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West Lothian buses

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Baileygirl

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Thats the wrong way around, tendered services can't compete with a commercial one
That is why West Lothian cancelled a few tender journeys. The one which stands out is the 31 through Wester Inch at night due to the 287 which LC cancelled in the evening leaving them with no service.
 

DunsBus

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That is why West Lothian cancelled a few tender journeys. The one which stands out is the 31 through Wester Inch at night due to the 287 which LC cancelled in the evening leaving them with no service.

I'd always thought that it was the other way round - if you had a commercial service competing against a tendered one, then it would defeat the purpose of the tender. Happy to be corrected on this one. :)
 

TheGrandWazoo

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I'd always thought that it was the other way round - if you had a commercial service competing against a tendered one, then it would defeat the purpose of the tender. Happy to be corrected on this one. :)

Getting confused myself here. In short, you can't have a tendered service being run against a broadly similar commercial service. Hence why you have tenders being lost and then the incumbent registering a broadly similar service in order to get the tender pulled. The line is perhaps a little blurred at times.

So if you had a service running from one town to another every hour and after losing the tender, the incumbent decided that they would register it to run hourly, then that is broadly similar.

If you have an hourly tendered service but every three hours, it has a commercial service running across it, then it isn't as the council can make the argument about it being a legitimate enhancement.

Greater confusion - have any tenders actually been submitted, announced or is this just wild speculation???
 

Jordan Adam

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Getting confused myself here. In short, you can't have a tendered service being run against a broadly similar commercial service. Hence why you have tenders being lost and then the incumbent registering a broadly similar service in order to get the tender pulled. The line is perhaps a little blurred at times.

So if you had a service running from one town to another every hour and after losing the tender, the incumbent decided that they would register it to run hourly, then that is broadly similar.

If you have an hourly tendered service but every three hours, it has a commercial service running across it, then it isn't as the council can make the argument about it being a legitimate enhancement.

Greater confusion - have any tenders actually been submitted, announced or is this just wild speculation???

Yes the Edinburgh ones have been announced Edinburgh Coach Lines retain the 13, First Scotland East take over the 20, 63 and 68.

West Lothian Council tenders are yet to be announced.
 

DunsBus

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what a pointless looking route, never seen anyone on it and i can see why

It exists solely to provide a service to Turnhouse. Its origins date back to the early seventies, when the main road through Turnhouse was closed to facilitate Edinburgh Airport's runway and saw the joint Alexander Midland/Eastern Scottish service 38, which served the village, diverted.
 

overthewater

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There is always people on that 68. If it didn't it would have went years ago like the 64..
 

wlbusser

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"For those travelling within West Lothian (Zones L + M), the main highlights are:
Adult weekly ticket reduced by £6 (from £24 to £18)"

So if I read this correctly, a weekly ticket from the West Lothian zone i.e. Winchburgh, travelling to Edinburgh will be £18?
If this is the case then I'm afraid any last hope of using LCB frequently are gone because for 5-day tickets with them is £26.50, so 99% of the time I have no need to travel on Lothian buses within Edinburgh, and most places I do need or want to go to are along the route of the 23, 24/25 and X38 out of town.
 

Bus9120UK

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what a pointless looking route, never seen anyone on it and i can see why
Everytime I see it, it has a decent load. It is served by E200 MMC's. I'm surprised its that long though. I once sat in a McDonalds and kept seeing the same one coming every few minutes. (Same driver is onboard)
 

Darklord8899

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It exists solely to provide a service to Turnhouse. Its origins date back to the early seventies, when the main road through Turnhouse was closed to facilitate Edinburgh Airport's runway and saw the joint Alexander Midland/Eastern Scottish service 38, which served the village, diverted.

IIRC, around 1986/7 Lothian service 31 had odd journeys to Turnhouse, like at 4 or 5 in the morning for workers..... I also seem to remember a Lothian 48(?) serving Turnhouse at some point as well, maybe some else can remember more than I can....

As for the 68, it can have decent loads, though when I've seen it busy it has been "the auld biddie" brigade using it .... but it does give "direct" (ie one bus) links to Gyle Centre from Corstorphine, Clermiston, North Gyle and southern edge of East Craig's (also using roads not served by any other bus service)
 

FlybeDash8Q400

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IIRC, around 1986/7 Lothian service 31 had odd journeys to Turnhouse, like at 4 or 5 in the morning for workers..... I also seem to remember a Lothian 48(?) serving Turnhouse at some point as well, maybe some else can remember more than I can....

As for the 68, it can have decent loads, though when I've seen it busy it has been "the auld biddie" brigade using it .... but it does give "direct" (ie one bus) links to Gyle Centre from Corstorphine, Clermiston, North Gyle and southern edge of East Craig's (also using roads not served by any other bus service)
I have a 1992 LRT map and it shows a 48B serving Turnhouse and I think quite a few variations of the 48 had served Turnhouse. Not got the map in front of me but I’m sure it started at Longstone at that point and served much of what the current 20 does until the Gyle (which hadn’t yet been built IIRC) and then up to Turnhouse, might have a look if I have time. I’m sure about those 31 journeys in the late 80’s as well. I’m also guessing other Lothian routes served the area at somepoint.
 

DunsBus

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I have a 1992 LRT map and it shows a 48B serving Turnhouse and I think quite a few variations of the 48 had served Turnhouse. Not got the map in front of me but I’m sure it started at Longstone at that point and served much of what the current 20 does until the Gyle (which hadn’t yet been built IIRC) and then up to Turnhouse, might have a look if I have time. I’m sure about those 31 journeys in the late 80’s as well. I’m also guessing other Lothian routes served the area at somepoint.

The original route to Turnhouse was the 25 and ran from there to the West End. Later on there was the 85, which ran from Turnhouse to Waverley; as this was a part-day service, some journeys on the 31 served Turnhouse at nights and on Sundays. Seem to recall the 48 started at deregulation.
 

Darklord8899

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I have a 1992 LRT map and it shows a 48B serving Turnhouse and I think quite a few variations of the 48 had served Turnhouse. Not got the map in front of me but I’m sure it started at Longstone at that point and served much of what the current 20 does until the Gyle (which hadn’t yet been built IIRC) and then up to Turnhouse, might have a look if I have time. I’m sure about those 31 journeys in the late 80’s as well. I’m also guessing other Lothian routes served the area at somepoint.

Thanks!
Glad my memory still functions! Albeit I had forgotten about the variants :p
I couldn't remember whether the 31 and 48 served Turnhouse at the same point in time of not... and yes, I'm sure the 31 Turnhouse journeys survived through the 80's ..... maybe into 1990s.....
Gyle centre opened about the October of 1993... so I'm assuming changes to services around that time...
 

Driver362

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Dose anyone know if FSE can service there new contracts with existing stock. If not does anyone know where and what they will likely be using? The wee 20 as its sometimes called looks a busy wee route as dose 63. The 68 when I do see it normally has a few old dears on it. Just curious, over to you Jordan :D:D
 

Jordan Adam

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Dose anyone know if FSE can service there new contracts with existing stock. If not does anyone know where and what they will likely be using? The wee 20 as its sometimes called looks a busy wee route as dose 63. The 68 when I do see it normally has a few old dears on it. Just curious, over to you Jordan :D:D

Me? Lol... First will probably dump the typical Streetlite heaps on them all. Capacity of the 63xxx Streetlites is on par with the B7RLEs currently used on the 20.
 
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