Should Lothian assist with a potential Stagecoach East Scotland vehicle shortage?

[UK Bus Spotter]

This and the following posts were originally in the Lothian Buses and ECB thread

Hi, everyone I’ve seen Posts on google and stuff About School’s in Scotland possibly returning in August. This come into my head ,with the fleet that Stagecoach east Scotland have ( sorry if this post is not allowed ) But If the schools return I don’t think Stagecoach will have enough fleet for it and this idea come into my head that maybe Lothian will need to come to the rescue ( for example the B7TL’s that haven’t been sold or motorcoaches to help aswell ) this was just an idea but who knows.

 

[Jordan Adam]

Hi, everyone I’ve seen Posts on google and stuff About School’s in Scotland possibly returning in August. This come into my head ,with the fleet that Stagecoach east Scotland have ( sorry if this post is not allowed ) But If the schools return I don’t think Stagecoach will have enough fleet for it and this idea come into my head that maybe Lothian will need to come to the rescue ( for example the B7TL’s that haven’t been sold or motorcoaches to help aswell ) this was just an idea but who knows.

It's an idea, but i can be fairly sure that the chances of Stagecoach buying Ex-Lothian vehicles are next to 0. If there were a vehicle shortage at Stagecoach they'd be more likely to cascade vehicles in from elsewhere within the company or reinstate withdrawn vehicles. However i won't go in to any more detail as i risk veering off topic.

 

[ScotRail158725]

Hi, everyone I’ve seen Posts on google and stuff About School’s in Scotland possibly returning in August. This come into my head ,with the fleet that Stagecoach east Scotland have ( sorry if this post is not allowed ) But If the schools return I don’t think Stagecoach will have enough fleet for it and this idea come into my head that maybe Lothian will need to come to the rescue ( for example the B7TL’s that haven’t been sold or motorcoaches to help aswell ) this was just an idea but who knows.

you’ve already said this. if stagecoach were short of fleet they wouldn’t pick up school contracts or they would buy stuff before. lothian will sell their B7s to whoever buys them. stagecoach also opatate an almost fully ADL fleet so they clearly wouldnt want 15 year old Wright products

 

[OmniCity999]

Hi, everyone I’ve seen Posts on google and stuff About School’s in Scotland possibly returning in August. This come into my head ,with the fleet that Stagecoach east Scotland have ( sorry if this post is not allowed ) But If the schools return I don’t think Stagecoach will have enough fleet for it and this idea come into my head that maybe Lothian will need to come to the rescue ( for example the B7TL’s that haven’t been sold or motorcoaches to help aswell ) this was just an idea but who knows.

It's an idea, but i can be fairly sure that the chances of Stagecoach buying Ex-Lothian vehicles are next to 0. If there were a vehicle shortage at Stagecoach they'd be more likely to cascade vehicles in from elsewhere within the company or reinstate withdrawn vehicles. However i won't go in to any more detail as i risk veering off topic.

Thanks @Jordan Adam

 

[CN04NRJ]

you’ve already said this. if stagecoach were short of fleet they wouldn’t pick up school contracts or they would buy stuff before. lothian will sell their B7s to whoever buys them. stagecoach also opatate an almost fully ADL fleet so they clearly wouldnt want 15 year old Wright products

Weren't all the posts (and I imagine these will too) in this thread related to this deleted?

 

[scotrail158713]

Weren't all the posts (and I imagine these will too) in this thread related to this deleted?

Looks like it. I was reading the post thinking “I’m sure I’ve read this before”.

 

[overthewater]

It wouldn't be just stagecoach that would be short, it would be EVERYONE, First, Festival, bay travel, M&W, E&M horsburgh, Prentice westwood, AAA coaches. Lothian will need to keep that stock as they will need extra buses aswell..

 

[computerSaysNo]

Looks like it. I was reading the post thinking “I’m sure I’ve read this before”.

Yeah they have been removed, my reply to them was marked "awaiting moderation" for a while but that post seems to have gone now.

 

[Jordan Adam]

Looks like it. I was reading the post thinking “I’m sure I’ve read this before”.

Likewise i thought it had been mentioned before but couldn't see the posts!

you’ve already said this. if stagecoach were short of fleet they wouldn’t pick up school contracts or they would buy stuff before. lothian will sell their B7s to whoever buys them. stagecoach also opatate an almost fully ADL fleet so they clearly wouldnt want 15 year old Wright products

Last thing i'll say on this, but Stagecoach have plenty of withdrawn/reserve vehicles around the country, so drafting additional vehicles in isn't an issue. Plus all coaches are currently being fitted with screens. Even with the reduced Megabus services it frees up Astromegas that can be used on schools if they were to be needed.

Everything that's in Lothian ownership will make an appearance.

We'll need to for bandit screens to everything, too.

Just an idea but couldn't the surplus Leopard Interurbans not be fitted with screens and allocated to the X7 allowing for increased level of service seeing as deckers are not suitable iirc?

Perhaps in hindsight buying so many XLBs was a great idea in a sutation like this!

Which makes me wonder if Lothian will change the plan to have only Euro 5+ on the road by the end of 2020, as some of the older fleet are still Euro 4 and even Euro 3.

I wouldn't be shocked if the emissions targets are delayed, certainly it seems likely that most LEZ zones may get pushed back by a year.

________ Separate post ________

Do we know what's happening regarding Lothian Country and LMC?

 

[Stan Drews]

I can’t think of any reason that Stagecoach East Scotland would struggle with vehicles for their school contracts anymore than any other operator in the country.
Local authorities will have to base their planning on the likely available capacity of the buses they contract to carry school pupils, the number and times that pupils attending school need to travel, and work with all their operators to finalise how things will work. Operators won’t have to provide additional buses or coaches at their own expense to meet extra local authority requirement.

 

[Mwanesh]

There are some spare buses lying about in the Stagecoach empire. Some coming off lease in London than can be bought cheap.

 

[Andy Pacer]

And some of this will surely be pushed back to the local authority if additional costs are forcibly incurred operating their contracts.

 

[cnjb8]

Why would Lothian give Stagecoach their B7TLs when they will probably have a vehicle shortage of their own?

 

[CN04NRJ]

None of it makes any sense, why would Lothian 'come to the rescue'?

 

[Tetchytyke]

Stagecoach will move things around if they need more buses in a particular OpCo, just as they always have done. They wouldn't have bid for contracts they did have resources for.