Stagecoach East Scotland

[Simon75]

They'll have the steel blue seats as well rather than the grey ones, standard for new deliveries from now

Will they still be leather seats?

 

[AndrewTaylor95]

Will they still be leather seats?

Exactly the same just different colour

 

[overthewater]

New timetables for NEXT week service changes have at long last appeared, there is some minor changes.

 

[DJ_9SZ]

New timetables for NEXT week service changes have at long last appeared, there is some minor changes.

Good going, compared to Moffat and Williamson, I had to go hunting and eventually found on Traveline Scotland website, not on Bustimes or their own website, and no paper timetables on their buses either. Bonus point goes to Stagecoach !!

Images show M+W's 35 which will partially replace Stagecoach 65 between Newburgh and Cupar, and M+W's 35A which will connect with the Stagecoach 56/A at Abernethy, offering an evening service to Newburgh, Ladybank, Cupar and Balmullo, as a partial replacement to the M65.

Interesting to see all these former Stagecoach routes handed over to Moffats.

I remember back in the day when Stagecoach had the 23 from St Andrews to Stirling, and the 35, 36, 64 and 94!

 

[overthewater]

It should be noted nearly all of the routes operated by Moffat and Williamson, are under contract to Fife council. I believe Route M4 and 77 are the only commercial routes. Also service 65 timetable still includes M36 to Glenrothes, but does not include the new 35 service or connections between 56 and 35A.

Fife council has wasted alot of money in that part of Fife for very little gain.

 

[Highland050261]

Former autonomous bus 62003 (YX69 NUP) is now in London with Metroline. Unfortunately, I can’t share the photo as it was posted in a private group.

 

[overthewater]

Former autonomous bus 62003 (YX69 NUP) is now in London with Metroline. Unfortunately, I can’t share the photo as it was posted in a private group.

A pic has turned up on Flickr. https://flic.kr/p/2rGY57h

It seems some people haven't notice there was some fleet movements which included 3 B8s moving to the Perth Depot, while it seems all 5 YX20 MMC200 are now with Glenrothes.

 

[aswilliamsuk]

A pic has turned up on Flickr. https://flic.kr/p/2rGY57h

It seems some people haven't notice there was some fleet movements which included 3 B8s moving to the Perth Depot, while it seems all 5 YX20 MMC200 are now with Glenrothes.

Presumably those autonomous buses are going to Metroline for this: https://www.fusionproc.com/fusion-p...nology-in-live-london-bus-depot-environments/

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

It seems some people haven't notice there was some fleet movements which included 3 B8s moving to the Perth Depot, while it seems all 5 YX20 MMC200 are now with Glenrothes.

The movement of the YX20’s was nothing to do with the changes though. 26350 had been freed up ages ago but needed work and hasn’t moved to Glenrothes yet, while 26353 was displaced by 10677 and I would imagine will be out soon.

Once that happens then 27213 and 27216 will be freed up for transfer to Merseyside, meaning there are no E300’s left at Glenrothes.

54514-6 I’m assuming will be the extra vehicles required for Perth having gained the 65, with the reshuffle of coaches allowing other vehicles move onto the curtailed route.

 

[overthewater]

I believe 54514-6 have been sent to free up other NON B8s coaches.

X57 it seems is not doing a one way loop but instead going down Queens street and then going around the roundabout. The question is will that be quicker when a silly van driver parks on the road causing delays that going via Leith walk?

 

[Rab Smith]

Yet again, waited for ages for a 99 to arrive just outside Leuchars to go to Dundee and it was rammed to the gunnels!
Are they planning on ever running double deckers on this route around the peak?
I know it's not as easy as just putting double deckers on but surely this route should have them or at least plan them for the future.

 

[AndrewTaylor95]

Yet again, waited for ages for a 99 to arrive just outside Leuchars to go to Dundee and it was rammed to the gunnels!
Are they planning on ever running double deckers on this route around the peak?
I know it's not as easy as just putting double deckers on but surely this route should have them or at least plan them for the future.

Nope, MCV single deck Volvo BZLs are awaiting to enter service once charging infrastructure is installed in Dundee Bus Station

 

[Rab Smith]

Nope, MCV single deck Volvo BZLs are awaiting to enter service once charging infrastructure is installed in Dundee Bus Station

Doesn't that surprise me.
Taking the p*** with that journey. It's an absolute gold mine of a route and they should be putting the buses on deserving of it!

 

[AndrewTaylor95]

Doesn't that surprise me.
Taking the p*** with that journey. It's an absolute gold mine of a route and they should be putting the buses on deserving of it!

Tay Bridge is a factor

 

[overthewater]

They did used to operate decker's but as mentioned the Tay bridge is shut half the time to decker because of high winds, Back in the day they used to operate the route with 60 seat Leyland tigers.

The roadworks which seem to keep plaguing the area has to be a factor.

 

[aaronspence]

Doesn't that surprise me.
Taking the p*** with that journey. It's an absolute gold mine of a route and they should be putting the buses on deserving of it!

As a frequent user of the 99 they have actually taken decent busses off the route, the amount of times I've been on a tiny knackered one that struggles to get up the hill just after Drumoig before the dual carriageway towards the bridge is rediculous.

 

[ajrm]

As a frequent user of the 99 they have actually taken decent busses off the route, the amount of times I've been on a tiny knackered one that struggles to get up the hill just after Drumoig before the dual carriageway towards the bridge is rediculous.

Yes, the allocation on the 99s recently has been a bit puzzling with small Darts all over the place and deckers running on the St Andrews town services.

Deckers are not unknown on the 99—there were a couple out most days during the Tay Bridge roadworks last year, and in the past they were a regular occurrence on the 95 and on the direct St Andrews/Dundee services of Fife Scottish and Moffat & Williamson. However none of those services had a PVR of 12 buses that would be unusable every time there's severe weather.

Back in the day they used to operate the route with 60 seat Leyland tigers

Well, up to a point, the route (much longer) and frequency (much less) were both completely different!

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

The problem with the 99 is that it simply cannot be given double deckers permanently. As explained the Tay Road Bridge is bad for closing to high sided vehicles cause of the winds and there’s no alternative route.

If you see a decker on it, it’s not planned. Much like the X55 across the Forth Road Bridge. Though granted Stagecoach could theoretically have the Cross-Forth traffic use the Queensferry Crossing if double deckers were required permanently. Again though, none of the Cross-Forth traffic is permanently allocated deckers, but deckers are common.

Though I found it interesting on Friday that they were running deckers over the Forth Road Bridge despite the fact it was closed to deckers, with the matrix signs advising as such. Eventually they did start sending those deckers over the Queensferry Crossing, but it took a good couple of hours from when it was shut for it to actually happen. Perhaps there’s a higher limit on the wind that doesn’t come in straight away?

 

[Rab Smith]

As a frequent user of the 99 they have actually taken decent busses off the route, the amount of times I've been on a tiny knackered one that struggles to get up the hill just after Drumoig before the dual carriageway towards the bridge is rediculous.

Tonight was brutal! The bus crawled up Drumoig at around 10mph!

 

[marks87]

The problem with the 99 is that it simply cannot be given double deckers permanently. As explained the Tay Road Bridge is bad for closing to high sided vehicles cause of the winds and there’s no alternative route.

Technically there is an alternative route, but it’s not exactly ideal!

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

Technically there is an alternative route, but it’s not exactly ideal!

You wonder if any bus has endured the 40 mile diversion?

 

[computerSaysNo]

Nope, MCV single deck Volvo BZLs are awaiting to enter service once charging infrastructure is installed in Dundee Bus Station

What length will these be? And how many seats? I'm thinking more or less than the existing E200MMCs which are 11.8m length?

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

I noticed 26124-6 have been freed up from St Andrews following the changes. Anyone know where these are planned to go? I had assumed Blairgowrie to see off 27610/11/13 but wasn’t 100% sure.

 

[Stan Drews]

I noticed 26124-6 have been freed up from St Andrews following the changes. Anyone know where these are planned to go? I had assumed Blairgowrie to see off 27610/11/13 but wasn’t 100% sure.

The latter trio may stay around as they have seatbelts, so ideal for Blair’s many school contracts.

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

The latter trio may stay around as they have seatbelts, so ideal for Blair’s many school contracts.

Those 18 plate MMC’s are also belted. The acquisition of the BZL’s numerically suggests that there should be no E300’s left except for 10 at Aberhill (27131-40) and 5 at Forfar (27117-21).

There’s 12 E300’s at Perth and 3 at Blairgowrie which it seems inevitable that these will be ousted by 26112-26.

 

[ajrm]

Technically there is an alternative route, but it’s not exactly ideal!

Yes, bad enough for cars, and given that by default it's going to be in use when the weather is poor it's pretty dismal. These days I think only a handful buses are sent round the diversion: clearly, with a headway of 8-9 minutes you'd run out of vehicles quite quickly, so some of the runs are turned back at the Forgan roundabout.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 2 Dec 2025 ==

What length will these be? And how many seats? I'm thinking more or less than the existing E200MMCs which are 11.8m length?

41 seats, so 2 fewer than the existing buses.

 

[overthewater]

The real problem is, what do you want them to do? The company has brought a fleet of brand new buses and they have been waiting for them to go on the road.

 

[aaronspence]

The real problem is, what do you want them to do? The company has brought a fleet of brand new buses and they have been waiting for them to go on the road.

Thats a problem, another is the revelation the new buses have fewer capacity than the ones they replace, thats disappointing, Hopefully they can increase the frequency then to accommodate demand.

 

[Metal Mickey]

Perhaps the solution in the longer term is to invest in some tri-axle single deckers but the big stumbling block is St Andrew’s Depot and Bus Station given how tight it is.

 

[computerSaysNo]

Thats a problem, another is the revelation the new buses have fewer capacity than the ones they replace, thats disappointing, Hopefully they can increase the frequency then to accommodate demand.

Bus Lists (https://www.buslistsontheweb.co.uk/) reports that the E200MMCs at 11.8m length have 43 seats and the BZLs (don't know the length) have 41. So not a major decrease but a decrease nonetheless. I'm not entirely sure standing capacity really matters as everyone just crowds around the front door anyway and stops anyone else getting on even if there's more room further back.
For comparison purposes I also looked up Stagecoach PantherLE (I don't know the length), which seat 53, and Lothian Buses Evora (12.9m), which seat 49.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 2 Dec 2025 ==

Perhaps the solution in the longer term is to invest in some tri-axle single deckers but the big stumbling block is St Andrew’s Depot and Bus Station given how tight it is.

I thought of the E200MMC XLB but this has gone from the Alexander Dennis website, and Wikipedia doesn't list the number of seats in the New Zealand examples. I know the B8RLE chassis can be built as tri-axle but I'm not sure if it's available with any bus bodies.