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

[ScotRail158725]

Passed 664 headed east on the M8 just now, has that been away?

Volvo Cardonald, seen it yeaterday doing a test run? around Braehead

 

[CN04NRJ]

928 is out on driver training today, looks very smart in red/white.

 

[LothianBusesPh]

928 is out on driver training today, looks very smart in red/white.

It has been doing that for about two weeks now. The front logo is wonky and the vinyl around the destination display isn't making it look great.

 

[CN04NRJ]

It has been doing that for about two weeks now. The front logo is wonky and the vinyl around the destination display isn't making it look great.

I wouldn't say it looks too bad, it's great to see it back in the fleet though.

 

[VioletEclipse]

I've seen conflicting information as to which one of the new Volvo 9700s is 9012 and which is 9013. Does anyone know for certain?

 

[CSB0241]

I've seen conflicting information as to which one of the new Volvo 9700s is 9012 and which is 9013. Does anyone know for certain?

SJ73HVL is 9013.

 

[Bus9120UK]

SJ73HVL is 9013.

Other than 'buslistsontheweb', what evidence is there? How do the people updating the site know? Surely HVL would be 9012 and HWL 9013?

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

SJ73HVL is 9013.

I’ve been told it’s 9012 so until we’ve seen something official it’s almost impossible to tell.

 

[MasterSpenny]

I’ve been told it’s 9012 so until we’ve seen something official it’s almost impossible to tell.

This seems to be correct, as I can now confirm that buslistsontheweb.co.uk is now showing updated information for the pair of Volvo 9700s. What is now shown is 9012 under the plate SJ73HVL, and 9013 under the plate SJ73HWL.

 

[jkkne]

Slightly OT but a question on Lothian bus etiquette of sorts.

I travelled a few times last week and the bus pulled into a bus stop behind a bus, indicated and stopped but the doors didn’t open and passengers waited until the bus in front departed and the bus pulled in line with the bus stop before people boarded. I’ve never seen this happen elsewhere and locally to me, the passengers would walk to the bus and get on as opposed to waiting.

It seems incredibly inefficient; it even happened on Princes Street when the bus was pulled in onto the pavement and it was clearly safe, yet we waited whilst the bus inches forward a yard at most to pull up. I’m not sure if it’s a local etiquette thing but it's a bit weird.

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

Slghtly OT but a question on Lothian bus etiquette of sorts.

I travelled a few times last week and the bus pulled into a bus stop behind a bus, indicated and stopped but the doors didn’t open and passengers waited until the bus infront departed and the bus pulled in line with the bus stop before people boarded. I’ve never seen this happen elsewhere and locally to me, the passengers would walk to the bus and get on as opposed to waiting.

It seems incredibly inefficient, it even happened on princes street when the bus was pulled in onto the pavement and it was clearly safe yet we waited whilst the bus inches forward a yard at most to pull up. I’m not sure if it’s a local etiquette thing but its a bit weird

It is exactly that. A local policy. Unique to Edinburgh, but it is the way it has always been done here.

For me there are certain scenarios where the rule should be broken, like when the bus in front is exceptionally busy and is loading more people than the bus at the rear (two different services) or if the bus at the front has half departed the stop and is in traffic, but cannot move due to lights.

You’d think it would be inefficient but believe it or not it doesn’t take much longer, it just feels like it’s painfully slower. You’ll find that within Edinburgh the system isn’t unique to Lothian as well, most operators do it, possibly in a way forced by the fact it doesn’t really work if it’s just Lothian.

 

[Siemens Trains]

It seems incredibly inefficient; it even happened on Princes Street when the bus was pulled in onto the pavement and it was clearly safe, yet we waited whilst the bus inches forward a yard at most to pull up. I’m not sure if it’s a local etiquette thing but it's a bit weird.

The 'board at flag' topic arises quite frequently on here. I feel it's especially important in the city centre for safety, equality and queue discipline reasons. Other operators are catching on but their passengers still tend to poach - ie move some distance upstream in the hope of boarding ahead of those patiently waiting at the stop and perhaps denying them carriage.
I appreciate non-locals may find this weird and in fairness 36 inches does sound marginal, but I'm just as unsettled when visiting cities where passengers are expected to chase the bus.

 

[Scotrail314209]

When I first moved to Edinburgh I found the whole procedure took some getting used to, being somewhere where the buses board at the same time (and depart depending on whoever finished first). I'm used to it now and it was definitely bizarre at first, but sometimes it still feels like it takes pretty long to alight sometimes, unless you are on an XLB where the driver chooses to let alighting passengers off while they wait for a bus that is taking it's time to load up infront.

 

[Auld reekie]

Slightly OT but a question on Lothian bus etiquette of sorts.

I travelled a few times last week and the bus pulled into a bus stop behind a bus, indicated and stopped but the doors didn’t open and passengers waited until the bus in front departed and the bus pulled in line with the bus stop before people boarded. I’ve never seen this happen elsewhere and locally to me, the passengers would walk to the bus and get on as opposed to waiting.

It seems incredibly inefficient; it even happened on Princes Street when the bus was pulled in onto the pavement and it was clearly safe, yet we waited whilst the bus inches forward a yard at most to pull up. I’m not sure if it’s a local etiquette thing but it's a bit weird.

Last week my bus was behind the bus at the stop on Princes Street.
The driver surprisingly got out of his cabin and shouted to the passengers to come forward.
First time I’ve seen this.

 

[EllieAquitrain]

Having grown up in an area of London with poor rail connections, and therefore having used buses there a lot, even after 5 years in Edinburgh I still instinctively gravitate towards a bus waiting behind the stop expecting to be let on, until I catch myself.

 

[buslad1988]

Last week my bus was behind the bus at the stop on Princes Street.
The driver surprisingly got out of his cabin and shouted to the passengers to come forward.
First time I’ve seen this.

Probably running late and losing patience! But undoubtedly there’ll still always be atleast one person standing at the shelter even after everyone else walked up and loaded. So it’s risky for the driver to do that.

When I first moved to Edinburgh I found the whole procedure took some getting used to, being somewhere where the buses board at the same time (and depart depending on whoever finished first). I'm used to it now and it was definitely bizarre at first, but sometimes it still feels like it takes pretty long to alight sometimes, unless you are on an XLB where the driver chooses to let alighting passengers off while they wait for a bus that is taking it's time to load up infront.

They’ll always let people off whilst waiting in the queue. It’s just being able to master getting everyone off quickly and shutting the doors again before anyone tries to jump on.

 

[Auld reekie]

Probably running late and losing patience! But undoubtedly there’ll still always be atleast one person standing at the shelter even after everyone else walked up and loaded. So it’s risky for the driver to do that.


They’ll always let people off whilst waiting in the queue. It’s just being able to master getting everyone off quickly and shutting the doors again before anyone tries to jump on.

You're correct about running late.
Another two 44's overtook him and this bus went "Out of Service."

 

[Lothianbus703]

What happened to this order?

Lothian Buses to introduce new Volvo electric hybrids in 2017

The £12m fleet of 25 single-decker hybrids will cover 40% of its route on electric power alone New hybrid engine technology is set to be introduced to the Lothian Buses fleet in partnership with Volvo [...]

cbwmagazine.com

New hybrid engine technology is set to be introduced to the Lothian Buses fleet in partnership with Volvo in 2017.

The £12m investment would see the operator provide the first fully commercial service with 25 new hybrid-electric vehicles, which are currently being trialed in various European cities by the Swedish manufacturer.

Lothian Buses expects the single-decker buses to reduce carbon emissions by up to 75% and diesel consumption by 40% compared with the current fleet on service number 30. The vehicles will be expected to cover the most polluted parts of their route on electric power alone and should be able to cover seven miles – 40% of the route – in this way.

Under the plans the fleet will use four charging stations, which are set to be built at Clovenstone and Musselburgh. A bus will be fully charged in six minutes and there would also be access for cars and other vehicles.

Bill Devlin, Lothian Buses Engineering Director said: “This really is the next logical step in creating more environmentally-friendly travel options for our passengers.

“We’re at an advanced stage in our discussions with Volvo and are very excited about the prospect of bringing this technology to Edinburgh’s roads.

“As one of the UK’s leading bus operators, we are planning ahead to ensure we meet, and exceed, emissions targets set by the Government. It’s important to our customers and us, as a company, that we are committed to reducing the impact of our services on the city as much as possible.”

It looks like the charging stations were never made. Were the buses 7900's?

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

What happened to this order?

Lothian Buses to introduce new Volvo electric hybrids in 2017

The £12m fleet of 25 single-decker hybrids will cover 40% of its route on electric power alone New hybrid engine technology is set to be introduced to the Lothian Buses fleet in partnership with Volvo [...]

cbwmagazine.com

It looks like the charging stations were never made. Were the buses 7900's?

The order ended up being cancelled. Not sure why.

Interestingly the wording within this article states ‘at an advanced stage’, ie it may never have actually been signed in the first place. I suspect the arrival of Richard Hall may have played a part in this. He arrived shortly afterwords.

 

[buslad1988]

What happened to this order?

Lothian Buses to introduce new Volvo electric hybrids in 2017

The £12m fleet of 25 single-decker hybrids will cover 40% of its route on electric power alone New hybrid engine technology is set to be introduced to the Lothian Buses fleet in partnership with Volvo [...]

cbwmagazine.com

It looks like the charging stations were never made. Were the buses 7900's?

What’s interesting about this is it does prove that charging stations aren’t necessarily the best solution and only really work in hubs like the Airport, Royal Infirmary and Gyle Centre etc.

Otherwise it makes altering services slightly more complicated. Assuming the route originally chosen was the 30 (article says charging at Musselburgh/Clovenstone as a clue) that would have probably effected the decision to curtail it to QMU and replace with the 46/48 at the Musselburgh end.

Lothian have made the best decision with electric and waited a few more years rather than rushing in with new technology just because they can.

 

[Dave2105]

What’s interesting about this is it does prove that charging stations aren’t necessarily the best solution and only really work in hubs like the Airport, Royal Infirmary and Gyle Centre etc.

Otherwise it makes altering services slightly more complicated. Assuming the route originally chosen was the 30 (article says charging at Musselburgh/Clovenstone as a clue) that would have probably effected the decision to curtail it to QMU and replace with the 46/48 at the Musselburgh end.

Lothian have made the best decision with electric and waited a few more years rather than rushing in with new technology just because they can.

At the time the plan was

What’s interesting about this is it does prove that charging stations aren’t necessarily the best solution and only really work in hubs like the Airport, Royal Infirmary and Gyle Centre etc.

Otherwise it makes altering services slightly more complicated. Assuming the route originally chosen was the 30 (article says charging at Musselburgh/Clovenstone as a clue) that would have probably effected the decision to curtail it to QMU and replace with the 46/48 at the Musselburgh end.

Lothian have made the best decision with electric and waited a few more years rather than rushing in with new technology just because they can.

If memory serves me right the plan was to put charger stations at the Brunton Hall stop and Musselburgh Grammar for the 30 but planning permission was refused due to potential vandalism.

 

[ScotRail158725]

Few Evors running about with windows on them that almost look like perspex screens? Have Lothian changed the supplier for replacement windows as these don’t look good at all despite doing their job

 

[Darklord8899]

Few Evors running about with windows on them that almost look like perspex screens? Have Lothian changed the supplier for replacement windows as these don’t look good at all despite doing their job

Yes, I've noticed this as well...certain windows seem to flex wildly and there are one or two where the whole bus seems to rattle something hellish

 

[FP transport v]

Few Evors running about with windows on them that almost look like perspex screens? Have Lothian changed the supplier for replacement windows as these don’t look good at all despite doing their job

I've also noticed this on one or two of Marine's ex London B9TLs.

 

[CSB0241]

Few Evors running about with windows on them that almost look like perspex screens? Have Lothian changed the supplier for replacement windows as these don’t look good at all despite doing their job

I was just about to comment that! They really don’t fit the buses at all.

 

[Highland050261]

Few Evors running about with windows on them that almost look like perspex screens? Have Lothian changed the supplier for replacement windows as these don’t look good at all despite doing their job

Evora 83 has them. They are just temporary as the company that do it for Lothian is just waiting for new panels to come in.

Photo Shows Temporary Perspex window on Evora 83.

Evora 83 - Album on Imgur

Discover the magic of the internet at Imgur, a community powered entertainment destination. Lift your spirits with funny jokes, trending memes, entertaining gifs, inspiring stories, viral videos, and so much more from users like trickbisc181337.

imgur.com

 

[GusB]

Posts concerning yesterday's bridge strike have been moved to this thread:

Lothian bus bridge strike at Fauldhouse 11 March 2024

It looks like one of the white B9s has just run its final journey, after doing a 1029 and trying (and failing) to get under Fauldhouse station bridge in one piece. Photo by Paul Sutherland, from the Lothian Buses Enthusiasts Facebook site.

www.railforums.co.uk

As there is now a live case, the thread as been locked and will remain so until the outcome is known. It would be appreciated if there was no further comment in this thread in the meantime.

Thanks, folks.

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

Just wondering if anyone could shed some light on something please.

Most of you will be aware that Lothian are switching out their Automatic Vehicle Locators (AVL’s) for new ones at the moment. About 70% of the fleet has now been switched, with the majority remaining being Central vehicles.

Lothian had been fitting new roof pods at Seafield to the fleet and it was assumed by myself and others that this was a requirement for these new AVL’s to work fully. For the first 18 months only buses fitted with these new pods were receiving the new AVL’s. However, recently certain older vehicles including 841, 843 and 930 have now had a new AVL fitted while retaining their existing roof pod. Does anyone know if the pods are actually a requirement or does it simply result in the new AVL only working in a limited function state?

 

[Lx008]

906 has been on its first revenue journey today after coming back from the graveyard. Operating the Kings Buildings shuttle for the university

 

[Bus9120UK]

906 has been on its first revenue journey today after coming back from the graveyard. Operating the Kings Buildings shuttle for the university

First one was yesterday, using paper instead of the LED displays. Still waiting on 905.