Lothian Buses & First Scotland East

[gilesbus1]

Lothian Buses & First Scotland East
Hi

Had a quick trip up to Edinburgh on Wednesday, there was a lot to see and not enough time to do it unfortunatly.

Lothian - I did see examples of all the fleet and its subsiduaries, the number of tours has grown, I saw a couple East Lothain Buses Tridents with moderate loads. The oldest operstional buses in the Lothian buses main fleet as appose to sightseeing operations appears to be 52 registered Tridents, although not many of these eitrher, they appeared to be operating on route 25 alongside newer 04 reg examples.

Of note is that the Volvo B9TL's with Mark II bodies deliovered since 2009 seem intermitently to have two styles of radiator grill, one with the full Wright W front ande one with it removed for branding, there seems to be examples of both from more or less every batch.

First Scotland East

The routes at Musselbortough appeared to be carrying more or less zero loads so the future of that depot must be still in the balance.

Of interest a Scania East Lancs Omnidekka was in the new livery and also much more suprisingly was a Volvo Olympian with an Alexander Royale RH body on an R ---EHS plate operating from North Berwick outstation on a service to North Berwick, the livery on these differs from examples at First Manchester in that the back is all solid Purple without relief, which actually looksd much smarter, none of these buses carried any branding.

Most buses used on services operated from the other end of Edinburgh eg Livingston depot apperaed to be Volvo B7TL / Plaxton Presidents or Wright Eclipse Gemini and Volvo B9TL's with the latter body. Single deck use seems to almost have ended on services into Edinburgh with only a couple of Scania L94UB Wright bodies being seen of both types, one was an ex First Manchester V----DND operating in from Bannockburn depot the other a newer 52 reg Solar based at Musselborough???? AFAIK.

On the trip up out of interest a McGills van was seen travelling south bound towards England on the M74 on the trip back South an East Lancs bodied Volvo Olym,pian in Rotala livery was seen on trade plates heading North, one of the old East THames buses/Harris bus examples, also seen heading South on the Hard Sholder was a TRident Enviro Enviro400 on delivery to London.

Gilesbus1

[Metroline1511]

RE: Lothian Buses & First Scotland East
It had been rumoured that some 51-reg dual-door Tridents would be repainted and re-enter service but this appeared not to have happened. When I was in Edinburgh on May 26th I saw a few Y-reg Darts on route 36, so these would have been older. Mind you, this route only goes half-hourly so is a bit of a blink and you'll miss it service.

I wonder whether some of the First Volvo B7TL-Presidents are ex-London and ex-Dalkeith. This type worked route 86 so will have needed a new home from the end of June. The fact that a Scania OmniDekka has new livery suggests that the Livingston operation is safe for now. Mind you, despite their disposal hitlist, First have promised to evaluate any reasonable offer for other parts of the business. Route 38 (Edinburgh-Falkirk-Stirling run by Linlithgow garage) also seems safe as my bus on this route on May 27th was an 09-reg high-back seated Volvo B7RLE-Eclipse.

[SK15 GZG (Moderator)]

RE: Lothian Buses & First Scotland East
A photo of a Lothian Buses Volvo 7900 Hybrid has appeared on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thejamster/8553283780/
Photo credit to Jamie Martin

I must say I think they look very smart indeed

[Metroline1511]

RE: Lothian Buses & First Scotland East
Thank you for the photo of the Volvo 7900H MAN. Do you know which route is destined to operate them?

[SK15 GZG (Moderator)]

RE: Lothian Buses & First Scotland East
I'm not too sure to be honest - will have to wait and see!

[Mal]

RE: Lothian Buses & First Scotland East

(16/03/2013 22:43)MAN-3460 Wrote:  I'm not too sure to be honest - will have to wait and see!

From a reliable source, the new Lothian Hybrids are going to be launched in mid-April so all will be revealed then.

There are also service changes starting 24. March, but interestingly these all feature more buses and increased frequencies! Also from the same date the single flat fare is going up from £1 40 to £1 50. There is no mention of any increase in other fares and the the Day ticket (available from first bus in the morning until midnight!) is still incredible value at £3 50!

I have just spent a week in Edinburgh and Lothian buses are reliable and clean with friendly staff and timetables and fare information at 99% of all stops. Most stops also have accurate bus trackers which give the route number, destination and expected time of all buses from that stop.

First, on the other hand ................. well, the less said the better!! Where people have a choice, eg in Tranent, Musselburgh, Port Seton, they will always take Lothian where possible.

As I have said many times, Lothian set a standard that other companies should try to match.

Mal

[Mal]

RE: Lothian Buses & First Scotland East
Just to let you know the launch date for the Hybrids is Sa. 13. April at Castle Street, Edinburgh between 11 00 until 15 00 with them entering service on Mo. 15. April. (This info is from Steve Johnson, a director at Lothian Buses.)

Mal

[Metroline1511]

RE: Lothian Buses & First Scotland East

(21/03/2013 16:04)Mal Wrote:  Just to let you know the launch date for the Hybrids is Sa. 13. April at Castle Street, Edinburgh between 11 00 until 15 00 with them entering service on Mo. 15. April. (This info is from Steve Johnson, a director at Lothian Buses.)

Mal

Exciting news that their arrival is just weeks away! Seeing as I am planning to go to Glasgow during next year's Commonwealth Games, it will be great if the trams have started by then. Then I shall have the trams and a few buses to ride that are new since my last visit last May.

[Mal]

RE: Lothian Buses & First Scotland East
Have just had an E-Mail from Lothian Buses that their Open Doors event is on 28. September. I've got my coach tickets booked!! (Go to their website for details of last years event. It's very interesting!)

Mal

[Metroline1511]

RE: Lothian Buses & First Scotland East
Lothian Buses have just introduced their Volvo 7900Hs in service on route 1, Clermiston - Princes Street - Easter Road. An example can be seen here http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelst138/8639031753/