Probably why they've got one of Craig's of Cumbernauld old E200MMCs YX72 OMG, seen it on the 309 a couple of days agoComing back with McColls.
New bus service to 'explore' Scottish national park announced
A NEW bus service aimed at helping people explore a popular national park has been announced following a successful pilot last year ...www.thenational.scot
I presume Clyde Metals, but curious on the E300.
pretty sure clyde metals too, was in bits last time i seen it
Coming back with McColls.
New bus service to 'explore' Scottish national park announced
A NEW bus service aimed at helping people explore a popular national park has been announced following a successful pilot last year ...
With a bit of luck it’s moving to Midland Bluebird. Surely more use for it there? 8949 and 8950 haven’t been out since May either.
I heard that the airport express was getting new double deckers. They could be the ones to do it.
They never had any success winning that contract under First ownership.
No chance the airport express doesn't even full a e300 the way thinks are going that service will be withdrawn soon
The problem is the E300’s are old and frankly knackered. The premise of the route is to be cheap, but deckers leaves room for the chance of growth.
I’ve seen pretty good loadings from the airport on the E300s. By the time you add people and all of their cases on to the bus it looks pretty full to me. Could just be I’ve caught it at a busy period.
The AIRX's usage has grown as summer has approached, it was pretty dead for most of the winter and spring from what I've seen but it's picked up a lot, I've seen a few full buses lately but it very much varies.
Such a sorry state of affairs. If First could manage to sustain such an extensive network over many years and for it to be profitable surely highlights the fact that there is a market in West Lothian for a decent bus service. I’d like to think that Lothian Country will actually start to build it back up again now that they’re the only player, although I won’t hold my breath.
For those interested I also posted some old West Lothian timetables and maps here post #27 https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...and-edinburgh-midlothian.243091/#post-6070050
Yes, as the route is over the limit of length it has to be split. In this case it is split at Balfron.
I forgot first tried to compete on the 77 but that was short lived, and Who can forget Davidson Buses 501/502 again that was Bus route Development grant. Of course there was Passenger travel 800, That bus was always always full... The Government controls over the route either linked to Scotrail really didn't help and it was madness they were all kept on for so long.
Yet the other through services are not split in timetable? It is a funding thing? By funding I mean council supporting evening services?
The rot in West Lothian set in before Covid. A more thorough review of the services in partnership between the operators and the Council might have provided a more sustainable network.
The rot started when Lothian Country came out. Before that buses were busy sometimes leaving people behind at stops. When there was two operators running together on the same route meant the first bus what came cleared the stop and the one behind was empty. Blue Bus was the first to go then Mcgills and Lothian Country won. Traffic in Livingston is now horrendous. It will take years to recover the passenger if ever as they have now found other ways to get around.
At one poibt the upcoming months (maybe year?) before Lothian Country Livingston depot was the most profitable in the whole First network
You are correct in that West Lothian can only really sustain one operator and that Lothian Country somewhat upset that.
I have no insight at all but this seems hard to believe given how many operating areas First still held even after departing the London scene. Maybe across the First Scotland East area, but that's surely not saying much. There may be some rose-tinted spectacles here - I don't recall much investment by First in Livingston over the 2010 to 2020 period. Vehicles were quite old or unreliable, publicity accuracy rather patchy, staff morale slightly jaded, and I'm not sure regularly leaving passengers behind at bus stops denotes an operation that's correctly resourced.
There were problems, but at the time LCB came in (around 2018) First’s average fleet age was at the youngest it had been in years. A big fleet of Enviro400 MMCs from 2016 and a lot of Streetlites from 2014. Once competition came in, they cut their fares and swapped out some of the fleet, partly to cut down the depreciation costs.
