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

[VioletEclipse]

There is a petition going around to save the Tranent 26: https://www.change.org/p/save-26-tr...ial&utm_term=psf&utm_medium=mobileNativeShare

 

[paul47B]

I welcome the removal of skylink services and their replacement with a regular service 17 and 18, I always thought that charging the airport premium for the few airport passengers using these routes, particularly for longer distance. High mileage as I still do when I visit was a bit much and so quite happy to see the city zone pricing return for the end-to-end journey. Off topic slightly but it's quite interesting as I've been using McGills to go into the West end and changing over to avoid the high affair and now won't have to, I wonder how many others would be affected by this also

What vehicles will do the 17 and 18? Will they be single deck on a weekend?

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

What vehicles will do the 17 and 18? Will they be single deck on a weekend?

Would expect it to be a random mix until all the moves between depots are done.

 

[Blindtraveler]

I very much doubt a single deck will return to the 17, even in the early days when they were single deck. The amount of local traffic at some points along the route packed a single to capacity

 

[Auld reekie]

No they are moving to East Coast Buses. The 17 and 18 will use regular buses from Longstone Depot I assume.

That sounds about right.

 

[TheEastCoaster]

I think the 106 might run into Edinburgh in the future. There is no connection from Meadowbank to Fort Kinnard and the 106 will be an express service for Stoneybank. Then Mcmerry gets its Edinburgh service.

I doubt this will happen, the best meadowbank has is the 4 and the 5 from The Jewel and a 5 minute walk.

If anything, I see the 106 extending to Royal Infirmary to help elevate the pressure from the 46/48 and offer an alternative.

 

[muffy]

448 has made to Livingston in Green and is out on a rush hour X27 board. It's also my bus home from work today.

 

[Jordan1296]

4 BZL’s have debuted today so far. 730, 737, 739 and the aforementioned 748.

733 and 744 currently at Central so there’s a chance these two could go out today or tomorrow, assuming they don’t need mods.

455, 459 and 463 have moved to Seafield for repaint and onward transfer to Livingston. Expect a 4th bus to depart to balance things out.

733 made it out on to the 24 this afternoon. 744 hasn’t been used today.

 

[Porty]

I doubt this will happen, the best meadowbank has is the 4 and the 5 from The Jewel and a 5 minute walk.

If anything, I see the 106 extending to Royal Infirmary to help elevate the pressure from the 46/48 and offer an alternative.

...and also the X5, X6, X7 to The Jewel/Milton Link. There's also the infrequent Borders 253 to Berwick on Tweed which now loops off the A1 to the stop near Primark at Fort Kinnaird.

 

[TheEastCoaster]

...and also the X5, X6, X7 to The Jewel/Milton Link. There's also the infrequent Borders 253 to Berwick on Tweed which now loops off the A1 to the stop near Primark at Fort Kinnaird.

Which proves the point even further, to be honest I'm not sure why the new X6 is getting re-routed via Fort Kinnard anyway, if it's to trial run and see if there is demand to move one of the express services from Milton Link then fair enough.

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

733 made it out on to the 24 this afternoon. 744 hasn’t been used today.

Indeed and 456 has been released for Transfer. Central still to lose one more.

 

[VioletEclipse]

Which proves the point even further, to be honest I'm not sure why the new X6 is getting re-routed via Fort Kinnard anyway, if it's to trial run and see if there is demand to move one of the express services from Milton Link then fair enough.

Cutting off frequent direct service between Musselburgh and other parts of East Lothian will affect a lot of folk, espescially those who have to travel to musselburgh for dentists, opticians and such. The new X6 honestly doesn't seem all that useful especially being peak-only, although I realise that there are limits to resources.

Indeed and 456 has been released for Transfer. Central still to lose one more.

Today seems about the most positive day we've had since September in progress of the remaining BZLs of the 701-750 batch entereing service.

Now it remains to be seen what the rumoured 751-798 batch is like with delivery times and such, although I would still expect some acknowledgement or announcement from Lothian than an extra 48 are indeed coming.

 

[FP transport v]

Now it remains to be seen what the rumoured 751-798 batch is like with delivery times and such, although I would still expect some acknowledgement or announcement from Lothian than an extra 48 are indeed coming.

I suppose it will still be considered rumoured until it's publicly announced but Willie Hamilton (Operations director for Lothian) confirmed on the Omnibus society tour of Central depot that an order for a 2nd batch of 48 BZL's had been placed

 

[ScotRail158725]

Will they still be using the Sky Link buses on the 17 and 18?

No they’re going to East Coast as already stated

Not sure if these have already been taken off service for paint as theres 3 MMCs out on the 400 tonight (616, 625, 640)

Would expect it to be a random mix until all the moves between depots are done.

I can see the 26 going full MMC operation with the movement of a few of Centrals 600s

 

[Bus9120UK]

No they’re going to East Coast as already stated

Not sure if these have already been taken off service for paint as theres 3 MMCs out on the 400 tonight (616, 625, 640)

Of the Skylink group 498, 500-509 remain in use, however as 497/9 will be approaching completion I would expect the next few to commence soon.

 

[TheEastCoaster]

Cutting off frequent direct service between Musselburgh and other parts of East Lothian will affect a lot of folk, espescially those who have to travel to musselburgh for dentists, opticians and such. The new X6 honestly doesn't seem all that useful especially being peak-only, although I realise that there are limits to resources.

I get that but the examples listed above don't even serve Musselburgh, I am curious to see how busy it will get around Fort Kinnaird, especially with the 106 going double decker, which might entice folk over the 108.

 

[ian1944]

There is a petition going around to save the Tranent 26: https://www.change.org/p/save-26-tr...ial&utm_term=psf&utm_medium=mobileNativeShare

Refers to LRT - no doubt Dunsbus can tell us how many years it is since they ran the buses.

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

Refers to LRT - no doubt Dunsbus can tell us how many years it is since they ran the buses.

I doubt Lothian would take a petition of that scale seriously. It probably needs something like at least 5,000 signatures before it would be. It’s a noble attempt but one that I think is rather a waste of time. I certainly haven’t seen such a negative reaction of a service change in a long time.

 

[scosutsut]

With the B5TL/Enviro 400 MMC purchase and now, by the sound of it with the BZL/MCV order they've bought 2 short of 100.

Any idea what gives with that, in a fleet that seems to love uniformity and order more than most?

 

[DunsBus]

Refers to LRT - no doubt Dunsbus can tell us how many years it is since they ran the buses.

Incredibly - just over a quarter of a century ago.

LRT became Lothian Buses on January 6th, 2000.

 

[FP transport v]

With the B5TL/Enviro 400 MMC purchase and now, by the sound of it with the BZL/MCV order they've bought 2 short of 100.

Any idea what gives with that, in a fleet that seems to love uniformity and order more than most?

The only reason I've ever been able to come up with myself for this is maybe they want to leave space between the numbers of different batches and eliminate the possibility of batches being numbered in a different series which could be used for a future order of vehicles. For example the last batch of Tridents Lothian ordered were originally numbered all the way up to 705 I think? Which where then renumbered and the 700-800 series went to the Wrightbus Volvos

 

[DunsBus]

The only reason I've ever been able to come up with myself for this is maybe they want to leave space between the numbers of different batches and eliminate the possibility of batches being numbered in a different series which could be used for a future order of vehicles. For example the last batch of Tridents Lothian ordered were originally numbered all the way up to 705 I think? Which where then renumbered and the 700-800 series went to the Wrightbus Volvos

706. The remembering took place the following year with 701-706 becoming 656-661, with several other Tridents also being renumbered.

 

[TheEastCoaster]

Incredibly - just over a quarter of a century ago.

LRT became Lothian Buses on January 6th, 2000.

25 years on and folk can't move on from the old days.

 

[VioletEclipse]

With the B5TL/Enviro 400 MMC purchase and now, by the sound of it with the BZL/MCV order they've bought 2 short of 100.

Any idea what gives with that, in a fleet that seems to love uniformity and order more than most?

Maybe so that when they fill up the fleet, they can buy a batch of 4 singles numbered 99-100 and 199-200 then a batch of 15 deckers (299-300, 399-400, 499-500, 599-600, 699-700, 799-800, 899-900 and 999) and nicely fill up the gaps. (I'm joking, they very likely won't) - but mind you this isn't all that new, 599 and 600 were left out when they bought the tridents, however later 629 and 630 were given those numbers as part of all the renumberings. Having some wee gaps could com in useful in the future who knows.

 

[DunsBus]

Maybe so that when they fill up the fleet, they can buy a batch of 4 singles numbered 99-100 and 199-200 then a batch of 15 deckers (299-300, 399-400, 499-500, 599-600, 699-700, 799-800, 899-900 and 999) and nicely fill up the gaps. (I'm joking, they very likely won't) - but mind you this isn't all that new, 599 and 600 were left out when they bought the tridents, however later 629 and 630 were given those numbers as part of all the renumberings. Having some wee gaps could com in useful in the future who knows.

599 and 600 were also left out a generation previously when the two Leyland Titans due to have carried these numbers were cancelled. This is why there was a gap between Atlanteans 598 and 601.

 

[Resuwen]

You’d hope with fleet renewal the batch of East Coast deckers with numbers in the 10XX series could be moved into the 500s alongside the rest of the batch - the registration plates randomly go across both

 

[CN04NRJ]

Multiple 400s moved from Central to Seafield overnight (hurray!!!!)

 

[VioletEclipse]

You’d hope with fleet renewal the batch of East Coast deckers with numbers in the 10XX series could be moved into the 500s alongside the rest of the batch - the registration plates randomly go across both

I'm not saying it won't happen, but I would think that doing so would likely be more hassle than its worth.

 

[stevenedin]

I'm not saying it won't happen, but I would think that doing so would likely be more hassle than its worth.

I can only see it happening once all other buses apart from the XLBs are withdrawn so it can be a way to distinguish the difference between them but who knows.

 

[LothianBusesPh]

I can only see it happening once all other buses apart from the XLBs are withdrawn so it can be a way to distinguish the difference between them but who knows.

Or you can just look at the rear axle!