• Our new ticketing site is now live! Using either this or the original site (both powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Lothian Group discussion (Lothian City, Lothian Country Bus and East Coast Buses)

computerSaysNo

Established Member
Joined
14 Dec 2018
Messages
1,668
The temp lights at Waterloo Place/Princes Street/Leith Street/North Bridge are horrible at the moment. I've just timed them and each side gets about 4 minutes 50 seconds between green lights. The westbound bus stop closest to the lights at Waterloo Place has a Bus Stop Closed sign at it which half of the drivers are respecting but not stopping at any of the other stops, and half are ignoring and then it's taking two phases of the lights (9 and a bit minutes) to get through.
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

buslad1988

Member
Joined
28 Dec 2018
Messages
651
The temp lights at Waterloo Place/Princes Street/Leith Street/North Bridge are horrible at the moment. I've just timed them and each side gets about 4 minutes 50 seconds between green lights. The westbound bus stop closest to the lights at Waterloo Place has a Bus Stop Closed sign at it which half of the drivers are respecting but not stopping at any of the other stops, and half are ignoring and then it's taking two phases of the lights (9 and a bit minutes) to get through.
Yup, horrendous. Just when you think it’s safe to return to using buses in the town after Princes Street fully re-opens and the festival finishes they then go and set this lot up!

They really are doing their best to destroy any reliability with bus travel in the city centre.

For both bus drivers and users it really is relentless at the moment.
 

Scotrail314209

Established Member
Joined
1 Feb 2017
Messages
2,475
Location
Edinburgh
Yup, horrendous. Just when you think it’s safe to return to using buses in the town after Princes Street fully re-opens and the festival finishes they then go and set this lot up!

They really are doing their best to destroy any reliability with bus travel in the city centre.

For both bus drivers and users it really is relentless at the moment.
Twice in a row they’ve had to end up diverting the 3,29,30,31,33 and 37 via Frederick Street and The Mound because of the congestion.

Maybe the diversion should be permanent until the lights are removed?
 

mb88

Member
Joined
17 Aug 2012
Messages
525
Given that Lothian Country services are to be diverted via George Street and St Andrew Square for 12 weeks from Monday, it’d have made more sense for them to implement the diversion when the roadworks appeared to save them getting delayed.
 
Joined
29 Nov 2018
Messages
780
Given that Lothian Country services are to be diverted via George Street and St Andrew Square for 12 weeks from Monday, it’d have made more sense for them to implement the diversion when the roadworks appeared to save them getting delayed.
Yeah, probably would have been more sensible in this instance. But most bus companies tend to prefer running services along the full designated route when the roads remain open even if it means delays rather than implementing a diversion for timing reasons alone. For passengers it keeps things clear as well.
Not a clear cut rule of course as some journeys run part route during disruption. Stagecoach are maybe quicker to divert city centre routes to avoid traffic congestion, sometimes to the frustration of waiting passengers.
 

Numpt33

Member
Joined
30 Jul 2023
Messages
77
Location
Scotland
With just over a month until the accesibility legaslation (The Public Service Vehicles (Accessible Information) Regulations 2023) comes in to place regarding "Next stop announcements", how much of the fleet is left and will the remaining 09/10 plate B9TL's be fitted with them?
It states " Older vehicles must comply by the final deadline on 1 October 2026."
I don't think a single operator in the UK has a fully compliant fleet.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==

Don’t particularly envision the 28 being Lothian’s busiest route but the link from the new estates at Gilmerton into town will hopefully go down well. Additionally the 28 provides a good link from the new student accommodation at Ellen’s Glen to Kings Buildings & Bristo Square.
My wish is for the 31 to terminate at Gilmerton a la le 28, and for the 28 to become an all-day express bus from Bonyrigg/Polton Mill/Rosewell terminating in/near the city centre
 
Last edited:

Lothianbus703

Member
Joined
2 Apr 2020
Messages
350
Location
Edinburgh

Attachments

  • FB_IMG_1788525360828.jpg
    FB_IMG_1788525360828.jpg
    33.9 KB · Views: 99

Porty

Member
Joined
31 Mar 2020
Messages
276
Location
Edinburgh
Apologies for posting in the wrong place but I've spent the last 5 mins trying to find the "Lothian other operators" thread, to no avail. I don't think I've seen any comments yet regarding the new 7 day a week, hourly service 67 run by HCL from Waterloo Place to the Climbing Centre/Lost Shore via Hermiston P&R, Dalmahoy and Ratho village. The smart looking black minibuses started operating last week.
 

TheEastCoaster

Established Member
Joined
26 Jun 2018
Messages
1,651
Apologies for posting in the wrong place but I've spent the last 5 mins trying to find the "Lothian other operators" thread, to no avail. I don't think I've seen any comments yet regarding the new 7 day a week, hourly service 67 run by HCL from Waterloo Place to the Climbing Centre/Lost Shore via Hermiston P&R, Dalmahoy and Ratho village. The smart looking black minibuses started operating last week.


I think this is the forum you are talking about, it has been discussed on there! It was shut down for a bit but thankfully reopened!
 

Bus9120UK

Established Member
Joined
5 Oct 2019
Messages
1,908
Location
Edinburgh
Thanks to @Edirim for providing the block data for the changes which has allowed identification of interesting workings that are appearing. Notably, at peak Marine will operate a single journey on the 8, 14 and 35.
Central has a few more journeys on the 15. There is an increase to the general BZL interworking taking place, lots of route swaps all over the place across the 7/8/9/14/24 and also one instance of a 27 swapping. There is also an increase of bus swaps in the evening on BZL routes (one bus returns to the depot, a new one comes out).

The morning 37As become a 28 and 7, the morning 39As become a 4 and a 5. The new morning 48 trip to RIE also becomes a 4 which means it'll be decker operated. The evening 37A comes off a 11, the evening 39A comes off a 49.
It can be made clear therefore the "A" variant in this case is sticking with the depot of the main route. 37A at Central, 39A at Marine.

Otherwise anything else interesting is just a case of reshuffling of peak journeys where necessary. One example being an existing solo peak trip on the 23 now going onto the 1 to allow a general reshuffle of trips and a bit more breathing room.
 
Last edited:

Resuwen

Member
Joined
28 Nov 2023
Messages
287
Location
East Lothian
More and more of the BZLs now seem to have really faded rear displays - strangely the front seems to be fine and bright on all of them
 

stevenedin

Established Member
Joined
26 Jul 2021
Messages
1,797
Location
Edinburgh
More and more of the BZLs now seem to have really faded rear displays - strangely the front seems to be fine and bright on all of them
I did notice that actually. You would expect this after several years not this soon. I guess it adds character to them.
 

gavin1985

Member
Joined
1 Jul 2019
Messages
92
Location
Edinburgh
Looks like the bus gate on Turnhouse Road will be trialed. Which means the 31 and likely 32 to be rerouted through West Craigs when installed.
 

Bus9120UK

Established Member
Joined
5 Oct 2019
Messages
1,908
Location
Edinburgh
I noticed the 29 is being run with ADL B5TL instead of B9TL today. Has the 11 plates been changed about?
It was only one, it was still majority 11 plates. Central should have some more 11 plates now (they already have 378 and 379) ahead of some small PVR increases but no major change.
 
Joined
25 Jul 2023
Messages
102
Location
Earth
Was on the 28 yesterday, have to say it was busier than I thought it would be for a first day - there were upwards of 20 people some journeys, especially between Gilmerton (after the Murray’s) and The Meadows.
 

CSB0241

Member
Joined
22 Apr 2023
Messages
337
Location
Edinburgh, Scotland
Was on the 28 yesterday, have to say it was busier than I thought it would be for a first day - there were upwards of 20 people some journeys, especially between Gilmerton (after the Murray’s) and The Meadows.
I got 4 28s yesterday & saw a further ~5 or so, all seemed to be fairly busy. The 0709 & 1350 both capped out at around 15-20 passengers at their busiest points (typically between the two university campuses on the route), though the 0752 (understandably) peaked at about 7 passengers at it’s busiest section (Leith Street to Nicolson Square), & even then 5 of us were just enthusiasts riding it for the sake of riding it. The 1436 to Bellevue didn’t seem to be doing half bad either, picking up about 10 passengers between leaving Gilmerton & me getting off on Kirk Brae. The 1450 off of Bellevue also seemed to be carrying a good load when it passed me around The Murrays.

I additionally got the 0654 39A on Sunday & the 0547 37A yesterday to see how passenger levels faired thus far. The 39A capped out at about 5 passengers at the busiest stretch, including myself (Bonnyrigg to Dalkeith). Only me & one other person got off at the royal infirmary, both at the bus hub.

The 37A seemed to be a fair bit busier, only 4 or so passengers including me boarded in Penicuik but a further 7 got on between there & Loanhead (with two people getting off in Loanhead, & another two fairly bizarrely at Gilmerton Crossroads). At the royal infirmary 3 people got off outside the sick kids & the remaining 4 of us got off at the bus hub. I also was able to see around 2 or 3 people getting off the 0551 39A at the sick kids from aboard my 37A, & another person getting off at the bus hub.
 
Joined
19 Nov 2022
Messages
304
Location
Edinburgh
I additionally got the 0654 39A on Sunday & the 0547 37A yesterday to see how passenger levels faired thus far. The 39A capped out at about 5 passengers at the busiest stretch, including myself (Bonnyrigg to Dalkeith). Only me & one other person got off at the royal infirmary, both at the bus hub.

The 37A seemed to be a fair bit busier, only 4 or so passengers including me boarded in Penicuik but a further 7 got on between there & Loanhead (with two people getting off in Loanhead, & another two fairly bizarrely at Gilmerton Crossroads). At the royal infirmary 3 people got off outside the sick kids & the remaining 4 of us got off at the bus hub. I also was able to see around 2 or 3 people getting off the 0551 39A at the sick kids from aboard my 37A, & another person getting off at the bus hub.
I sampled the 2020 journey on the 37A last night, I was the only one who boarded at the Royal Infirmary Bus Hub, where I saw 1 other person board the 39A in front, with another person boarding the 39A outside the Sick Kids and another on Old Dalkeith Road where the 37A then overtook the 39A.

The 37A then picked up 3 passengers between Gilmerton & Kaimes Crossroads who where still on the bus when I got off at Loanhead, I'm unsure if it picked any more up on the way to Penicuik as it was running a few minutes behind a 37 according to live tracking.
 

Busman757

Member
Joined
12 Mar 2021
Messages
163
Location
Edinburgh
I’m hearing the singles decks from ECB will be painted Madder once the 20 Evora’s have been delivered to ECB (which I assumed were for LB) and heading to Longstone for service 2.
 

FlybeDash8Q400

Established Member
Joined
26 Jun 2018
Messages
3,010
Location
Edinburgh
I’m hearing the singles decks from ECB will be painted Madder once the 20 Evora’s have been delivered to ECB (which I assumed were for LB) and heading to Longstone for service 2.
Don’t think they’ll all be needed for the 2, but the principle idea makes sense. Should result in a 45 strong fleet at Longstone for 2, 20, 30, 32 and 38 which feels about right. An increase of 2.

Marine could then easily have the 21 Eclipse2’s which would be 172, 176-190 and 195-199. Marine currently has 21 single decks.

Central would need a small number of 7900’s to balance things out, around 5-6.
 

Bus9120UK

Established Member
Joined
5 Oct 2019
Messages
1,908
Location
Edinburgh
I’m hearing the singles decks from ECB will be painted Madder once the 20 Evora’s have been delivered to ECB (which I assumed were for LB) and heading to Longstone for service 2.
My understanding is that the first will be completed sooner due to the vehicle requirement reduction at the change. Tracking suggests this will be 51, but we'll give it a few more days out of service to increase certainty.
 
Joined
19 Nov 2022
Messages
304
Location
Edinburgh
Today I sampled both the extension of the 32 and the new 28:

On the 32 I got on at Hermiston Gait and apart from the 10 people who made journeys along the existing part of the route, including myself there was a maximum of 8 people on the bus on the new part of the route.

On the 28 I got the 1520 departure from Mansfield Place, and during the journey there was a maximum of 18 people on the bus which was good to see for a brand new service with the busiest section being between Leith Street & The Murrays, with 3 people getting off on Gilmerton Station Road at the new developments.
 

Top