Xplore Aberdeen, a McGill's Company

[Volvodart]

The local councillor is saying McGills have won the tender for the X14 Kingswells service. It will follow the previous route, not the current one, down Craigie Loanings Union Street and Bridge Street at the same frequency as now.

Aberdeen City Council

Aberdeen City Council

www.aberdeencity.gov.uk

 

[Lothian285]

The local councillor is saying McGills have won the tender for the X14 Kingswells service. It will follow the previous route, not the current one, down Craigie Loanings Union Street and Bridge Street at the same frequency as now.

Aberdeen City Council

Aberdeen City Council

www.aberdeencity.gov.uk

Interesting, I wonder what buses they will use on this and if they will acquire or have acquired a depot in the area.

 

[Stan Drews]

Interesting, I wonder what buses they will use on this and if they will acquire or have acquired a depot in the area.

They already have a depot in Aberdeen which opened earlier this year as part of the FlixBus expansion.
It is actually Tayside Public Transport Ltd (aka Xplore Dundee) that has been awarded the contract and not McGill’s Buses, so likely to be buses from that fleet.

 

[Jordan Adam]

The thing that more interests me from an operational perspective is how maintenance on the buses will work as the current depot has no facilities. Presumably maintenance will either have to be outsourced or buses will rotate between Aberdeen and Dundee.

Certainly interesting times ahead...

 

[AndrewTaylor95]

They already have a depot in Aberdeen which opened earlier this year as part of the FlixBus expansion.
It is actually Tayside Public Transport Ltd (aka Xplore Dundee) that has been awarded the contract and not McGill’s Buses, so likely to be buses from that fleet.

Imagine a placing journey between Dundee and Aberdeen on an E400MMC or Even a B7TL Gemini as they're still lying about spare, wishful thinking but that would be good fun

 

[aswilliamsuk]

The thing that more interests me from an operational perspective is how maintenance on the buses will work as the current depot has no facilities. Presumably maintenance will either have to be outsourced or buses will rotate between Aberdeen and Dundee.

Certainly interesting times ahead...

It certainly makes me wonder what vehicles McGills are going to supply for this. I suppose they have various StreetLites spare...

 

[kkong]

Imagine a placing journey between Dundee and Aberdeen on an E400MMC or Even a B7TL Gemini as they're still lying about spare, wishful thinking but that would be good fun

Megabus used to run (not so new) deckers in service between Aberdeen and Dundee back in the day... rather noisy.

 

[Spsf3232]

Megabus used to run (not so new) deckers in service between Aberdeen and Dundee back in the day... rather noisy.

Stagecoach still do occasionally on the X7

 

[AndrewTaylor95]

Megabus used to run (not so new) deckers in service between Aberdeen and Dundee back in the day... rather noisy.

Yes been on one of them when I was a kid

 

[Haribolover06]

I heard that the service will be using Xplore Dundee's operator licence, with the Aberdeen depot being an outstation. will be interesting to see which vehicles are allocated for this service as Aberdeen passengers getting on a Dundee liveried vehicle will definitely confuse people.

 

[Strathtay 260]

I wonder what the operator name will be.. McGill's Scotland North? And I wonder which app the services will track on.

 

[Stan Drews]

Details of the new 14 route are now available on the Xplore Dundee website and app.

Maps & timetables - Xplore Dundee

www.xploredundee.com

Aberdeen

www.xploredundee.com

 

[voidwxrranty]

Details of the new 14 route are now available on the Xplore Dundee website and app.

Maps & timetables - Xplore Dundee

www.xploredundee.com

Aberdeen

www.xploredundee.com

any idea when the maps for the route will be available Stan?

 

[Strathtay 260]

any idea when the maps for the route will be available Stan?

Are you meaning a route map? One is available on the Xplore Dundee website/app.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 6 Nov 2024 ==

Any idea what vehicles will be going up there anyone?

 

[Stan Drews]

any idea when the maps for the route will be available Stan?

https://passenger-line-assets.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/xploredundee/TRDU/14-map-20241125-5cfaa38d.pdf

 

[voidwxrranty]

https://passenger-line-assets.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/xploredundee/TRDU/14-map-20241125-5cfaa38d.pdf

Thanks.

 

[Christmas]

Perhaps just using plain 'Xplore' as a fleet name would work...

 

[voidwxrranty]

Perhaps just using plain 'Xplore' as a fleet name would work...

That is what their using. look at the Xplore Dundee website.

 

[Stan Drews]

That is what their using. look at the Xplore Dundee website.

Indeed, you can see the logo at the link I posted previously.

Aberdeen

www.xploredundee.com

 

[voidwxrranty]

Indeed, you can see the logo at the link I posted previously.

Aberdeen

www.xploredundee.com

Is this just going to be the name for services not in the big three? (West, MBLB and Xplore Dundee)

 

[greenline712]

More to the point .... is this McGills expanding outside Glasgow because of the threat of 'franchisation' in their home town? A bit of a 'foot in the water' job? I don't know what the PVR of this X14 is .....

 

[Edirim]

More to the point .... is this McGills expanding outside Glasgow because of the threat of 'franchisation' in their home town? A bit of a 'foot in the water' job? I don't know what the PVR of this X14 is .....

2 buses by looks of it

 

[Stan Drews]

More to the point .... is this McGills expanding outside Glasgow because of the threat of 'franchisation' in their home town? A bit of a 'foot in the water' job? I don't know what the PVR of this X14 is .....

It’s the 14 (no X) and PVR is just 2.
It’s a tendered service that is a reasonable fit with their Aberdeen depot used for the FlixBus operations. Nothing whatsoever to do with franchising in Greenock, or anywhere else, just a simple business opportunity.

 

[Strathtay 260]

What vehicles will be going up?

 

[Stan Drews]

E200MMCs 4106/7 (YX19OSU/V) have been transferred from Midland Bluebird to Xplore Dundee in preparation for use on service 14 in Aberdeen from next week. I believe a third example will join them.

 

[voidwxrranty]

E200MMCs 4106/7 (YX19OSU/V) have been transferred from Midland Bluebird to Xplore Dundee in preparation for use on service 14 in Aberdeen from next week. I believe a third example will join them.

4105 i’d presume.

 

[Stan Drews]

4105 i’d presume.

…or 4108?

 

[Trnsprt4Sctlnd]

I’m not surprised in the least tbh that McGills are taking on extra work in the area.

Recently I was informed by a former colleague that First Grouo Aberdeen depot currently has 26 or so agency staff because a good few had left for FlixBus.

Last year First Group Aberdeen only had around 10-12 agency staff.

 

[Jordan Adam]

I’m not surprised in the least tbh that McGills are taking on extra work in the area.

Recently I was informed by a former colleague that First Grouo Aberdeen depot currently has 26 or so agency staff because a good few had left for FlixBus.

Last year First Group Aberdeen only had around 10-12 agency staff.

I wouldn't really say Flixbus is the reason as they themselves have struggled with driver recruitment and retention. A few drivers have also moved from Flixbus to First recently, primarily due to how poorly managed the Aberdeen Flixbus operation has been.

Ember starting up and the closure of Stagecoach's Insch/Stonehaven depots are probably the two bigger overall factors when it comes to recent driver "migration" between operators in Aberdeen/Aberdeenshire.

 

[Stan Drews]

I wouldn't really say Flixbus is the reason as they themselves have struggled with driver recruitment and retention. A few drivers have also moved from Flixbus to First recently, primarily due to how poorly managed the Aberdeen Flixbus operation has been.

Ember starting up and the closure of Stagecoach's Insch/Stonehaven depots are probably the two bigger overall factors when it comes to recent driver "migration" between operators in Aberdeen/Aberdeenshire.

I know they got rid of quite a few drivers at the FlixBus ops in Aberdeen, that weren’t up to the job. That’s isn’t that unusual with ‘coach‘ drivers, especially where drivers have moved over from ‘bus’ work, as they can be quite different jobs and many drivers can be really good at one but not the other. I have also heard that some early Ember recruits have also moved on.
The fact that a few new options have appeared this year for driving jobs in Aberdeen will certainly have had an influence on the incumbent operators like First and Stagecoach.