Lothian Buses and ECB Discussion

[Journeyman]

ive had my debit card for 2 years, since i was 14 and quite a few people i know have had them since they were under 16 aswell

I think you can get debit cards from the age of about twelve. There's no issues with giving them to under-18s, as you can only spend money that's actually in the account - no credit involved.

 

[SpeedbirdA350]

I think you can get debit cards from the age of about twelve. There's no issues with giving them to under-18s, as you can only spend money that's actually in the account - no credit involved.

Correct, no overdraft is availible to those under 18 and it's 11 you can get a card.

 

[Jordan Adam]

One of the ex-London open tops is at Seafield in CitySightseeing livery. Fleet number 251.

Sounds like they're planning a frequency increase. Possibly to every 7/8 minutes?

 

[ScotRail158725]

Sounds like they're planning a frequency increase. Possibly to every 7/8 minutes?

would possibly take some load off BBT. from what ive seen BBT are usually around 1/3 - 1/2 full. definately doing better than LCB

On another note does anyone know if buses that are withdrawn get their adverts changed? 714 has had its advert changed since it was last out, i thought it had been wirhdrawn

also i think 133 is a case of repair and whatever, it was parked in longstone last week dont know if its still there

I think 431-7 need more than just seats sorted as some folk on here have commented on the smell of those for example.

they could use these on city sightseeing as open toppers, would remove the smell lol

 

[Jordan Adam]

would possibly take some load off BBT. from what ive seen BBT are usually around 1/3 - 1/2 full. definitely doing better than LCB

I've not been down recently so couldn't comment, however from what people i know have said BBT are pulling more passengers than CS.

How are the other two city tours doing?

 

[ScotRail158725]

I've not been down recently so couldn't comment, however from what people i know have said BBT are pulling more passengers than CS.

How are the other two city tours doing?

would say its 50/50 between CS & BBT both are usually half loaded some less some more but CS is running noticeably less pssengers than before, the other 2 are running the same no difference to them recently

 

[takno]

would say its 50/50 between CS & BBT both are usually half loaded some less some more but CS is running noticeably less pssengers than before, the other 2 are running the same no difference to them recently

What tours are running? The only ones I see regularly are the city sightseeing one and the grubby old routemasters

 

[scotrail158713]

I think you can get debit cards from the age of about twelve. There's no issues with giving them to under-18s, as you can only spend money that's actually in the account - no credit involved.

Yep. Me and my younger brother both got one when we turned 14. My sister just turned 14 recently so got her card as well - it doesn’t have contactless on it though so obviously debit card=contactless isn’t always the case.
I notice a lot of teenagers have cards but never seem to have contactless - is there maybe a legal age you have to be before getting contactless cards?

 

[GusB]

Yep. Me and my younger brother both got one when we turned 14. My sister just turned 14 recently so got her card as well - it doesn’t have contactless on it though so obviously debit card=contactless isn’t always the case.
I notice a lot of teenagers have cards but never seem to have contactless - is there maybe a legal age you have to be before getting contactless cards?

I also have a debit card which isn't contactless, but it's easy enough to link it to Google Pay and I can use contactless that way.

 

[A330Alex]

I would imagine a good majority of tickets sold by Lothian are either adult singles, day tickets or night tickets - all of which benefit from the new contactless system. For the rest, it's the exact same as two days ago. The EEN "discriminating against families" outrage just bemuses me. I'm going to complain to my councillor that the council won't give me a free concessionary pass just because I'm not over 60!

Yep. Me and my younger brother both got one when we turned 14. My sister just turned 14 recently so got her card as well - it doesn’t have contactless on it though so obviously debit card=contactless isn’t always the case.
I notice a lot of teenagers have cards but never seem to have contactless - is there maybe a legal age you have to be before getting contactless cards?

High street banks usually only offer contactless cards once you're 18 but digital banks like Monzo tend to offer them for 16+.

 

[scotrail158713]

The EEN "discriminating against families" outrage just bemuses me.

For once I’m agreeing with the EEN. How come you can pay together as a family on ECB but not Lothian - a lot of journeys which are run by both subsidiaries (Tranent, Prestonpans to Edinburgh, Musselburgh to Portobello). Why should you have to wait for a half hourly service and let 3 services going the same way for the same price pass by?

 

[OmniCity999]

Again... contactless isnt a human right. It isnt a necessity, people need to remember this.

There are limitations put in place by Visa / Mastercard / Android/Apple Paywhich currently only make it possible to have one type of ticket available. It would be possible to have capping offered to it's full extent, however it would cost a lot of money and Lothian are funding this without a fare increase, they are getting no additional funding, other than a small grant from the government.

It's fair to offer limited contactless to one demographic as as I say it isnt a human right, children dont have contactless card and the highest percentage of journeys made are by Adults on there own.

Give Visa and Mastercard / Android/Apple Pay time to work out things on there end and it will make the process so much easier.

The contactless product that is being offered is one that they have accurately advertised. People are aware how it works and it's current limitations. They havent falsely advertised it so there really isnt an issue here. Phase 2 will likely roll out soon.

This is something out with Lothians control. They have done as much as they can with what they can.

 

[Darklord8899]

463 on the 300 today (was a slight struggle with luggage space)
.... I'm guessing that now contactless is network wide, not as restricted with vehicle choice for Skylink's now....

 

[lastbus]

Again... contactless isnt a human right. It isnt a necessity, people need to remember this.

There are limitations put in place by Visa / Mastercard / Android/Apple Paywhich currently only make it possible to have one type of ticket available. It would be possible to have capping offered to it's full extent, however it would cost a lot of money and Lothian are funding this without a fare increase, they are getting no additional funding, other than a small grant from the government.

It's fair to offer limited contactless to one demographic as as I say it isnt a human right, children dont have contactless card and the highest percentage of journeys made are by Adults on there own.

Give Visa and Mastercard / Android/Apple Pay time to work out things on there end and it will make the process so much easier.

The contactless product that is being offered is one that they have accurately advertised. People are aware how it works and it's current limitations. They havent falsely advertised it so there really isnt an issue here. Phase 2 will likely roll out soon.

This is something out with Lothians control. They have done as much as they can with what they can.

Lothian seem to be way behind the others with contactless other operators you can buy multiple tickets with contactless. Am I reading it wrong or are you only allowed to buy 1 ticket per contactless transaction with Lothian?

 

[oldman]

Again... contactless isnt a human right. It isnt a necessity, people need to remember this.

No one is saying it's a human right. It's a company decision to put capping for adult individuals buying single or day tickets (or night tickets but not of course day and night) ahead of general contactless payment as other operators have done. Why should people not criticise that decision, even if they go over the top sometimes?

Obviously people are not going to know or care about the technical details, but they are still entitled to criticise the outcome. And when it includes differences between companies in the same group offering overlapping services, those criticisms are difficult to argue with.

(Over-11s can get contactless cards from mainstream banks, btw.)

 

[scotrail158713]

Again... contactless isnt a human right. It isnt a necessity, people need to remember this.

There are limitations put in place by Visa / Mastercard / Android/Apple Paywhich currently only make it possible to have one type of ticket available. It would be possible to have capping offered to it's full extent, however it would cost a lot of money and Lothian are funding this without a fare increase, they are getting no additional funding, other than a small grant from the government.

It's fair to offer limited contactless to one demographic as as I say it isnt a human right, children dont have contactless card and the highest percentage of journeys made are by Adults on there own.

Give Visa and Mastercard / Android/Apple Pay time to work out things on there end and it will make the process so much easier.

The contactless product that is being offered is one that they have accurately advertised. People are aware how it works and it's current limitations. They havent falsely advertised it so there really isnt an issue here. Phase 2 will likely roll out soon.

This is something out with Lothians control. They have done as much as they can with what they can.

I think what most people wanted, firstly, though was to be able to pay for 3 tickets by contactless in one go, like is done with cash currently and contactless on ECB.
If they then offered capping later on then that would be fine.

Just seems as if they’ve done it the opposite way to how other bus companies have introduced it.

 

[Fryschocream]

Would love to see your working out about EBT figures.....you're very wrong. Frequency stab in dark is wrong as well....they're on that now.

 

[Jordan Adam]

Would love to see your working out about EBT figures.....you're very wrong. Frequency stab in dark is wrong as well....they're on that now.

I assume this is directed at my post. In which i did say "From what people i know have told me", those weren't my words - they were from others. Generally speaking though photos would back up that many BBT runs are very busy which others are not. Although i'd have to double check i'm fairly certain CS is on a 10 minute frequency, again though the frequency increase was just an assumption/guess.

Quick edit... Having checked CS is on a 10 minute frequency over summer.

 

[takno]

I think what most people wanted, firstly, though was to be able to pay for 3 tickets by contactless in one go, like is done with cash currently and contactless on ECB.
If they then offered capping later on then that would be fine.

Just seems as if they’ve done it the opposite way to how other bus companies have introduced it.

I think they have this completely the right way round, and are supporting the way the vast majority of likely contactless users would want it to go. It would have been nice if general payment was available as well, but honestly as long as they are working on it then they should have it sorted soon. it's not like they've taken something away from those users which they could do last week.

 

[A330Alex]

Stopped by the Airlink XLB on display (mainly to escape the heat whilst on my bike):
- They're very comfy!
- The 100 won't be stopping at Wester Coates anymore
- Ridacards will still be accepted but the non-Airport single will now be £2.50 to try to keep the Airlink to airport pax
- There will be an airline style lounge at the Shandwick Place travelshop for Airlink customers (cue tAxpaYeRS mOneY comments)

 

[Tom B]

Presumably there needs to be some careful thought about how the two uses of contactless work (traditional capping vs buying tickets for others). To ensure that the correct fare is charged to the card (otherwise you'd end up with folk wanting to buy a group day saver or something, and touching the card too early, thus being charged instead for a single journey).

 

[A330Alex]

Presumably there needs to be some careful thought about how the two uses of contactless work (traditional capping vs buying tickets for others). To ensure that the correct fare is charged to the card (otherwise you'd end up with folk wanting to buy a group day saver or something, and touching the card too early, thus being charged instead for a single journey).

Ideally there would be a secondary reader for tapping in/off (where applicable) like this from Vancouver and then they could use the main one for general purchases. I imagine this would be a significant extra cost so can see why Lothian might want to do it differently.

In the long term they could even have multiple door boarding by adding readers to the second/third doors.

 

[Fryschocream]

Sorry Jordan but you're wrong. Just because the leaflet says that the reg is different. Just like BBT saying they're every 10 but actually operating every 12.

 

[Darklord8899]

I have to say I don't think it really matters what contactless options are or are not provided for, there will always a segment of people not happy about some aspect of it (cue EEN "outrage" bragade)



Edit: not just limited to contactless....

 

[VioletEclipse]

The rebranded Airlink is certainly a lot more executive than the current ones. Replacing 2 year old buses seems a bit over the top, but it's not the first time they've done it.

They definitely aren't 100 seaters as they have massive luggage racks and a large section of single seats upstairs, but they have only one wheelchair/buggy space, although for an airport service it probably isn't as necessary to have a buggy space. Lothian are also quite blatantly promoting air travel, most likely just so they make profit from it.

 

[Fryschocream]

Blatantly promoting a service to encourage bus use.....this is wrong how?

 

[VioletEclipse]

Blatantly promoting a service to encourage bus use.....this is wrong how?

It's true that promoting Airlink to get people who are already going to the airport to get the bus instead of driving is definitely good, however encouraging people to go to the airport because of the 100 isn't. On reflection it probably does a lot more of the former, so it's mostly good.

 

[Tom B]

Why would anyone go to the airport because theres a bus that goes there? Do people go to Hyvots Bank because the 33 goes there?

 

[takno]

Why would anyone go to the airport because theres a bus that goes there? Do people go to Hyvots Bank because the 33 goes there?

Maybe Yoker, but not Hyvots Bank no

 

[Jordan Adam]

Sorry Jordan but you're wrong. Just because the leaflet says that the reg is different. Just like BBT saying they're every 10 but actually operating every 12.

I think i'll take what the company says over some random user on a public forum who claims to be Mr Hall...

Stopped by the Airlink XLB on display (mainly to escape the heat whilst on my bike):
- They're very comfy!
- The 100 won't be stopping at Wester Coates anymore
- Ridacards will still be accepted but the non-Airport single will now be £2.50 to try to keep the Airlink to airport pax
- There will be an airline style lounge at the Shandwick Place travelshop for Airlink customers (cue tAxpaYeRS mOneY comments)

Interiors looks lovely on them, nice to see the continued return to fabric seats.
Airline style lounge? Any idea how that would work, i'd have assumed given the frequency of the service such a thing wouldn't be needed.

The rebranded Airlink is certainly a lot more executive than the current ones. Replacing 2 year old buses seems a bit over the top, but it's not the first time they've done it.

They definitely aren't 100 seaters as they have massive luggage racks and a large section of single seats upstairs, but they have only one wheelchair/buggy space, although for an airport service it probably isn't as necessary to have a buggy space. Lothian are also quite blatantly promoting air travel, most likely just so they make profit from it.

The 100 is seen in high regard, you've got to have the newest vehicles possible on it. Not entirely a waste as passengers elsewhere will also see an upgrade through "nearly new" vehicles being cascaded

In the case of the 100 i doubt having one buggy space is an issue, it's not really needed on such a service. Although an added bonus with the XLB's is the longer wheelbase which allows for a bigger luggage rack and more downstairs seating.

I have to say I don't think it really matters what contactless options are or are not provided for, there will always a segment of people not happy about some aspect of it (cue EEN "outrage" bragade)

Edit: not just limited to contactless....

Honestly we all know EEN will never be pleased with Lothian, the anti-Lothian bias there is strong. The fact they do multiple articles daily against Lothian shows it! Yes part of the press's job is to be critical (especially when it comes to council run operations), however they do take it to the extreme.

Ideally there would be a secondary reader for tapping in/off (where applicable) like this from Vancouver and then they could use the main one for general purchases. I imagine this would be a significant extra cost so can see why Lothian might want to do it differently.

In the long term they could even have multiple door boarding by adding readers to the second/third doors.

Surely given that Lothian Buses only charge a set single fare there's no need to have the tap out option?