Stagecoach North Scotland (Bluebird and Highland)

[scottishtrains]

Yeah, the A96 corridor is Aberdeen - Inverness

For the regular hourly service I’m guessing it’s referring to the M96 but I’m not sure

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Tuesday at 09:21 ==

interesting change regarding the Methlicks. Same with the M96 frequency increase, i wonder if it’s due to the Ember competition on that corridor now?

Probably but the M96 has also been quite busy any time I’ve been on it

 

[computerSaysNo]

a bus service every 30 minutes?

Think its meant to be a combined every 30 minutes on that corridor

This wording is misleading anyway as yes, there are two buses an hour, but one is significantly faster than the other so in some places both might arrive within 5 minutes of each other.

To be honest I'd be significantly more likely to take the Ember service than the M96, as with the M96 not only are you not guaranteed an electric coach but you're not guaranteed a coach at all. Whereas with Ember you are. Ignoring the vehicles, the main differences between the Ember and the M96 services are likely to be the stop locations, especially in Aberdeen where the Stagecoach services might be preferred if people have onward connections that they can only make from the Bus Station.

Also, the article mentions the 10/10A calling at Kintore and Blackburn, does this mean the 10/10A are going to be slowed down all day to go through the villages? The article also says that the 64/64A give a fast option between Inverurie and Aberdeen, why are they making the shorter service faster and the longer distance service slower? Is it just to try and push people onto the M96?

 

[Volvodart]

Also, the article mentions the 10/10A calling at Kintore and Blackburn, does this mean the 10/10A are going to be slowed down all day to go through the villages? The article also says that the 64/64A give a fast option between Inverurie and Aberdeen, why are they making the shorter service faster and the longer distance service slower? Is it just to try and push people onto the M96?

They are doing away with the hourly 9 from Aberdeen to Inverurie, replaced by the diverted X9 replacement service 64 from Union Square to the Haudagain roundabout in Aberdeen. The rest of the 9 route is in the hands of the existing hourly 10 which now stops at all stops in Blackburn and Kintore. The 64 from Haudagain to Inverurie is just the limited stop X9 as it is currently.

 

[Red Onion]

New timetable changes announced

Services Changes in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Buchan from 7th July 2025

www.stagecoachbus.com

The proposed 62 changes are awful, it’s the only service that goes past me and the reduction to every two hours has meant I must stop using the bus as it essentially no longer runs when I need it. Think it’ll be driving to Dyce and train from now on!

Just looking at what’s on bus times, between 0900 and 1900 there are now only 4 buses towards Aberdeen, down from 8 currently from where I stay. Truly not worth bothering with anymore. Hopefully Ember may choose to run and pick this up…

 

[Jordan Adam]

The proposed 62 changes are awful, it’s the only service that goes past me and the reduction to every two hours has meant I must stop using the bus as it essentially no longer runs when I need it. Think it’ll be driving to Dyce and train from now on!

Just looking at what’s on bus times, between 0900 and 1900 there are now only 4 buses towards Aberdeen, down from 8 currently from where I stay. Truly not worth bothering with anymore. Hopefully Ember may choose to run and pick this up…

The new 64A covers the same route as the 62 between Foveran and Aberdeen and maintains the hourly frequency. Its Potterton that is seeing its service cut to two hourly, while Whitecairns won't have a service at all as the 64 follows the existing 291 route via Belhelvie.

This wording is misleading anyway as yes, there are two buses an hour, but one is significantly faster than the other so in some places both might arrive within 5 minutes of each other.

To be honest I'd be significantly more likely to take the Ember service than the M96, as with the M96 not only are you not guaranteed an electric coach but you're not guaranteed a coach at all. Whereas with Ember you are. Ignoring the vehicles, the main differences between the Ember and the M96 services are likely to be the stop locations, especially in Aberdeen where the Stagecoach services might be preferred if people have onward connections that they can only make from the Bus Station.

Also, the article mentions the 10/10A calling at Kintore and Blackburn, does this mean the 10/10A are going to be slowed down all day to go through the villages? The article also says that the 64/64A give a fast option between Inverurie and Aberdeen, why are they making the shorter service faster and the longer distance service slower? Is it just to try and push people onto the M96?

The 10 and M96 are spaced roughly 30 minutes apart at either end of the route. So they do provide a roughly 30 minute frequency in/out of Aberdeen and between Elgin and Inverness. Its on the section between Blackburn and Huntly that the M96 overtakes the 10.

The 64/64A being the fast service makes sense in the context of the M96 being increased to hourly, essentially the 64/64A provide a fast service to the residential areas of Inverurie which allows them to better compete with rail while the M96 provides the fast service to Huntly, Keith and Elgin. The 10/10A becomes the slow stopping service.

If anything the change that makes no sense is the 727 going to Portlethen/Stonehaven, but then the current commercial team have an obsession with merging routes to create excessively long cross city/town links that end up proving either unreliable or not viable. Aside from the new 64/64A and 727 other examples include the X9 (Stonehaven - Inverurie), 27 (Contin - Inverness Airport), 35 (extension from Elgin to Inverness) and 69 (Peterhead - Rosehearty)

 

[granitebuses]

How many are coming in total?

Is this to try and dissuade Ember or Flixbus from running express services?

To be honest the way the M96 timetable meshes with the 10 timetable means I've never used the M96 before; I wouldn't really arrive any earlier if I took the M96 but I would have to do more walking.

Didn't the Panthers have toilets?

The panthers did have toilets but 54121 came on loan to Buchan, the toilet was removed due to the bus being used as a “school bus”. The seats that they put in where the toilet was B7R Plaxton Profile Seats, found them more comfortable than the other seats.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Tuesday at 23:24 ==

The SV08 E200s have Allison transmissions; I'm not sure about the rest. They're actually decent buses, considering their age.

I think all the older ADL E200s such as the 2007/2007s was Allison cause that’s what they had at the time and after it was Voith, for example 36331/337 was Allison and they was 57 plates but 36583 was a 63 plate had a Voith gearbox.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Tuesday at 23:28 ==

Just a thought that keeps coming up in my mind, what happy to the Ferryhill Motors after they go back cause I don’t ever see them at another company, do they scrap them or sell them?

 

[GusB]

The proposed 62 changes are awful, it’s the only service that goes past me and the reduction to every two hours has meant I must stop using the bus as it essentially no longer runs when I need it. Think it’ll be driving to Dyce and train from now on!

Just looking at what’s on bus times, between 0900 and 1900 there are now only 4 buses towards Aberdeen, down from 8 currently from where I stay. Truly not worth bothering with anymore. Hopefully Ember may choose to run and pick this up…

The constant fiddling with routes was one of the factors that caused me to abandon Stagecoach when travelling to Aberdeen; it's probably more than 20 years ago since I last used the 10 from Elgin. It used to be so bloomin' frustrating when a late-running service seemed to be making up time, you'd topped the Tyrebagger and were on the downhill stretch, only to realise that you were turning left to go to the Airport to pick up and drop off nobody. The final straw for me was when they routed it via Anderson Drive and Westburn.

I'm not familiar with the 62 route, but I do share your frustration.

 

[scottishtrains]

The new 64A covers the same route as the 62 between Foveran and Aberdeen and maintains the hourly frequency. Its Potterton that is seeing its service cut to two hourly, while Whitecairns won't have a service at all as the 64 follows the existing 291 route via Belhelvie.

The 10 and M96 are spaced roughly 30 minutes apart at either end of the route. So they do provide a roughly 30 minute frequency in/out of Aberdeen and between Elgin and Inverness. Its on the section between Blackburn and Huntly that the M96 overtakes the 10.

The 64/64A being the fast service makes sense in the context of the M96 being increased to hourly, essentially the 64/64A provide a fast service to the residential areas of Inverurie which allows them to better compete with rail while the M96 provides the fast service to Huntly, Keith and Elgin. The 10/10A becomes the slow stopping service.

If anything the change that makes no sense is the 727 going to Portlethen/Stonehaven, but then the current commercial team have an obsession with merging routes to create excessively long cross city/town links that end up proving either unreliable or not viable. Aside from the new 64/64A and 727 other examples include the X9 (Stonehaven - Inverurie), 27 (Contin - Inverness Airport), 35 (extension from Elgin to Inverness) and 69 (Peterhead - Rosehearty)

Don’t forget about the 9A too, which the X9 already partly covered

 

[Red Onion]

The new 64A covers the same route as the 62 between Foveran and Aberdeen and maintains the hourly frequency. Its Potterton that is seeing its service cut to two hourly, while Whitecairns won't have a service at all as the 64 follows the existing 291 route via Belhelvie.

The 10 and M96 are spaced roughly 30 minutes apart at either end of the route. So they do provide a roughly 30 minute frequency in/out of Aberdeen and between Elgin and Inverness. Its on the section between Blackburn and Huntly that the M96 overtakes the 10.

The 64/64A being the fast service makes sense in the context of the M96 being increased to hourly, essentially the 64/64A provide a fast service to the residential areas of Inverurie which allows them to better compete with rail while the M96 provides the fast service to Huntly, Keith and Elgin. The 10/10A becomes the slow stopping service.

If anything the change that makes no sense is the 727 going to Portlethen/Stonehaven, but then the current commercial team have an obsession with merging routes to create excessively long cross city/town links that end up proving either unreliable or not viable. Aside from the new 64/64A and 727 other examples include the X9 (Stonehaven - Inverurie), 27 (Contin - Inverness Airport), 35 (extension from Elgin to Inverness) and 69 (Peterhead - Rosehearty)

Unfortunately I’m in Blackdog and the 64 route doesn’t appear to come past so I’ve lost that, unless Bus Times has the route wrong but it appears that it cuts over to Belhelvie from Balmedie and resurfaces onto the main road at Murcar. I always wondered if the X63 route could ever be diverted up the slips to give an hourly service as it really doesn’t add much time but serious doubt it would happen.

The constant fiddling with routes was one of the factors that caused me to abandon Stagecoach when travelling to Aberdeen; it's probably more than 20 years ago since I last used the 10 from Elgin. It used to be so bloomin' frustrating when a late-running service seemed to be making up time, you'd topped the Tyrebagger and were on the downhill stretch, only to realise that you were turning left to go to the Airport to pick up and drop off nobody. The final straw for me was when they routed it via Anderson Drive and Westburn.

I'm not familiar with the 62 route, but I do share your frustration.

I never understood why the long distance routes were directed down past the hospital when it is well served by other local routes. Like you, I’m largely abandoning them now as it’s no longer viable for much.

 

[Highland050261]

I see that on the Inverness side, the 4, 6, and 7 all met the chopping block from the 7th of July.

Service changes in Inverness and Moray Areas from 7th July 2025

www.stagecoachbus.com

 

[computerSaysNo]

Service changes in Inverness and Moray Areas from 7th July 2025

www.stagecoachbus.com

If the 10 is being slowed then I assume this increases the vehicle requirement? And the requirement for the M96 I assume doubles from 4 to 8. Will Elgin be getting more coaches for the 10 and other depots more of the electric coaches for the M96? Or will both services just see more E400MMC double deckers?

 

[AndrewTaylor95]

If the 10 is being slowed then I assume this increases the vehicle requirement? And the requirement for the M96 I assume doubles from 4 to 8. Will Elgin be getting more coaches for the 10 and other depots more of the electric coaches for the M96? Or will both services just see more E400MMC double deckers?

Would imagine it will be coaches considering they've just sent the Yutongs south to get Toilets fitted, Should be coaches with working Toilets

 

[computerSaysNo]

Would imagine it will be coaches considering they've just sent the Yutongs south to get Toilets fitted, Should be coaches with working Toilets

Yes both routes will be allocated coaches, but there are only six of the electric coaches for a current peak requirement on the M96 of 4 or 5, and sometimes diesel coaches or double deck buses still get sent out. And the same with the 10, it's allocated the B11R Elite as far as I'm aware, but you still get single and double deck buses sent out.

 

[Jordan Adam]

The Elgin allocations on the M96 will be allocated diesel coaches.

 

[scottishtrains]

Not surprised the X6 is withdrawn aswell. The 727 should be extended to Stonehaven/portlethen half hourly and get rid of the 8 in my opinion. I would keep the X8 though and let all journeys terminate at Chapelton/Newtonhill

Also wonder how the connections will be with the M96 & 737. It makes sense for the M96 to stop in Blackburn now so passengers can connect to the 737 and Aberdeen Airport

 

[computerSaysNo]

The Elgin allocations on the M96 will be allocated diesel coaches.

Thanks for confirming.

 

[scottishtrains]

The Elgin allocations on the M96 will be allocated diesel coaches.

Wonder if they have any plans to order more electric coaches

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Saturday at 14:47 ==

Anyone know if they will run EVs or not on the 64/64A?

 

[voidwxrranty]

Wonder if they have any plans to order more electric coaches

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Saturday at 14:47 ==

Anyone know if they will run EVs or not on the 64/64A?

looks like it’ll be Peterhead/Tullos ran, so it is a possibility but i wouldn’t have your hopes up due to the length of the service.

 

[Volvodart]

looks like it’ll be Peterhead/Tullos ran, so it is a possibility but i wouldn’t have your hopes up due to the length of the service.

They would need to change buses regularly at Union Square to charge the buses, so unlikely as it defeats the through service. The Stagecoach website timetable for the 64 has a change of bus for the Ellon outstationed bus in the evening peak, so that still looks to be EV operated, as does the two morning buses outstationed at Ellon which finish at Union Square. The Monday to Friday 0915 64 starting at Union Square could be an EV as it comes off within the EV's range. One of the services does schools so it needs to be a belted diesel double decker.