Lothian Buses & First Scotland East

[gilesbus1]

RE: Lothian Buses & First Scotland East

(05/06/2019 08:57)Southernsofty Wrote:  I was under the Impression that Livingstone was profitable for First, unlike most of FSE.
The CMA would take a dim view of Lothian taking over Livingstone, unless of course First decided to pull out, but then Lothian are setting up a depot in Livingstone anyway.

First Scotland East is a big loss leader and isn't in profit, an article in Buses on Queens Road stated that it was running at a loss and from what I understand from elsewhere has been doing so for several years hence the depot sales and closures of the past, Livingston depot is remote from the other depots so it would make sense to off load it, I am sure what Lothian is using now is a converted unit not designed for bus operation, so if the opportunity came up I am sure they would be happy to have it in order to grow the operation further, lets not forget Lothian likes high frequency routes running regularly an no doubt they would implement that here based on what they already have plus expansion, as currently all routes run into Edinburgh and First will have several routes that don't so they would need to take on those as well which may mean other opportunities, perhaps another opportunity might be to take over E & M Horsburgh which would give other vehicles and several contracts but thats not really Lothian's standard so they probably wouldn't bother with it.