Resuwen
Member
Only a handful of the 84Xs plus 905/06 to go and that will the last of the very dated looking “big headlight” Geminis off the fleet.
Close to the end of an era.
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Lothian Group discussion (Lothian City, Lothian Country Bus and East Coast Buses)
- Thread starter GusB
- Start date
Only a handful of the 84Xs plus 905/06 to go and that will the last of the very dated looking “big headlight” Geminis off the fleet.
Close to the end of an era.
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JasonGillblox
On Moderation
905/6 are to stay for time being - they've recently been fitted with assault screens. I'm sure it was mentioned earlier, there is too much focus on getting these good buses gone!
Lothianbus703
Member
They dont look that dated with the condition they are in.
Resuwen
Member
I am sure they are in good condition and will find homes elsewhere - it’s just the old big headlight look of them looks much older than the style on the 09s onwards
VioletEclipse
Member
are the headlights that big? they have three small round lights on either side, just like the Gemini 2s but positioned slightly differently. I agree that the Gemini 1 front does look a bit more dated, although both still look relitavely modern to me. espescially the slightly updated headlights on the later ones (and notably Eclipse 104).
It wasn’t meant to be paid by themselves tho, they were expecting funding.
LothianBusesPh
Member
Should return once more.
They were expecting funding from the second Scotzeb round for the second batch, but were unsuccessful. The first batch was funded by Lothian
FlybeDash8Q400
Established Member
Not yet. 941 has been withdrawn. 941 will be replaced by 509 when it moves across.
Guessing ECB has a bit of slack in the decker fleet for the next month and a half, with the schools not running?
FlybeDash8Q400
Established Member
Amazingly not really. There’s one less run overall as the 125 is a rota on its own, but all the other school runs go onto something else anyway so there’s not much gained. Those runs just start with the peak extra rather than the school run.
Theoretically they could drop by one decker. I’m not sure that’s likely though.
Only one bus, as the 126/7/8 all interwork with other routes.
Edit - FlybeDash beat me to it.
On a seperate note, chances are 726 has not yet been delivered with 747 tracking as both 726 and 747. 747 is on route 27 just now.
Cheers guys, make sense why 929-931 still getting used heavily.
929-931 will be permanently required to push all of 937-950 out of use. 933 should eventually return and another two 09 plates, 934/5, (or 934 and 496) will have to move as well. It obviously seems counter intuitive replacing 10 plates with 09 plates but that's what they are doing. I imagine it may relate to the high mileage of the 10 plates while the 09 plates have spent a lot of time idling.
The 10 plates have been hammered for 15 years straight. Absolute titans but time for retirement. Only 942 got a rest on the account of decapitating itself and taking a few years to come back.
I'm guessing an additional cascade of some more B5TL/Gemini 3s will need to remove the 09s. That will obviously require more vehicles joining main fleet.
Perhaps replace the Airlinks, refurb and cascade the B8Ls to main fleet displacing B5TL/G3s.
Wait and see.
Resuwen
Member
Surely the next batch of 48 BZL will allow the 09s all to go and make a start on some 11s
FlybeDash8Q400
Established Member
I think there’s an emphasis on frequency increases to be honest. Piecing it together I actually don’t think 466-495 will last that much longer on the 26 now either. I’m not saying it’ll happen now but maybe within a couple of years?
ECB after all these moves will eventually need another 5 or 6 Gemini3’s. As @Bus9120UK said above this will depend on which of 496 or 935 moves to ECB now. For now it would be ideal if the 09 plates were concentrated to the school/peak runs and the 139 but I’m not sure that’s likely. There have been a number of complaints about them appearing on the long runs though, particularly the 124.
It is therefore possible that 491-496 move over later to replace 929-931, 933-935. This leaves a potential outcome of 466-490 to Livingston. As I say, this would be well into the future.
Revision of Airlink 100 fares from Sunday 27 July - Lothian Buses
From Sunday 27 July, fares on our Airlink 100 will be revised. Full details can be found below. Airport Singles Current Fare Revised Fare Adult £5.50 £6.00 Child £2.75 £3.00 Airport Returns Current Fare Revised Fare Adult £8.00 £8.50 Child £4.00 £4.25 Family* £20.00 £22.00 *up to 2 adults and up...
www.lothianbuses.com
Airlink fares going up. Makes the McGills option a slight bit more attractive for those who check (which isn't the majority).
Revision of Airlink 100 fares from Sunday 27 July - Lothian Buses
From Sunday 27 July, fares on our Airlink 100 will be revised. Full details can be found below. Airport Singles Current Fare Revised Fare Adult £5.50 £6.00 Child £2.75 £3.00 Airport Returns Current Fare Revised Fare Adult £8.00 £8.50 Child £4.00 £4.25 Family* £20.00 £22.00 *up to 2 adults and up...
Airlink fares going up. Makes the McGills option a slight bit more attractive for those who check (which isn't the majority).
Just in time for the festival
When 511-8 (ex 20001-8) were first delivered they seemed good at keeping them on the 124, but I've not seen steady (or logical) allocations for years now - except for the mandatory single deckers on the X7. Even then 197/8/9 regularly slip out on X5/7 whilst 51-65 pootle around on the 12x tendered routes.
ScotRail158725
Established Member
- Joined
- 27 Nov 2018
- Messages
- 2,664
Noticed 637 is back in service on the 3, after being off since February. What was it off the road for?
LothianBusesPh
Member
The engine was misfiring. It returned at the end of last month.
stevenedin
Established Member
454 has now moved to Marine as well probably preparing to go to Seafield for repaint.
501, 503 and 505 also now at Seafield.
504 has now moved to East Coast Buses.
941 withdrawn.
501, 503 and 505 also now at Seafield.
504 has now moved to East Coast Buses.
941 withdrawn.
509 should be out inevitably. With this 672-674 are at Longstone and 391/2 are at Marine. 393 will probably appear at Marine whenever it returns to service, assuming tracking is working correctly.
As it is 391-400 (10) moving to replace 672-680 (9), I wonder what else will be displaced at Marine. Could this allow 905/6 to be removed (as the Marine PVR is down due to the school 12 finishing)? A bus like 469 could be moved the other way to Central as well or Marine could gain the additional vehicle for whatever reason. The numbers will probably change again in September anyway.
672-674 have replaced 501, 503 and 505. 675-680 should replace 506-508 and 933-935. Do vehicle wraps have to cover a certain area or could 934/5 be moved to East Coast buses in their wraps?
In total 937-950 should be replaced by 497-510 while the additional 6 double deckers added to the peak vehicle requirement (PVR) in March should be 929-935, or 496 instead of 935.
497 and 510 didn't initially replace anything to allow for the increased PVR to be met so 934/5 are the final two buses required to take the 10 plates off the road.
It's unclear if 842 was taken off due to the schools finishing or because 504 was ready. If the former, then 933 will have to return for August. Otherwise, 933 will return whenever necessary and displace another 10 plate. It should become clearer once 509 enters service, as it may or may not lead to an additional 10 plate being removed from service.
Also, forgive me if I am waffling!
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I've heard a rumour the Airlink will be MCV B8L Tri axles, here's hoping! Probably the last new diesel buses if so.
Graeme Duncan
On Moderation
- Joined
- 3 Mar 2018
- Messages
- 221
Also according to the Lothian Buses tracker e728 is out on Service 10.
FlybeDash8Q400
Established Member
Ideal if so. Only credible options.
The single decks could be smaller Evora’s for the ECB council routes. Else I wouldn’t think there’s a chance of anything else singles wise.
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I think single deck full length BZL single decks are part of it, i'd imagine to replace the early 7900s.