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McGill's Buses - Renfrewshire & Inverclyde
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Stan Drews
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One of Dundee’s new Yutong DDs (8610) is to be trialled here next week, operating from Inchinnan depot. It is intended to be used on the X23 between Erskine and Glasgow.
voidwxrranty
Member
will be very well received. The X23 is like a sardine tin at peak time, so it will be a perfect fit, the DB250 Geminis were great for capacity at peak.
AndrewTaylor95
Member
Be good to see a capacity increase on the X23, certainly needs it
voidwxrranty
Member
When will the Renfrew Bridge service start? Since it’s open now.
There isn't going to be any services going over the bridge
Stan Drews
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The bridge has to open to let ships pass up or down river, and can be open for relatively lengthy periods when that happens, so it wouldn’t really be very practical as a regular bus route.
erskinebus
Member
Both Arriva and Avondale tried Clydebank to Braehead services via the tunnel, and First ran a Clydebank to QEUH service (which I think was SPT subsidised) - none were a hit so I can't see McGill's trying now, especially with the bridge closing for over an hour at a time during the day.
318266
Member
Notably, I believe that the PS Waverley (which incidentally appears inside refurbished ClydeFlyer vehicles) will cause this to happen quite frequently during summer season. I can't remember how long in advance that ships have to give for passing through the bridge, but it certainly isn't the kind of notice that management - at any company - would consider altering driver's hours, bus schedules and interconnected bus rotas for, to serve what would be a useful connection, but that customers might shift the blame on the company for not being able to fit rocket engines for their buses and fly over the bridge when its open, as some of them seem to expect from this industry!!
Buzby
Established Member
PS Waverley is covering the South Coast & Solent shortly, but even so it’ll only be twice a day and possibly 4 times in an 18 hour window - not quite the same as a level crossing! I’d suggest the main traffic would be from N to S and Braehead, not the reverse to Yoker.
318266
Member
Twice a day during daytime hours is still a significant interruption to a hypothetical bus service. Sure, you could try your best to timetable around this - either have your bus drive a completely different alternative route (that has been proven to be financially unsuccessful) during the time the bridge is open for any ship (which isn't at set times, so you'd have to largely plan it fairly ad hoc when notice is received) - or more likely just have the route not run during this time, likely resulting in your company paying the driver to sit around and have a long break. While I know certain bus drivers who would love that shift (who wouldn't!), that certainly wouldn't be worth the effort to run a single service.
Would be interesting if anyone did try to run a scheduled service over it, and it might prove useful for deadruns and diversions (say, if the Erskine Bridge was closed).
Edit: having now read the aptly named 'Renfrewshire Council River Clyde Opening Bridge Scheme 2018 Confirmation Instrument 2019', the minimum notice can be as short as 2 hours. Godspeed to any operator willing to work around *that* notice period!!
Renfrewshire Council River Clyde Opening Bridge Scheme 2018 Confirmation Instrument 2019 said:
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Have Shuttle Buses stopped running that one?
voidwxrranty
Member
yes.
ClydeCoaster
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Yep! Having been at the opening as a guest, the chatter was that the Clyde pilots want the bridge to be open *3 HOURS* before a ship passes through. That's despite emergency berths being positioned at either side of the bridge. Compare with Tower Bridge, a Grade I listed national landmark, which opens on average twice a day, and requires a warning of 30 minutes and the average time for the bridge to be closed and a ship to pass through is less than 10 minutes.
Nothing seems to imply that they aren't. No registration updates or cancellations either, they seem to take forever in updating that these days too. Probably wasn't making enough money to come from Kilwinning to do it.
voidwxrranty
Member
Rumour was spreading around a few that Shuttle weren’t making enough money to run it at a profit, was going to happen eventually.
Stan Drews
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Yes, they are still running the routes where they have competition, but gave up this one, which didn’t!
voidwxrranty
Member
bit backwards!
McGills have stated to being interested in running one though. But that’s all I’ve heard.
Stan Drews
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Having an interest doesn’t mean they’ll be rushing to create a new commercial service over it.
voidwxrranty
Member
it goes forward over the junction, and loops around the new roundabout
Stan Drews
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There are no bus stops along there, it simply goes along to the new roundabout as it’s an easy option to turn the bus round. The first/last stops are the ones at the west end of King’s Inch Road, normally served by the 26.
318266
Member
I'm surprised it didn't use the old Renfrew Ferry turning circle, if I'm honest
Tom Gallacher
Member
I had premises close to where the bridge is and when the initial planning application was made I'm pretty sure that the closure time was stated to be less than 90 minutes.
Stan Drews
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It was considered but as no buses have terminated there for a long time, it now sees far more parked cars than when it was a regular turning point.
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
A further 3 new Yutong GT12 coaches have arrived for the ‘Loch Lomond’ coach fleet. They are 0504-6 (YG25FEX/FFA/B) and currently green (as apparently a cancelled order for a FlixBus operator), but due to become blue fairly soon.
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Same. It would help people be able to get to the bridge quicker.