McGill’s Midland Bluebird

Most of the minor timetable changes in relation to closure of Bannockburn depot are now on Traveline Scotland. I doubt most people will notice.

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I tell a lie, there an improvement coming, Route 38 is going to every 20mins on a Sunday.

Mon 31st Aug onwards

38 Falkirk – Stirling
The Sunday frequency will be increased to run up to every 20 minutes, and a number of additional trips will be introduced each day between Larbert and Stirling primarily during the early morning and the early/late evening periods.

51 Stirling – Alloa via Tullibody
There will be some adjustments to the timetable throughout the week to help improve the punctuality of the route and provide later journeys in the evenings. The last bus from Stirling to Alloa will now run at 2300 on Monday to Saturday, and 2200 on Sundays. The last bus from Alloa to Stirling will now run at 2323 on Monday to Saturday, and 2223 on Sundays.

52 Stirling – Alloa via Alva & Tillicoultry
The route through Sauchie will no longer operate as a one-way loop and return to operating in both directions via Gartmorn Road and Beechwood. There will be some adjustments to the timetable throughout the week to help improve the punctuality of the route and provide later journeys in the evenings. The last bus from Stirling to Alloa will now run at 2230 on Monday to Saturday, and 2130 on Sundays. The last bus from Alloa to Stirling will now run at 2228 each evening.

56 Stirling – Cowie
A revised timetable will be introduced providing a bus every 35 minutes for much of the day to help improve the punctuality of the route. The journeys leaving Stirling at 1825 and 2255 will operate as service 56A and after Bannockburn will run the opposite way through Cowie and then continue to Larbert via Plean.

X10/X10A
A revised timetable will be introduced with some minor alterations to help improve the punctuality of the route.
An earlier journey from Balfron to Stirling will be introduced on Saturday mornings, leaving Balfron at 0654. However the 0457 & 0600 journeys from Stirling on Mondays to Fridays and the 0840 journey on Saturdays will now start from Balfron, Cotton Street.

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overthewater said:

Most of the minor timetable changes in relation to closure of Bannockburn depot are now on Traveline Scotland. I doubt most people will notice.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Aug 2026 ==

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I tell a lie, there an improvement coming, Route 38 is going to every 20mins on a Sunday.

Network changes - Midland Bluebird

www.mcgillsscotlandeast.co.uk

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Just loads of positioning journeys early morning towards Stirling and towards Larbert in the evening on the 38 and the new 56A and there's a H4 as well

The information is also available on the company website under network changes.

Revised Timetables introduced on services 38, 51, 52, 56​

Mon 31st Aug onwards
38 Falkirk – Stirling
The Sunday frequency will be increased to run up to every 20 minutes, and a number of additional trips will be introduced each day between Larbert and Stirling primarily during the early morning and the early/late evening periods.

51 Stirling – Alloa via Tullibody
There will be some adjustments to the timetable throughout the week to help improve the punctuality of the route and provide later journeys in the evenings. The last bus from Stirling to Alloa will now run at 2300 on Monday to Saturday, and 2200 on Sundays. The last bus from Alloa to Stirling will now run at 2323 on Monday to Saturday, and 2223 on Sundays.

52 Stirling – Alloa via Alva & Tillicoultry
The route through Sauchie will no longer operate as a one-way loop and return to operating in both directions via Gartmorn Road and Beechwood. There will be some adjustments to the timetable throughout the week to help improve the punctuality of the route and provide later journeys in the evenings. The last bus from Stirling to Alloa will now run at 2230 on Monday to Saturday, and 2130 on Sundays. The last bus from Alloa to Stirling will now run at 2228 each evening.

56 Stirling – Cowie
A revised timetable will be introduced providing a bus every 35 minutes for much of the day to help improve the punctuality of the route. The journeys leaving Stirling at 1825 and 2255 will operate as service 56A and after Bannockburn will run the opposite way through Cowie and then continue to Larbert via Plean.

Revised Timetable on X10 & X10A​

Mon 31st Aug onwards
A revised timetable will be introduced with some minor alterations to help improve the punctuality of the route.
An earlier journey from Balfron to Stirling will be introduced on Saturday mornings, leaving Balfron at 0654. However the 0457 & 0600 journeys from Stirling on Mondays to Fridays and the 0840 journey on Saturdays will now start from Balfron, Cotton Street.

New route H4​

Mon 31st Aug onwards
This new route will provide some early morning and late evening journeys operating direct between Larbert and Alloa via the M876 and Clackmannan Bridge.

Routes extended​

Mon 31st Aug onwards
The routes of services 324 and 925 will be extended from Bannockburn to start/finish at Larbert.

Is the current X10/X10A operated from both Balfron and Bannockburn depots and will it fully move to Balfron upon the closure or will Larbert operate some journeys on it?

NorthClyde320 said:

Is the current X10/X10A operated from both Balfron and Bannockburn depots and will it fully move to Balfron upon the closure or will Larbert operate some journeys on it?

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Yes, the 5 buses required to maintain the main daytime Monday to Saturday timetable is split 3 Balfron and 2 Bannockburn. That will become 5 Balfron form 31st August.
Larbert will provide the 2 buses for the Sunday timetable, as Balfron is closed on a Sunday.

Stan Drews said:

Yes, the 5 buses required to maintain the main daytime Monday to Saturday timetable is split 3 Balfron and 2 Bannockburn. That will become 5 Balfron form 31st August.
Larbert will provide the 2 buses for the Sunday timetable, as Balfron is closed on a Sunday.

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What services does Balfron run?

Lothianbus703 said:

What services does Balfron run?

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Just the X10/X10A plus various Balfron High School contracts. Oh, and the odd journey on the C11 tendered service in Stirling in between arrivals/departures on the X10s.

Stan Drews said:

Just the X10/X10A plus various Balfron High School contracts. Oh, and the odd journey on the C11 tendered service in Stirling in between arrivals/departures on the X10s.

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Was going to mention they do some C11 runs, beat me to it lol

Stan Drews said:

Just the X10/X10A plus various Balfron High School contracts. Oh, and the odd journey on the C11 tendered service in Stirling in between arrivals/departures on the X10s.

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Do Balfron drivers still do that round trip on the 57 or is that gone now?

Does anyone know why Google Maps does not recognise that the X38 is terminating at Haymarket in Edinburgh? As of today Google Maps still plans journeys based upon the Waterloo Place start and end point.

bookkeeper6 said:

Does anyone know why Google Maps does not recognise that the X38 is terminating at Haymarket in Edinburgh? As of today Google Maps still plans journeys based upon the Waterloo Place start and end point.

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It's a temporary service change and not all temporary changes get through as a timetable update.

I visited Bo'ness for the first time on Saturday. Nice little town, but for the size of the place and especially considering the lack of a rail connection it seems to have remarkably few buses:

Midland Bluebird's 2 - every 35 minutes to Falkirk
Midland Bluebird's F45 - every 2 hours to Linlithgow
Scottish Citylink's 909 - every 2 hours to Edinburgh and Stirling, but which doesn't actually serve the town centre but rather sticks to the main road east-west through the town.

Is there a reason why the service seems so minimal compared to other similarly sized towns? Has there been recent cuts here?

Its been going down hill for the past 25 years. Bo'ness town centre, Grangemouth Town centre and Falkirk town centre are nothing to write home about. They hasn't been any recent cuts, until 2022 the F45/F46 provide a 30min service between Bo'ness and Linlithgow with only 2 buses.

Back in 2018 It used to be every 20mins to Falkirk and before 2013 it was every 15mins. Before 2001 changes they used to be no47 to Edinburgh Via South Queensferry.

The other pain point is PlusBus zones. Bo'ness is in the Linlithgow zone, yet the more frequent (and Sunday) buses are via Falkirk.

It's in a bit of an odd position McGill's fares wise due to where the boundaries are too which won't help. You need to use the all zone ticket to use the F45, which might put people off. The confusing bit is that the Forth Valley ticket is valid through to Winchburgh on the X38, but not other services in the West Lothian area (except Bo'ness).

I live in Bo’ness and the bus situation really is poor. The 909 is so unreliable, regularly 20-30 mins late all day. The F45 really should be a more frequent all day link to Linlithgow. People are forced into their cars here and it’s not right. We really need a better link to Edinburgh or Linlithgow

Half the town doesn't have a direct link to Falkirk let along Grangemouth, those place are only able to go to Linlithgow high street for a small Tesco, ( there already one in Bo'ness near the bus stance plus a Farmfoods and lidis) or Rail station. Bo'ness used to have a community bus which operated to Edinburgh before the 909, but again that never run to the timetable at times. I'm not sure what happened to that scheme.

The problems goes back before McGills come along and the roadworks have been a scandal along the route for far too long. Hopefully in 2027 service No2 might be able to go back to every 30mins. The last roll of the dice come in 2012 with Route 19 which started at Grahamsdyke, and went right along Deans road, why it never went around some of the other roads to the south I will never know. That lasted two years and was it.

No43 used to operate at peaks into Bo'ness, they where mainly depot runs but I think it was paid for by West Lothian council for Newton to get into Edinburgh in the mornings and back home at night.

overthewater said:

No43 used to operate at peaks into Bo'ness, they where mainly depot runs but I think it was paid for by West Lothian council for Newton to get into Edinburgh in the mornings and back home at night.

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yes your right the 43 used to be a West Lothian contract, but it was never a depot run. in the later years it was run out of Livingston, I used to run one of the evening services and only once did I take a passenger to Boness. After South Queensferry it was dead.

overthewater said:

Half the town doesn't have a direct link to Falkirk let along Grangemouth, those place are only able to go to Linlithgow high street for a small Tesco, ( there already one in Bo'ness near the bus stance plus a Farmfoods and lidis) or Rail station. Bo'ness used to have a community bus which operated to Edinburgh before the 909, but again that never run to the timetable at times. I'm not sure what happened to that scheme.

The problems goes back before McGills come along and the roadworks have been a scandal along the route for far too long. Hopefully in 2027 service No2 might be able to go back to every 30mins. The last roll of the dice come in 2012 with Route 19 which started at Grahamsdyke, and went right along Deans road, why it never went around some of the other roads to the south I will never know. That lasted two years and was it.

No43 used to operate at peaks into Bo'ness, they where mainly depot runs but I think it was paid for by West Lothian council for Newton to get into Edinburgh in the mornings and back home at night.

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The only viable option for Boness is for a company like ember to divert the Oban and FW services to service it as demand responsive. It's gone far too long without a proper bus service that any attempt to reintroduce one will fail as it's a heavy car reliant place and people will be unwilling to give that up.

It's an awkward place with it being out of the way of being a place to serve as part of a bigger route and just sits there far from anywhere

overthewater said:

Half the town doesn't have a direct link to Falkirk let along Grangemouth, those place are only able to go to Linlithgow high street for a small Tesco, ( there already one in Bo'ness near the bus stance plus a Farmfoods and lidis) or Rail station. Bo'ness used to have a community bus which operated to Edinburgh before the 909, but again that never run to the timetable at times. I'm not sure what happened to that scheme.

The problems goes back before McGills come along and the roadworks have been a scandal along the route for far too long. Hopefully in 2027 service No2 might be able to go back to every 30mins. The last roll of the dice come in 2012 with Route 19 which started at Grahamsdyke, and went right along Deans road, why it never went around some of the other roads to the south I will never know. That lasted two years and was it.

No43 used to operate at peaks into Bo'ness, they where mainly depot runs but I think it was paid for by West Lothian council for Newton to get into Edinburgh in the mornings and back home at night.

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Whilst they should be commended for the fleet investment in Falkirk, McGill’s have made a pig’s ear of the network in the area. Some of the main corridors into Falkirk, such as Graham’s Road, previously had up to eight journeys per hour, but they’re now timed all over the place rather than providing anything resembling an evenly combined frequency.

Running services cross-town from the east end to Graham’s Road doesn’t really work either, as First historically found out with the old 5/5A/5C and McGill’s have reverted to this with the 2. It means services have to loop around Upper Newmarket Street in both directions, making the routes unnecessarily convoluted through the town centre.

I have read that Prentice Westwood have incresed their licence at Livingston to 45 vehicles. Are they expanding their hire service or have got more school contracts.

Really Think the whole Falkirk Network could do with a change at the moment as some stuff are all over the place, these are my ideas:

Service 1: Maddiston-Falkirk-Camelon-FVRH Every 20 Minutes (Combines with a every 20 minute 38 service between Falkirk and FVRH to make it every 10 minutes on this section)

Service 2: Dunipace-Denny-Falkirk-Grangemouth-Bo'ness Every 30 minutes

Service 3/4: No Change

Service 5: Hallglen-Falkirk-Carronshore-Larbert-FVRH Every 30 minutes

Service 6: Avonbridge-Shieldhill-Falkirk-Larbert-Kinnard-FVRH Every 60 minutes

Service 7: Camelon Ochiltree-Falkirk-Langless Every 30 minutes

Service 8/8A: Limerigg (8) or Tamforhill (8A) -Falkirk-Stenhousemuir-Larbert-Kinnard-FVRH-Denny-Fankerton
8 and 8A both every 2 hours to combine every 60 minutes between Falkirk and Fankerton

Service 5/6/7/8/8A provide frequent busses along Grahams Road, services 5/6/8/8A provide a every 15 minute service between Falkirk and Larbert, Service 6/8/8A Provide a every 30 minute service between Falkirk and Kinnaird

Service F9: Shieldhill-Brightons-Gilston Crescent-Polmint-Westquarter-Falkirk-Bankside-Middlefield-Helix Every 60 minutes

Service F10: Bo'ness-Linlithgow-Maddiston-Standburn-Avonbridge Every 2 hours

Service F11: Stirling-Airth-Falkirk: Renumbered service from F16 Falkirk to Westquarter section withdrawn replaced by service F9 Remains every 60 minutes

Service 38: Falkirk-FVRH-Plean-Stirling Reduced to every 20 minutes

Service X36/X37/X38: No Changes

Service 66: Withdrawn due to low customer demand

Service 72: Revised Timings and no longer interworks with any other routes improving reliability

Not so good points:
First off the 38 is every 15min right now because it's busy so you want to cut the frequency? They would be better off extending the 38 to Maddiston
8 and 8a is complete non starter, I doubt the good people of Slamannan will be happy getting cut to every 2 hours.
I doubt the council would ever consider F10
66 is busy, even a manager said that.
Switching the 2 from Hospital to Denny does mean the direct link the hospital is gone, I still think your quicker changing on to No38
It would be nice if Kinnaird had a 30min service along with top end of Antonshill but I can't see that happening right now.

Good points: You have raised.

The revised 5 could be worthwhile, while switching the 2 back to Denny means they would have direct bus back to the collage. I do think they should be frequency increase on the No1 and on the Labart routes, the trouble is Falkirk Town centre is dire and most of the traffic is going else where like the retail park across the road. They wont do anything with the 2 until the roadworks are finished ( they are never ending,)

Its a good starting point for generating ideas and trying to find solutions.

overthewater said:

Not so good points:
First off the 38 is every 15min right now because it's busy so you want to cut the frequency? They would be better off extending the 38 to Maddiston
8 and 8a is complete non starter, I doubt the good people of Slamannan will be happy getting cut to every 2 hours.
I doubt the council would ever consider F10
66 is busy, even a manager said that.
Switching the 2 from Hospital to Denny does mean the direct link the hospital is gone, I still think your quicker changing on to No38
It would be nice if Kinnaird had a 30min service along with top end of Antonshill but I can't see that happening right now.

Good points: You have raised.

The revised 5 could be worthwhile, while switching the 2 back to Denny means they would have direct bus back to the collage. I do think they should be frequency increase on the No1 and on the Labart routes, the trouble is Falkirk Town centre is dire and most of the traffic is going else where like the retail park across the road. They wont do anything with the 2 until the roadworks are finished ( they are never ending,)

Its a good starting point for generating ideas and trying to find solutions.

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F10 is currently under consideration by Falkirk Council

38 could extend to Maddiston however does Maddiston need a every 15 minute service?

Ah yes Option 5 and 8, I thought you meant F45 would get replace but would infact replace the F49, F1 and parts of F25.

Maybe the 38 could be every 15mins to Polmont then one every 30mins goes around Gilston Cres and Wallastone. Back in the 90s and 2000s those areas had 30mins service.

Totally agree regarding the No.1 service running to Forth Valley. Why it goes from Maddiston to Dunipace is a bit of a mystery as I very much doubt if there are any through passengers from the Braes to Dunipace.
Historically nearly all Braes services went via Falkirk to Grangemouth.

The timings of the services to Maddiston also need to be reviewed. Trains from Edinburgh and Glasgow arrive at xx.39 and xx.40 each hour also xx.09 and xx.08. You therefore have to wait about 25 mins for a bus going to Maddiston which is all very much uphill if you walk. The phrase integrated passenger transport system springs to mind !

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Sorry but should have added trains and buses at Polmont

On a Sunday I find the timings of the buses between Falkirk and Camelon a bit annoying as the buses are bunched together instead of spread out so you don't get an effective higher frequency.

I like the idea of being able to get from Camelon to Grangemouth or Bo'ness with only one bus rather than having to change, though that's due to it being a journey I often do to get done more variety in the swimming pools.

overthewater said:

Ah yes Option 5 and 8, I thought you meant F45 would get replace but would infact replace the F49, F1 and parts of F25.

Maybe the 38 could be every 15mins to Polmont then one every 30mins goes around Gilston Cres and Wallastone. Back in the 90s and 2000s those areas had 30mins service.

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Yeah F45 is fine as it is on 1 bus I completely forgot about it otherwise would of added it in the list

That 38 suggestion is a good idea I never thought of, however the problem is does the 1 need a frequency increase across the entire current route?

overthewater said:

8 and 8a is complete non starter, I doubt the good people of Slamannan will be happy getting cut to every 2 hours.

66 is busy, even a manager said that.

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Your Slamannan point is interesting as I've never really seen the F2 that busy, that's why I thought a frequency decrease would be fine, suppose you could run the 8 hourly to Limerigg and run the F14 hourly or 2 hourly between Tamforhill and Falkirk, possibly interworking with the 72

66 I'm surprised it's busy as it'd seems a bit of a odd route to me

MPC1RT said:

Totally agree regarding the No.1 service running to Forth Valley. Why it goes from Maddiston to Dunipace is a bit of a mystery as I very much doubt if there are any through passengers from the Braes to Dunipace.
Historically nearly all Braes services went via Falkirk to Grangemouth.

The timings of the services to Maddiston also need to be reviewed. Trains from Edinburgh and Glasgow arrive at xx.39 and xx.40 each hour also xx.09 and xx.08. You therefore have to wait about 25 mins for a bus going to Maddiston which is all very much uphill if you walk. The phrase integrated passenger transport system springs to mind !

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Wednesday at 15:23 ==

Sorry but should have added trains and buses at Polmont

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Yeah timings should at least be looked at, but I think a frequency improvement is also needed, a FVRH link would also be really beneficial to Maddiston and Areas of Polmont and Redding, along with Laurieston to

smsm1 said:

On a Sunday I find the timings of the buses between Falkirk and Camelon a bit annoying as the buses are bunched together instead of spread out so you don't get an effective higher frequency.

I like the idea of being able to get from Camelon to Grangemouth or Bo'ness with only one bus rather than having to change, though that's due to it being a journey I often do to get done more variety in the swimming pools.

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Sunday service does seem to bunch up buses leaving Falkirk at similar times, but suppose it's good for connections to other routes too. Camelon to Grangemouth and Bo'ness would be a good link as well as the 1 going to FVRH directly past Larbert Depot, means Camelon links to other areas would improve a lot

gomango said:

Yeah F45 is fine as it is on 1 bus I completely forgot about it otherwise would of added it in the list

That 38 suggestion is a good idea I never thought of, however the problem is does the 1 need a frequency increase across the entire current route?


Your Slamannan point is interesting as I've never really seen the F2 that busy, that's why I thought a frequency decrease would be fine, suppose you could run the 8 hourly to Limerigg and run the F14 hourly or 2 hourly between Tamforhill and Falkirk, possibly interworking with the 72

66 I'm surprised it's busy as it'd seems a bit of a odd route to me


Yeah timings should at least be looked at, but I think a frequency improvement is also needed, a FVRH link would also be really beneficial to Maddiston and Areas of Polmont and Redding, along with Laurieston to

Sunday service does seem to bunch up buses leaving Falkirk at similar times, but suppose it's good for connections to other routes too. Camelon to Grangemouth and Bo'ness would be a good link as well as the 1 going to FVRH directly past Larbert Depot, means Camelon links to other areas would improve a lot

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The 66 was introduced because the X36 was always rammed and on an hourly timetable, That's why it works

gomango said:

Really Think the whole Falkirk Network could do with a change at the moment as some stuff are all over the place, these are my ideas:

Service 1: Maddiston-Falkirk-Camelon-FVRH Every 20 Minutes (Combines with a every 20 minute 38 service between Falkirk and FVRH to make it every 10 minutes on this section)

Service 2: Dunipace-Denny-Falkirk-Grangemouth-Bo'ness Every 30 minutes

Service 3/4: No Change

Service 5: Hallglen-Falkirk-Carronshore-Larbert-FVRH Every 30 minutes

Service 6: Avonbridge-Shieldhill-Falkirk-Larbert-Kinnard-FVRH Every 60 minutes

Service 7: Camelon Ochiltree-Falkirk-Langless Every 30 minutes

Service 8/8A: Limerigg (8) or Tamforhill (8A) -Falkirk-Stenhousemuir-Larbert-Kinnard-FVRH-Denny-Fankerton
8 and 8A both every 2 hours to combine every 60 minutes between Falkirk and Fankerton

Service 5/6/7/8/8A provide frequent busses along Grahams Road, services 5/6/8/8A provide a every 15 minute service between Falkirk and Larbert, Service 6/8/8A Provide a every 30 minute service between Falkirk and Kinnaird

Service F9: Shieldhill-Brightons-Gilston Crescent-Polmint-Westquarter-Falkirk-Bankside-Middlefield-Helix Every 60 minutes

Service F10: Bo'ness-Linlithgow-Maddiston-Standburn-Avonbridge Every 2 hours

Service F11: Stirling-Airth-Falkirk: Renumbered service from F16 Falkirk to Westquarter section withdrawn replaced by service F9 Remains every 60 minutes

Service 38: Falkirk-FVRH-Plean-Stirling Reduced to every 20 minutes

Service X36/X37/X38: No Changes

Service 66: Withdrawn due to low customer demand

Service 72: Revised Timings and no longer interworks with any other routes improving reliability

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Not long after FVRH opened around 14 or 15 years ago, a number of services operated by First and other companies, possibly including E&M Horsburgh, were introduced or rerouted to provide direct links to the hospital from Falkirk, Grangemouth etc. This avoided passengers having to change buses in Falkirk Town Centre. The services were funded by NHS Forth Valley, but they did not last, presumably because they were not financially sustainable.

In my view, the 38 running every 15 minutes during the day and every 30 minutes in the evening is sufficient with connections available from other services at Upper Newmarket Street

Your thinking off the old Forth Valley NHS trusts paid for buses: H1, H2, H3, H4, H5. Apart from H5 all started in 2010 and were contracted for 3 -4years.

H1/H2 are stilling running to this day thanks to Scottish government money and Clackmanahire council, It caused a right stink with plans to cut it.

H5 was very short lived Hospital - Airth - Kincardine.

Service H3/H4 were operated by Wave and E&M Horburgh, and replaced the old 2 hourly "233" service. Joint service provide 30min service from Denny - Hospital - Larbert - Skinflats - Grangemouth - Polmont - Maddiston. I believe you were in fact quicker and cheaper getting First bus from polmont into Falkirk and changing.

First had 10min head way between Falkirk and Stirling with 60 and X38 being every 20mins each, They also extended the 67, 76 to Hospital Via Bainford and Stenhouse Road.

Falkirk council wasn't willing to save H3/H4 in full, I can't remember how it happened but I think First got the contract from Hospital to Denny so they extended to Bo'ness via Falkirk and Grangemouth as No19. That never lasted long so F11 come long and Falkirk - Larbert - Hospital - Denny, that where the current routes come from. The section between Larbert - Skinflats and Grangermouth come back as F23, First had it then someone else etc