Lothian Group discussion (Lothian City, Lothian Country Bus and East Coast Buses)

[stevenedin]

453 moved to Lothian Country yesterday and 500 has also moved to East Coast Buses.

 

[LothianBusesPh]

Why isn't more recovery time given elsewhere on the route?

What for? Special events only? The reason there's delays during the day is because the first bus picks up the passengers and the second runs light(er). Special events make every bus in the city delayed (rugby, fringe, etc), not just the 26!

 

[buslad1988]

Why isn't more recovery time given elsewhere on the route?

Similar layover is given at the Clerwood end also.

For such a busy cross-city service putting in too much recovery time during the route would put people off using it if it was to constantly be pulling in and waiting time on quiet occasions.

Putting in sufficient layover at the terminus atleast means the bus has half the chance to start its next trip on time and also gives the driver decent down time for a comfort break etc.

 

[Siemens Trains]

When Lothian Region Transport (LRT) replaced Edinburgh Corporation Transport in 1975, it stayed within the city boundary for its first few years. This created a lot of ill-feeling in the likes of Balerno, Queensferry etc who were paying city rates but not getting city buses in return. It wasn't until 1978 that LRT ventured beyond the city boundary with service 61 (St Andrew Square - Currie, later Balerno), joint with Eastern Scottish.

And, of course, LRT operated the 51 bus service between Currie and Newbridge from the 1970s into the 1980s. As noted in the attached fare table, passengers weren't allowed to make journeys in route sections that overlapped with Eastern Scottish services. I think the fares may be based on Eastern Scottish equivalents of that era, and they don't conform to LRT's standard 5p increments. From what I recall, exact fare was still necessary on the 51 vehicle.
Pretty sure the PVR was only ever 1. Good luck getting between Currie and Newbridge in 23 minutes during the early evening nowadays!

 

[stevenedin]

Looks like a Lothian Country bus. I wonder what happened https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/edinburgh-emergency-services-shut-key-31927355

Edinburgh emergency services shut key West End road as bus seen with 'hole in side'
Images shared with Edinburgh Live show a Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) height appliance next to a double decker bus which has had an upper deck window removed.

Emergency services have locked down Haymarket Terrace in an ongoing incident.
Images shared with Edinburgh Live show a Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) height appliance next to a double decker bus which has had an upper deck window removed.

Police Scotland are on scene and have closed the road in both directions while paramedics were also spotted responding to the incident on Tuesday June 24.

The fire service confirmed they received a report to assist the Scottish Ambulance Service at around 7.09pm.
Tram services passing through the area have been temporarily suspended while Lothian Buses have said the 3 4 12 25 26 31 33 44 100 113 X19 X18 X7 X4 services will experience delays and diversions.

One eye witness said: "I saw an ambulance take off and a ladder truck coming away from the window. There's a hole in the side of the bus."

Police Scotland and the ambulance service have been approached for comment.

EDIT just seen this. It's 586 https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/major-edinburgh-road-reopens-after-31927589

Major Edinburgh road reopens after emergency incident as bus services resume
Eye witnesses reported seeing a fire service height appliance try to gain access to the upper deck of a Lothian Country bus.

Haymarket Terrace had been locked down for around two hours while emergency services responded to an incident.
Eye witnesses reported seeing a fire service height appliance try to gain access to the upper deck of a Lothian Country bus.

The area is understood to have been cordoned off by police shortly after 7pm on Tuesday June 23.

The exact nature of the incident is not yet understood.
Half a dozen Police Scotland vehicles were spotted on the busy West End road as were a number of paramedics who could be seen accessing a Lothian Bus.

A picture shared from the scene showed a window had been removed from the upper deck of the bus.
Edinburgh Trams were suspended travelling through the Haymarket Station stops while Lothian bus services were diverted.
However both services are understood to have returned to normal.
On an incident, an eye witness said: "I saw an ambulance take off and a ladder truck coming away from the window. There's a hole in the side of the bus."

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) confirmed they were called to assist the ambulance service with their response.
Police Scotland and the Scottish Ambulance Service have been approached for comment.

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

Looks like a Lothian Country bus. I wonder what happened https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/edinburgh-emergency-services-shut-key-31927355

EDIT just seen this. It's 586 https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/major-edinburgh-road-reopens-after-31927589

Any context? The article states a hole in side of bus which could really mean anything. There’s a window missing but else the pictures don’t show much. Hopefully when possible more details are shared as it doesn’t look good on the face of it. Plenty of ambulance presence.

Mind you it’s Edinburgh Live, about as accurate as any political manifesto.

 

[stevenedin]

Any context? The article states a hole in side of bus which could really mean anything. There’s a window missing but else the pictures don’t show much.

Mind you it’s Edinburgh Live, about as accurate as any political manifesto.

Yeah I have no idea. It's probably something simple blown out of proportion.

 

[computerSaysNo]

Looks like a Lothian Country bus. I wonder what happened https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/edinburgh-emergency-services-shut-key-31927355

EDIT just seen this. It's 586 https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/major-edinburgh-road-reopens-after-31927589

Can you quote the articles as the adverts make their page unreadable for me?

 

[Bus9120UK]

I mostly read that it was something related to a medical emergency, which makes sense with the high number of ambulances. I can't tell clearly but it looks like someone may have also been holding a defibrillator in one of the images.
Regardless, I assume what happened will become clearer in due course.

Edit - this Facebook post has relevant information https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1261675855962814&set=a.504113585052382

An arterial route to and from the city centre was closed in both directions this evening following an incident on a Lothian bus.

Paramedics rushed to the incident on the upper deck of the service at around 6.50pm to reports of a casualty having a cardiac arrest.

Ambulance crews swiftly made a decision to contact the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service for assistance in extracting the casualty from the upper deck of the service and it was decided that the best way to safely do this was by using a height appliance from nearby Tollcross fire station and remove the window from the bus.

A fire service spokesperson said “ we were contacted at 7:09pm by our emergency service partners in the Ambulance service to assist with a special service. A casualty was removed from the upper floor of a bus using our height appliance platform”.

Police were seen to close the road at Haymarket Terrace in both directions to allow crews to work.

A nearby witness said “They got the person from the upstairs of the bus using the big snorkel fire engine. They’ve been taken to the hospital by ambulance with a police motorcycle escort, it didn’t look good”.

 

[Devon Sunset]

I passed 2 BZLs on the M74 heading North this morning on a delivery run. I know they were 25 plates and one ends in B and the other in D.

 

[stevenedin]

Nobody has mentioned but 940 was withdrawn the other day as well.

 

[LothianBusesPh]

Nobody has mentioned but 940 was withdrawn the other day as well.

Had a gearbox fault. Now withdrawn.

 

[Lothianbus703]

I passed 2 BZLs on the M74 heading North this morning on a delivery run. I know they were 25 plates and one ends in B and the other in D.

Possibly 734e/736e

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

Possibly 734e/736e

I would expect that they are. Big clue will be if they are switched on at Seafield next week.

 

[CSB0241]

Odd ask but does anyone have a timetable or whatever for the 2/22 from when the West Edinburgh Fastlink/Guided Busway was still around?

 

[overthewater]

Odd ask but does anyone have a timetable or whatever for the 2/22 from when the West Edinburgh Fastlink/Guided Busway was still around?

EDIT: Lets try again. Whoops.. It was March 2000 when the whole network was overhauled. 2 and 12 that got spilt and the new 22 come in. The timetables you would be after is from Dec 2004. From later part of 2005 the 2 was extended to RBS it was still every 15mins. To be fair to the 22 its run like every 5mins..

 

[CSB0241]

EDIT: Lets try again. Whoops.. It was March 2000 when the whole network was overhauled. 2 and 12 that got spilt and the new 22 come in. The timetables you would be after is from Dec 2004. From later part of 2005 the 2 was extended to RBS it was still every 15mins. To be fair to the 22 its run like every 5mins..

Can I ask what website this is from? Looks interesting, I kind of want to have a wee gander at it.

 

[ScotRail158725]

EDIT: Lets try again. Whoops.. It was March 2000 when the whole network was overhauled. 2 and 12 that got spilt and the new 22 come in. The timetables you would be after is from Dec 2004. From later part of 2005 the 2 was extended to RBS it was still every 15mins. To be fair to the 22 its run like every 5mins..

Was the 22 based at Central then? I though ever since the 2000 timetable change apart form post covid the 22 was Longstone based

 

[stevenedin]

Was the 22 based at Central then? I though ever since the 2000 timetable change apart form post covid the 22 was Longstone based

The 22 was initially Central based maybe up until 2009 but I cant be certain. It was definitely Longstone based in 2009 up until 2020 then it moved to Central then back to Longstone again last year I think.

 

[DunsBus]

The 22 was initially Central based maybe up until 2009 but I cant be certain. It was definitely Longstone based in 2009 up until 2020 then it moved to Central then back to Longstone again last year I think.

Longstone to start with. There was a period in the early naughties when the 22-branded Darts ran backshifts on other services. It was one of these Darts (75) which got toasted on the bypass coming off a 44 back to Longstone when still new, back in June 2003.

 

[stevenedin]

Longstone to start with. There was a period in the early naughties when the 22-branded Darts ran backshifts on other services. It was one of these Darts (75) which got toasted on the bypass coming off a 44 back to Longstone when still new, back in June 2003.

Thanks for the info. Yeah I heard about 75 and it was replaced by a 54 reg dart I think.

 

[ScotRail158725]

Thanks for the info. Yeah I heard about 75 and it was replaced by a 54 reg dart I think.

SN53 JNO replaced it

 

[DunsBus]

SN53 JNO replaced it

You beat me to it. It was added on to the next order.

 

[VioletEclipse]

Longstone to start with. There was a period in the early naughties when the 22-branded Darts ran backshifts on other services. It was one of these Darts (75) which got toasted on the bypass coming off a 44 back to Longstone when still new, back in June 2003.

Gemini 3 Classic number 405 and XLB 1076 met similar ends, I can't think of any others which caught fire on the bypass since the milennium, but I assume it might have something to do with running at speed for a prolonged amount of time after having not done so for a while.

 

[stevenedin]

I've noticed that 905 and 906 have been getting used a lot on normal services.

934 seems to have been out of action recently for some reason.

Hopefully 502, 504 and 509 will be completed soon which should release more buses from East Coast Buses.

841 and 849 are still idle at Marine since April. 845-848 seem to be getting used by the training school at Longstone. Will they be keeping these and will they be branded as training buses or just temporary loans?

I also noticed that at West Craigs the junction from Maybury Road is getting work done so hopefully that will mean that a new service will operate here soon.

 

[DunsBus]

Gemini 3 Classic number 405 and XLB 1076 met similar ends, I can't think of any others which caught fire on the bypass since the milennium, but I assume it might have something to do with running at speed for a prolonged amount of time after having not done so for a while.

405 and 1076 were both deemed not worth repairing. 75, on the other hand, was a total loss; I seem to recall hearing that it was faulty electrics which brought about its demise.

 

[LothianBusesPh]

934 seems to have been out of action recently for some reason.

934 is getting work done to its engine, will be back soon.

845-848 seem to be getting used by the training school at Longstone.

845 isn't being used by the driving school.

 

[stevenedin]

934 is getting work done to its engine, will be back soon.


845 isn't being used by the driving school.

934 has not long come back from getting work done at the same time as 843. Sounds like it isn't very reliable now. Saying that, I was on 843 last week and it sounded very loud a bit like 1049.

Sorry my mistake about 845.

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

There have been photos of 747 on its delivery run today on Facebook so if 734 and 736 are also there with confirmed 728 and 745, then that’s 5 BZL’s of the remaining 14 that are at Seafield.

I would expect 454 and 461 to be released by 728 and 745. After that, I suspect we’ll start seeing moves to Marine to free up MMC’s to Longstone to release Skylink’s as the last of the known Lothian Country bound examples will have moved.

Hypothetically speaking on that part, 734, 736 and 747 into service at Central, releasing 466-468 to Marine, in turn releasing 672-674 to Longstone, which then releases 501, 503 and 505? Something like that anyway.

843 and 844 remain in use as extras due to a number of the ex London B9TL’s being out of use.

 

[Bus9120UK]

I've noticed that 905 and 906 have been getting used a lot on normal services.

934 seems to have been out of action recently for some reason.

Hopefully 502, 504 and 509 will be completed soon which should release more buses from East Coast Buses.

841 and 849 are still idle at Marine since April. 845-848 seem to be getting used by the training school at Longstone. Will they be keeping these and will they be branded as training buses or just temporary loans?

I also noticed that at West Craigs the junction from Maybury Road is getting work done so hopefully that will mean that a new service will operate here soon.

504 is complete and at Marine being prepared for service.

1065 was damaged earlier and probably won't be seen in service for a while.