that it was pretty quiet and folk getting on from that point we’re only on for a few stops and once I entered Broxburn it was dead.

Overall a fun route till it hits Livingston then your bound to get tired.

Also did the X18 coming back to Edinburgh that had more loads in comparison and it even did that RBS diversion with a really long layover for some reason (and no the bus wasn’t running early too)

But overall my LCB experiences that day we’re something else. The X27 had good loads and the 280 was almost full to Bathgate!

 

[Auld reekie]

To be fair every stop had someone boarding it so at least the re-route has its benefits

on another semi-unrelated note I was also on the 276 from Bathgate to Broxburn (had time to kill and i know an X18 would of saved me 50 minutes at least )

Wasnt that busy overall but I did notice folk from Bathgate/Blackburn got on and then got off at West Calder/Polbeth so it’s safe to say that the direct link has its uses, although the route from Blackburn to Loganlea is very peaceful it’s also very Hilly, got that motion sickness feeling all over but besides that it was pretty quiet and folk getting on from that point we’re only on for a few stops and once I entered Broxburn it was dead.

Overall a fun route till it hits Livingston then your bound to get tired.

Also did the X18 coming back to Edinburgh that had more loads in comparison and it even did that RBS diversion with a really long layover for some reason (and no the bus wasn’t running early too)

But overall my LCB experiences that day we’re something else. The X27 had good loads and the 280 was almost full to Bathgate!

You certainly had a busy day.

 

[Lothianbus703]

Just wondering but when did the 36 start running between Ocean Terminal and The gyle centre?

 

[Graham Alexand]

Just wondering but when did the 36 start running between Ocean Terminal and The gyle centre?

I thought it had always done that, did it not?

 

[alexf380]

Just wondering but when did the 36 start running between Ocean Terminal and The gyle centre?

2016 I think. It was re-routed from Holyrood to Glenlockhart at Napier Uni in 2014 and not too long after that it was extended up to the Gyle.

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

I thought it had always done that, did it not?

It’s only done it for a few years, four at most. I’m unsure of an exact timeline but basically:

It did Ocean Terminal to Holyrood for years before being rerouted to terminate at Glenlockhart (at the Craiglockhart University) in June 2014, this allowed all 23’s to terminate at Greenbank - which until then had only received every second bus, Glenlockhart getting the other. The 6 was introduced to replace the 36 in Holyrood, but alas was pretty pointless as a route.

It was sent up Morningside Drive to scale back and ultimately withdraw the Craighouse journeys on the 41 - King’s Buildings similarly only got every 2nd bus, the Craighouse journeys in 2014 were reduced to an hourly shuttle between there and Hanover Street and run mostly with a Dart.

More recently (in 2018 I think) the 36 was extended to the Gyle Centre. At this point it stopped serving the grounds of Craiglockhart campus.

 

[Auld reekie]

2016 I think. It was re-routed from Holyrood to Glenlockhart at Napier Uni in 2014 and not too long after that it was extended up to the Gyle.

2016 is probably about right.
Definitely not 2018.
I moved away from Longstone in 2018 and I was using that bus for probably about 2 years previously.

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

2016 is probably about right.
Definitely not 2018.

I’ve checked it, 23rd April 2017. I knew 2016 was just a bit too early.

The 36 has certainly come a long way in the last 10 years. Going from one of the shortest on the network to one of the longest.

 

[Graham Alexand]

It’s only done it for a few years, four at most. I’m unsure of an exact timeline but basically:

It did Ocean Terminal to Holyrood for years before being rerouted to terminate at Glenlockhart (at the Craiglockhart University) in June 2014, this allowed all 23’s to terminate at Greenbank - which until then had only received every second bus, Glenlockhart getting the other. The 6 was introduced to replace the 36 in Holyrood, but alas was pretty pointless as a route.

It was sent up Morningside Drive to scale back and ultimately withdraw the Craighouse journeys on the 41 - King’s Buildings similarly only got every 2nd bus, the Craighouse journeys in 2014 were reduced to an hourly shuttle between there and Hanover Street and run mostly with a Dart.

More recently (in 2018 I think) the 36 was extended to the Gyle Centre. At this point it stopped serving the grounds of Craiglockhart campus.

Ahh right, thank you for that.

 

[Auld reekie]

I’ve checked it, 23rd April 2017. I knew 2016 was just a bit too early.

The 36 has certainly come a long way in the last 10 years. Going from one of the shortest on the network to one of the longest.

Thanks for that update.