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

[FlybeDash8Q400]

Saw a picture of one of the new MCV bodied Volvo BZL electrics for Metroline earlier. It made me wonder if it’s a chassis we may see at some point in Edinburgh (either as a body by ADL, MCV or maybe even something else?).

 

[CN04NRJ]

Saw a picture of one of the new MCV bodied Volvo BZL electrics for Metroline earlier. It made me wonder if it’s a chassis we may see at some point in Edinburgh (either as a body by ADL, MCV or maybe even something else?).

I believe the bidders/winners for the next round of funding for zero emission buses in Scotland is being announced soon? Will be interested to see if Lothian are getting any - personally I could see 1-10 maybe getting replaced.

 

[VioletEclipse]

I believe the bidders/winners for the next round of funding for zero emission buses in Scotland is being announced soon? Will be interested to see if Lothian are getting any - personally I could see 1-10 maybe getting replaced.

is it not a bit early to replace 1-10? They're only 8 years old. Although I understand they're not that efficient and are a bit unreliable, from what I've heard.

 

[ScotRail158725]

personally I could see 1-10 maybe getting replaced.

A welcome replacement if they were. The amount of times those piles of junk have broken on me is unreal

 

[Graeme Duncan]

I take it 667/8 plus 673-698 will be entering service at some point this month.

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

A welcome replacement if they were. The amount of times those piles of junk have broken on me is unreal

The noise that some of them make as well. For me by far the worst batch of buses in the whole fleet now.

 

[Blindtraveler]

If I were Lothian I would simply be biting the bullet and spending the money to replace every single 7900 in the fleet. Dreadful dreadful buses and I should imagine the drivers hate them even more than the passengers do

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

If I were Lothian I would simply be biting the bullet and spending the money to replace every single 7900 in the fleet. Dreadful dreadful buses and I should imagine the drivers hate them even more than the passengers do

There’s only one thing I like about them and that’s the driving seat. Tried one a number of years ago at an open event. Besides that I agree nothing good about them (certainly from a passenger point of view), even the bandit screen is designed badly for things like Ridacards.



On a rather unfortunate note it looks as if 427 has been hit by youths, had been sat at Muirhouse for a good 45 mins and diversions have since been put in place, bus has since moved. Just keeps happening…

 

[freddiem]

There’s only one thing I like about them and that’s the driving seat. Tried one a number of years ago at an open event. Besides that I agree nothing good about them (certainly from a passenger point of view), even the bandit screen is designed badly for things like Ridacards.



On a rather unfortunate note it looks as if 427 has been hit by youths, had been sat at Muirhouse for a good 45 mins and diversions have since been put in place, bus has since moved. Just keeps happening…

I was on one of the 7900s and a woman in front of me boarding the bus caught her hand on the screen when removing her ridacard and it went straight into the coin hopper. I've never seen that sort of thing happen on any other bus and it was clearly due to poor locating of screen and card reader...

 

[oldman]

I was on one of the 7900s and a woman in front of me boarding the bus caught her hand on the screen when removing her ridacard and it went straight into the coin hopper. I've never seen that sort of thing happen on any other bus and it was clearly due to poor locating of screen and card reader...

I did exactly that on a Skylink bus - the ones with the ridiculously big luggage racks. Looking at it since then, to reach the card reader you have to pass the card directly over the hopper. Accident waiting to happen, as it did.

There is a lot of variation in the size and height of the opening - on some buses the reader is above the level of the top of the window opening which needs some awkward wrist movements for tall people while being a long stretch for short people. Some buses (I think the 7900s) have a curved opening which restricts hand movement. And the positioning of the reader is also all over the place - high, low, left, right.

Apart from anything else, the lack of ergonomic design slows down boarding.

 

[stantheman]

I take it 667/8 plus 673-698 will be entering service at some point this month.

On which service ...any idea and what will get the chop

 

[Volvodart]

I believe the bidders/winners for the next round of funding for zero emission buses in Scotland is being announced soon?

The bid deadline has recently been extended to the end of November, so it will be some time away.

 

[Darklord8899]

...funny, I've never had any issues with the 7900's I found them pretty comfortable to ride on the whole (and on fairly long journeys as well, Saughton Mains/Parkhead to Commy Pool regularly and on occasion to the Fort and even Musselburgh!)

 

[VioletEclipse]

The uncomfortable seats (especially the back row) and the overall lack of seats are my only complaints on the 7900s as a passenger. I love the 7900s but I would usually choose a Dart, Eclipse, or these days, an Evora over a 7900 to travel on for the reasons mentioned. Can't comment how how they're like to drive.

 

[Graeme Duncan]

667/8,673-675 at Longstone,676-690 at Marine and finally 691-698 going to East Coast Buses.
That is what I am surmising.

 

[Graham Alexand]

667/8,673-675 at Longstone,676-690 at Marine and finally 691-698 going to East Coast Buses.
That is what I am surmising.

The latest one to arrive is 680 SJ71 HKT (don't quote me on the the registration as it is a estimate).

 

[ScotRail158725]

The latest one to arrive is 680 SJ71 HKT (don't quote me on the the registration as it is a estimate).

As has been seen with the rest of this batch and previous ones, there are typically letters missed out

 

[Graham Alexand]

As has been seen with the rest of this batch and previous ones, there are typically letters missed out

Ahh yes, I think the only two letters I missed out were the usual ones, 'I' and 'Q'.

 

[Mal]

Ahh yes, I think the only two letters I missed out were the usual ones, 'I' and 'Q'.

Correct. DVLA does not issue those in rhe third part of vehicle registrations.

 

[CN04NRJ]

Ugh, what are they doing with it now?

Northbound closure, up to 6 months or more. Everything going via the Mound.

 

[Graham Alexand]

Correct. DVLA does not issue those in rhe third part of vehicle registrations.

Yeah, is it similar with no 'Z' at the beginning of the license plate e.g. 'Z'N64 COU?

 

[computerSaysNo]

Northbound closure, up to 6 months or more. Everything going via the Mound.

Ugh, yeah I've just found the news story on it.

 

[CN04NRJ]

Ugh, yeah I've just found the news story on it.

I couldn't find any news articles on it at the time hence the late reply, as I only knew about route changes etc at the time. Was originally 18 months I heard, glad it's down to 6!

 

[TheEastCoaster]

Very minor service change

https://www.lothianbuses.com/news/2...dEcRn08j81sNfAxX5o9ytVNSicU87uyIkSDCyyWu3nQZg

Following further analysis of customer journeys and travel patterns, a service change will take effect across Lothian Buses, Lothian Country, Airport and Nightbus services from Sunday 14 November.

Lothian, like many other transport operators, is currently working in an extremely challenging recruitment market. The combination of delays to medicals/license applications for new colleagues, coupled with safety protocols for colleagues who find themselves in the COVID-19 Test and Protect cycle, means that we are experiencing resourcing difficulties in our driving team on a day-to-day basis.

Whilst we are hopeful that some of the pressures we are currently facing will begin to reduce as the combined impact of these factors begins to lessen, we aim to improve reliability for our customers across our network and mitigate against these ongoing resourcing issues by introducing this service change.

Due to the closure of North Bridge for essential repairs and ongoing tram works at York Place as part of the Trams to Newhaven project, bus services will also be affected by city centre diversions. We would advise customers to plan ahead and allow extra time for their journeys. Details of these diversions can be found here.

Thank you to all of our customers, our colleagues and stakeholders for their continued support and understanding through what continues to be a challenging period for all.

Please note there will be no change to the East Coast buses network at this time.

nothing but loads of reductions on many services. Also service 281 from LCB is suspended, looks like Lothian Country really dont like Fauldhouse.

also no change to ECB meaning no X5.

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Really surprised that the 300 hasn’t been withdrawn yet, I lost a bet

 

[CN04NRJ]

Very minor service change

https://www.lothianbuses.com/news/2...dEcRn08j81sNfAxX5o9ytVNSicU87uyIkSDCyyWu3nQZg

nothing but loads of reductions on many services. Also service 281 from LCB is suspended, looks like Lothian Country really dont like Fauldhouse.

also no change to ECB meaning no X5.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Nov 2021 ==

Really surprised that the 300 hasn’t been withdrawn yet, I lost a bet

It seems no company is immune from the driver shortage/DVLA delays sadly..

 

[buslad1988]

It seems no company is immune from the driver shortage/DVLA delays sadly..

Spot on. The cuts seem fair across the board. IMO frequencies cannot be reduced anymore after this - I can already see capacity on some services being an issue; made worse with the impending festive season. Plus with lower frequencies any journey cuts or curtailments for late running etc. will be even more harder felt!

One significant benefit from the North Bridge closure is the re-routing of the 26 and 44 along Regent Road. This should massively improve journey times and delays! From the diversion maps though looks like customers will have to look very carefully at which buses are stopping where along Princes Street/Waverley.

 

[ScotRail158725]

Very minor service change

https://www.lothianbuses.com/news/2...dEcRn08j81sNfAxX5o9ytVNSicU87uyIkSDCyyWu3nQZg

nothing but loads of reductions on many services. Also service 281 from LCB is suspended, looks like Lothian Country really dont like Fauldhouse.

also no change to ECB meaning no X5.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Nov 2021 ==

Really surprised that the 300 hasn’t been withdrawn yet, I lost a bet

Who on earth thought a frequency reduction of the 3 was a good idea? The 3 struggles with passenger loading already throughout the whole day. And the frequency reduction of the 8 isn’t going to help the 3 on the Southside either

 

[computerSaysNo]

Who on earth thought a frequency reduction of the 3 was a good idea? The 3 struggles with passenger loading already throughout the whole day. And the frequency reduction of the 8 isn’t going to help the 3 on the Southside either

I'd agree RE the 3, I took it last week and there was someone wanting on or off at every stop between Princes Street and Gilmerton.
If I was being optimistic I'd say they might transfer some of the XLBs for the 3 but I doubt that'll happen.

From the diversion maps though looks like customers will have to look very carefully at which buses are stopping where along Princes Street/Waverley.

I'm about to adjust my City Centre map to reflect the new stops, if this is of help to anyone.
(The old one can be found here <https://github.com/40414148/Lothian_Published> (© myself), I'll post when the updated one is available.)

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Nov 2021 ==


Does anyone know the new service 35 diversion? I can't seem to find it on the Lothian website. Thanks.

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

Does anyone know the new service 35 diversion? I can't seem to find it on the Lothian website. Thanks.

I suspect it’s serving Holyrood again as per the timetable. Possibly via old Service 6 route via Jeffrey St and Holyrood Park. Hopefully they can confirm it soon.

 

[computerSaysNo]

I suspect it’s serving Holyrood again as per the timetable. Possibly via old Service 6 route via Jeffrey St and Holyrood Park. Hopefully they can confirm it soon.

Implying that it will be the only service serving the northbound stops on South Bridge?