I think you’d be surprised how well the E20 in particular is picking up over the last few weeks with a lot of busier services. The E19 will always take time to build demand but in reality this is the perfect feeder between Livingston and Edinburgh Airport for the busier E20 route.
Is the E19 really a feeder for the E20? The E20 already stops at Deer Park. I think others suggested it was a depot run which also attracted some rebate. This would make more sense to me with any numbers of passengers being a bonus. I would love them to turn the E19 into a connecting service at Ingliston for other parts of Scotland (and actually dropping off at the P&R stop on the inbound would be good). I also wonder if there might be a small improvement when they finally finish the works on the A899 which means a return journey from Ladywell and Knightsbridge becomes possible again.
We also don't know embers workings, how much it costs them to operate these routes, and how much they're happy to lose for a holistic approach. Their 24/7 buses are genuinely a lifesaver and small things like that do unbelievable things for brand loyalty and image that is almost impossible to simply buy
Agreed, although we know their
private hire rates. For 8 hours they charge £780. Doing some loose math, ignoring diagrams and time for breaks etc: if that were 6 single E20 journeys then that would work out to £130 per single journey. At their original fare of £7.55 they would need 18 passengers on average to attract the same revenue as their private hire. If they genuinely break even somewhere in that region then there is some serious potential in their model.
It sounded like more of a complaint about the entire company, not just the E19.
They sound to have healthy loads on many routes.
They do, and the Dundee routes are good examples of that. Inverness to Edinburgh journeys always seem to be well booked too.
Looking at tre bookings hours/days in advance isn't a reliable way to tell whether they're busy or not since there's so many last minute bookings.
Agreed. To get a feel for the E20 I look at bookings for journeys heading east from Deer Park that have already left Glasgow, and Chapelhall westbound. It's 9.40am on a Tuesday and currently there are 7 passengers on 2 services eastbound and 25 people on 2 services westbound.
I really want Ember to succeed and that's behind my grumbles at their marketing - I just think they could be doing more there. As someone who usually drives or takes the train I have started to use their services. I spend the weekend away a lot in different places in Scotland - usually walking and camping - and getting back from anywhere north of Stirling on Sunday can be challenging. Citylink prices were historically eyewatering and few services near places I wanted to go at times that suited me. Ember are starting to give me more options.
