There is a photo of it on Flickr here. I'd think these two are the planned vehicles for the 60.
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McGill’s Midland Bluebird
- Thread starter stevenedin
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stevenedin
Established Member
Is the Trossachs Explorer still going?
overthewater
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It's finished for the season.
Flange Squeal
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It was a pilot scheme running from 1st July to 30th September.
stevenedin
Established Member
Was it not successful?
Stan Drews
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Not in terms of the commercials, but I believe the National Park Board have fairly deep pockets, so I’d imagine they’ll look to do something again next summer.
There are 4 Streetlites being repainted for use on the new Edinburgh tendered routes 13 & 60.
stevenedin
Established Member
Thanks for the information. Are they going into Midland Bluebird or Eastern Scottish liveries?
Stan Drews
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Eastern Scottish was discontinued almost a year ago, so they’ll all be the same as 0480.
Blindtraveler
Established Member
Oh dear
A not very promising series of vehicles for the new Edinburgh Council tended services. Not that I expected any different I suppose but still
A not very promising series of vehicles for the new Edinburgh Council tended services. Not that I expected any different I suppose but still
stevenedin
Established Member
StreetLites aren’t that bad. They managed fine on the West Lothian routes and also in Stirling and Falkirk. They are a bit quirky but I guess it makes a change to the usual E200MMCs or eVoRas going around.
AndrewTaylor95
Member
They're absolute heaps the Streetlites McGill's have, Downgrade from E200MMC and an Evora to a 10 year old Streetlite don't know how you see it as a "Change", in the wrong direction in terms of reliability.
9 year old actually
Okay for local routes, just not the full 38 from Stirling to Edinburgh which is what they were operated with for a few years until First finally swapped them back to the Volvos (and the occassional Scania)!
The problem is that a lot were left in such a poor condition and quite a few ended up being withdrawn or sold. The livery fits quite well on the StreetLites but as the saying goes, you can't polish a turd!
stevenedin
Established Member
They seemed to manage ok on the old X22 route from Shotts to Edinburgh. At least these new tenders are local routes though so should be fine for them.
Baileygirl
Member
The Streetlights were good when new. Just before First sold them to Mcgills all of them were knackered and could not go above 20mph on hills. I once drove one which only went 5mph up hills. You could not keep to timetable.
JKP
Member
…and fell to bits with the slightest knock.
voidwxrranty
Member
not yet. it starts in December so keep an eye on the midland bluebird website/app nearer the end of next month.
AndrewTaylor95
Member
LothianLover88
Member
On bustimes.org... under Aberdeenshire Council. 13 & X39 there too.
voidwxrranty
Member
good to see the old X39 service number make a return, if if it’s nowhere near the previous iteration
CSB0241
On Moderation
It has been repainted into Midland Bluebird livery, Robin Dickson got a good photo of it in it’s new livery. It will most likely be used on the new services 60 & X39 in Edinburgh (which have, along with the 13) had their timetables uploaded to bustimes under Aberdeenshire Council for some reason.
0480/1 are a given, which are the other two?
Eastern Scottish is a relic of the past now.
I don’t entirely get why people don’t like the Streetlites Maxs, they’re solid buses that, while not brilliant on anything over 90min (see the old 38 between Edinburgh & Stirling), are great for shorter local routes, like the new 13 & 60! I will admit that I don’t see the DFs being used on the 60 (I think it’ll stick to 0480/1 primarily), but I’f be more than glad to see them utilised on the 13. Not too fond of the WFs though, glad they’re (most likely) being kept to the 60 since the only people who I see using the 60 frequency are people who aren’t bothered about what type of bus is used on their local routes.
Agreed. If you’re looking for Evoras to ride on, see the Lothian 20/30/38 or Houstons 101/2, & if you want MMCs, you can get something like the Borders X62/X95/253 or McGills X38. The next nearest place with Streetlites is somewhere like Stirling, Falkirk, or Glasgow, so it’ll be a welcome change of pace.
Yes, under Aberdeenshire Council on bustimes.org. Unsure what happened with Traveline that caused them to put it under that instead of Midland Bluebird/McGills Scotland East, but hey, at least it’s up.
What’s the whole situation with trackers for Midland Bluebird & Bright Bus on bustimes? Vehicles tracking as McGills Scotland East, but routes are under Midland Bluebird, except for the Airport Express & 801, which are under Bright Bus? Are there any plans for anyone to transfer all the vehicles into the correct category or is there some underlying issue preventing that from working?
Update: All bustimes stuff has been fixed, aside from Bright Bus being listed as Eastern Scottish still (should be easily fixable). Interestingly, both tours have been added under ES too, which is something I wasn’t expecting but am more than happy about.
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markymark2000
On Moderation
The data source for Scotland East data has now changed to be the website data and so all details on bustimes should be identical to what is shown on the Scotland East website. In this case, all Bright Bus routes, on the website are under the Eastern Scottish operator code
Link for the Bright Bus City Tour which shows the operator code that it links to.
A bit odd there calling it the X39 when they could have had it be the 802 to go alongside the other Livingston depot run for the airport (801)!
CSB0241
On Moderation
Probably because it’s classed Midland Bluebird & not Bright Bus.
318266
Member
...but in traveline it's marked as McGill's Scotland East (MESC). Bustimes.org seems to have not found an operator on their side and then gave it to the first "suitable" in the list (Aberdeenshire Council).