christopherrfc
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McGill's Buses - Renfrewshire & Inverclyde
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AlexanderPS
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Only running for the summer. Wonder if they will put the open top on it?
Someone snapped an open top on test runs, so yes, that is their plan.
https://flickr.com/photos/93603531@N04/51999904729/
As the most recent posts have had more relevance to the Xplore Dundee operation, they have been moved to the appropriate thread:
Xplore Dundee
The difference with those operators is that they haven't reduced services across their entire network twice since September/October 2021 (perhaps First Scotland East excepted). I realise facts aren’t something that are going to get in the way of your dislike for Xplore Dundee. However, if you...
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Clydeflyer
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I take it that there's been a change of plan? The status of the service on VOSA has gone to Withdrawn. Presumably the open toppers go to the re-instated 547 which is also going to Largs on Sundays.
Scotrail88
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McGill's orders 41 more Yutong battery-electric buses - routeone
McGill's Buses will expand its Yutong battery-electric fleet to 96 with a further order for 10 E10s and 31 E12 from supplier Pelican.
www.route-one.net
Do we have any idea what routes these will appear on?
Don’t think the express services will cope with range.
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Jordan Adam
Established Member
They're proposed to be for the 3, 7, 61, 64, 517, 531, 532, 533 & 904. The CEO confirmed this on the "Official McGill's Bus Enthusiast Group" on Facebook back in March.McGill's orders 41 more Yutong battery-electric buses - routeone
McGill's Buses will expand its Yutong battery-electric fleet to 96 with a further order for 10 E10s and 31 E12 from supplier Pelican.
Do we have any idea what routes these will appear on?
Don’t think the express services will cope with range.
318266
Member
Aren't most of those routes using buses branded very recently? I know that the 531/2/3 and 517 are all currently dedicated branded E200MMCs that moved in around Oct/Nov last year when the E12s came to Inchinnan.
The 7 uses branded ex-38 Citaros and the 61 has branded E200 MMCs as well. The 3 usually seems to be 38 branded E12s
adrock1976
Established Member
I did see someone make a post on the local community page last week, but I cannot find anything in any of the local and regional rags, nor anything on the SPT website either.
Of note, the 147/247 that runs Monklands Hospital to Kirkintilloch/Kilsyth are operated by Coatbridge and are supported by SPT.
Yes and it has been retendered as posted in the SPT thread:
SPT Tendered Routes
PVT Transfer is a legit company, registered in Bath Street, Glasgow. Although they have one or two SPT tenders, it seems (according to their website) most of their income stream is from chauffeur work. Ah, ok. I'd never heard of them until now.
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There will likely be more contracts to be awarded for July for any other routes but there hasn't been another meeting of SPT's Operation Committee yet. Last one was in January:
Operations Committee | SPT | Strathclyde Partnership for Transport
SPT is committed to promoting openness and transparency. View our agendas and minutes of our Operations Committee here.
www.spt.co.uk
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christopherrfc
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McGill's are updating their website next week. I presume it'll be the same as the Xplore Dundee one.
From McGills Twitter looks like West Coast Motors may be getting competition "We are recruiting Open Top Tour drivers for our next new adventure…For more information or to apply you can call 01505 701 013 or email [email protected]"
Interesting name choice considering that pre City Sightseeing the Glasgow tour was Discovering Glasgow!
Stan Drews
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They recently started an open top tour in Dundee, which is branded as Discover Dundee, so I expect they have simply kept that ‘theme’.
Trnsprt4Sctlnd
Member
Here we go again, anything for a quick buck.
I wonder if the tour route would be the same as the ones already running?
To be fair though, as much as most locals don't think Glasgow is that interesting, tourists seem to still absolutely love here so there's a good chance this succeeds a lot.
Tom Gallacher
Member
Why would you have a beef with this? They're a bus company providing a service with a bus. What is the problem.
Glasgowbusguy
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Do you feel the same about every city with a second tour operator, or is it just McGills?
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"Commercial Bus Operator Tries to Make Money"
Shock! Horror!
I really don't understand why you have a problem with this. McGills have obviously identified that there's room for them in the market and that they could potentially make some money out of it; why else would they do it?
We've seen from the "other" city that a challenger to the incumbent tour operator can do quite well. Good luck to them.
Trnsprt4Sctlnd
Member
Or simply splits the revenue that West Coast Buses takes.
It’s unnecessary.
I’ve no problem who operates a tour service.
Unsurprising, Yes.
Indeed…
I quite frankly don’t care about the finances of any company, ultimately this is what this boils down to, I’m just seeing things for what they are and accordingly question whether it is necessary, needed or even if it’s logical…where public transport is concerned.
In the midst of an apparent driver shortage and yet there’s space in the industry to pull drivers from somewhere to operate a tour service when there’s already one in place? Apparently so.
West Coast Motors have recently it would seem invested in Electric Buses for use on there own Sightseeing Route yet McGills will likely be using Diesels for this, seems to defeat the purposes of a LEZ or even our governments Net Zero targets.
This also goes for Edinburgh Tours/Bright Bus Tours.
The answer? a cohesive Re-Regulation of what is allowed and what is not.
Am I over reaching having these concerns? Possibly, but there relevant all the same.
That's not a problem if the market is big enough to sustain two operators. Clearly McGills think there's a big enough pie for them go be able to have a slice.
You obviously do otherwise we wouldn't be having this discussion!
Not this old chestnut again.
"Will likely" suggests that you don't actually know what vehicles they will be using. If they do use diesel buses, they'll have to comply with whatever regulations are required.
RomeoCharlie71
Established Member
I imagine it'll use the four recently acquired B9TL Gemini 2s from Lothian:
I think it's a perfectly valid point if the operator is struggling to cover their core commercial network (see: Dundee)Not this old chestnut again.
I've said it before regarding all the operations that do this type of work, it doesn't take drivers away from normal service as these drivers are new recruits who won't do the normal service work. It's not drivers taken from normal service and those drivers who they do employ won't stay around if the service finishes in winter. The argument that they are taking drivers from normal services which are short is invalid
There's 2 things that make it not invalid btw:
1) Paying more for tour staff will absolutely cause issues on the normal network as it'll turn drivers against you if they want more too and can't get it.
2) It deters passengers of your normal network if there's clearly more effort being put into tours than getting more drivers in for normal work.
That doesn’t make sense. Have the mcgills drivers turned against the flixbus drivers? Have the Citybus drivers turned agains the Glasgow sightseeing drivers?
Are these the same passengers who want a bus lane on every inch of the city?
It makes plenty of sense. If people are in the same job as others but paid more and if anything have it much easier it is likely to turn some heads. That's part of every industry. We do need more bus lanes in the city to be fair and main roads especially should have more