Airdrie-Bathgate service

[me123]

Blackridge is in West Lothian and Susan Boyle is from Blackburn (also in West Lothian) not Blackridge.

Errr.... yes. I'm sorry, but I'm just crap with the Lothians!
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I recently got a FirstBus from just outside Airdrie Railway Station to near the site of Caldercruix Railway Station. However, it wasn't going much further as Caldercruix was it's destination.

262 used to go to Caldercruix, but it's been scrapped now (and replaced with the 62 for some reason best known to FirstBus). It's only the local companies that go to Caldercruix now.

 

[Bittern]

It's only the local companies that go to Caldercruix now.

Unless this is an extremely recent move, then it's not the case. About two months ago I bought an all-day ticket for a Firstbus service into Caldercruix. The number escapes me, but on the way back the bus broke down in Plains and a local company bus arrived at the nearby bus stop, and I couldn't go on it because I only had a FirstBus ticket.

 

[route101]

Not as far as I know. There are/were buses from Caldercruix-Glasgow (which take several hours), although these may now be in the hands of local bus companies only going as far as Coatbridge, or if you're really lucky, Kirkwood.

There's also plenty of buses from Blackridge in East Lothian (home of Susan Boyle, who will probably be on hand to open the new station given that she's the only person from there to ever acheive... well, anything) to Bathgate and Edinburgh. But, as far as I'm aware, no buses currently run between North Lanarkshire and East Lothian. And, of course, with the train line on the way, any service would likely not be worthwhile. So this really is bridging a gap across all forms of public transport.

PS, the reason you'd be told to go back to Easterhouse is because the 900 bus makes stops there before continuing on the A8 towards Edinburgh. Indeed, this is the last stop before Harthill services and is actually one of the best ways of getting to Edinburgh from Coatbridge at the moment!

Strange that there is few buses from Airdrie to Bathgate , its like a void or blackhole . This will change with the railway line. Even tho i live a fair bit from the line i will certainly use it from Queen st Low Level to Edinburgh if there is no time constraint .

 

[me123]

Unless this is an extremely recent move, then it's not the case. About two months ago I bought an all-day ticket for a Firstbus service into Caldercruix. The number escapes me, but on the way back the bus broke down in Plains and a local company bus arrived at the nearby bus stop, and I couldn't go on it because I only had a FirstBus ticket.

It is very recent. I've only noticed the bus number changing in the last few weeks (and being rather surprised; seeing as I'm used to seeing the 62 in the West End, I was shocked to see the number in Coatbridge for the first time!).

The 262 used to go from George Square to Airdrie, and on to Caldercruix for much of the day. Recently, however, the 262 was scrapped and the 62 was extended to Airdrie from Baillieston. As part of this, the Caldercruix service has ceased. Presumably only the bosses at FirstBus know why they went ahead with this pointless change.

So Plains and Caldercruix only get the local bus companies now; but IIRC they are still pretty frequent services.

 

[Bittern]

Ahhh yes. Traveline Scotland only shows buses operated by "A trip in Time" for that route. Kinda puts a pooey on my hoping to take a bus back to the station before it's reopening. I wonder if the reopening of the railway has caused First to withdraw the buses.

On the other hand though, they do have "Caldercruix Rail Station" added in as a destination now.

 

[route101]

Ahhh yes. Traveline Scotland only shows buses operated by "A trip in Time" for that route. Kinda puts a pooey on my hoping to take a bus back to the station before it's reopening. I wonder if the reopening of the railway has caused First to withdraw the buses.

On the other hand though, they do have "Caldercruix Rail Station" added in as a destination now.

Theres some silly bus company names in Lanarkshire eg Photoflash , stepend etc.

It would be great to se intergrated bus ticketing, so an all day can be used on all bus services.

 

[Bittern]

Even an expansion of PlusBus would be great, so Airdrie+Bus would involve areas such as Caldercruix etc.

 

[CarterUSM]

Theres some silly bus company names in Lanarkshire eg Photoflash , stepend etc.

It would be great to se intergrated bus ticketing, so an all day can be used on all bus services.

A daytripper isn't too bad, it covers most of the buses as well as the trains and ferries, though not ideal if you just want to use the bus!

 

[route101]

A daytripper isn't too bad, it covers most of the buses as well as the trains and ferries, though not ideal if you just want to use the bus!

Yep i used the daytripper a couple of times . Used stagecoch bus x16 to get from Hamilton to Kilmarnock ,very useful. The minor gripe was McGills buses dont accept the daytripper.

Can we expect any freight or diversions along the airdrie to bathgate line?

 

[CarterUSM]

Yep i used the daytripper a couple of times . Used stagecoch bus x16 to get from Hamilton to Kilmarnock ,very useful. The minor gripe was McGills buses dont accept the daytripper.

Can we expect any freight or diversions along the airdrie to bathgate line?

Aye, i couldn't mind exactly who doesn't take it, but McGills was on my mind! Don't know about freight or diversions though, but it's possible i suppose. I'll peruse my next working timetables out of interest for freight anyway.

 

[rail-britain]

Aye, i couldn't mind exactly who doesn't take it, but McGills was on my mind!

McGills didn't even accept the old Strathclyde Transport Daytripper, when they operated their services between Barrhead - Paisley and Barrhead - Glasgow in the 1980s
Therefore had to pay for the start of each day, taking their first bus in the morning into Glasgow
However, with a little careful planning, was able to take the "very rare" Clydeside Scottish bus on the way back from Barrhead

 

[CarterUSM]

McGills didn't even accept the old Strathclyde Transport Daytripper, when they operated their services between Barrhead - Paisley and Barrhead - Glasgow in the 1980s
Therefore had to pay for the start of each day, taking their first bus in the morning into Glasgow
However, with a little careful planning, was able to take the "very rare" Clydeside Scottish bus on the way back from Barrhead

Clydeside Scottish? That's going back a bit, didn't even know they went near Barrhead, i thought that was Central territory! Anyway, i digress.

 

[rail-britain]

Clydeside Scottish? That's going back a bit, didn't even know they went near Barrhead, i thought that was Central territory!

Clydeside Scottish served Paisley and Renfrew, when Central Scottish split into two, from their Causeyside Street depot
They also operated a "token" service between Paisley - Neilston and Glasgow - Neilston, as McGills did not serve Neilston

 

[michael769]

Clydeside Scottish served Paisley and Renfrew, when Central Scottish split into two, from their Causeyside Street depot
They also operated a "token" service between Paisley - Neilston and Glasgow - Neilston, as McGills did not serve Neilston

Clydeside (their predecessor in the area was Western Scottish not Central) ran a single hourly service between Barrhead (Auchenback) and Paisley. They did not run a direct Neilston-Paisley Service, but they did run the half hourly Neilston-Glasgow service (which ran out of one of the Glasgow depots not the Paisley depot). Neilston-Paisley passengers had to change at Barrhead Town centre.

After deregulation they stopped running the Auchenback-Paisley service, replacing it with an hourly Neilston - Paisley service, and and hourly Barrhead - Paisley ( (using a odd route around the center of the town and then via the RAH hospital - leaving the buses to run with almost no passengers).

The Neilston-Glasgow service was retained during the daytime (Now extended to Summerston), but was eventually withdrawn during the evening. This left Neilston with no services at all in the evening until McGills started to run a Neilston-Barrhead shuttle service.

Sorry that was really off topic!

 

[rail-britain]

Clydeside
They did not run a direct Neilston - Paisley Service
After deregulation they stopped running the Auchenback-Paisley service, replacing it with an hourly Neilston - Paisley service

They didn't run a service, they did run a service
Ironically I remember that change over and it was the introduction of their Neilston - Paisley service that caused all kinds of issues, but McGills was more than happy to pickup the Barrhead - Glasgow service they dropped, giving them the monopoly
cough, I then asked about this when I worked at Stagecoach, and found out the truth; carving up the routes to give each those route monopolies

 

[Mex]

There was an article in the local rag mag ("The Airdrie and Coatbridge Advertiser"), where some woman was rather infuriated at the cost of the fares. It may be that the new fares were released in response to this.

I've had a quick look, and there will probably will be people moaning at how expensive they are. Bearing in mind that we live in the SPT area and are used to slightly cheaper fares. They actually look about "par for the course", but I'm sure some people will moan (considering an off peak return to Glasgow is about £3, and a return to Edinburgh is going to be £10). Also, there's not any new Glasgow-Edinburgh route Airdrie ticket available to tempt travellers onto the slower services.

One thing I've noticed is that the Blairhill-Edinburgh fare (at £10.40) is only slightly cheaper than the Glasgow-Edinburgh fare! (£10.70)

It's not bad at all - e.g., an annual ticket from Bathgate to Queen St will be £1,880. Slightly cheaper than the equivalent journey on the Livingston South route (West Calder - Glasgow Central, £1,920 pa).

I'll be buying mine as soon as the line opens to get in before January's price rise.

 

[me123]

I don't think it's bad at all. I just think that the locals at the Glasgow, who are used to getting a very very cheap ticket to Glasgow, might be a bit put off by the price. (£10.40CDR to Edinburgh compared to £3.30CDR to Glasgow; I know Edinburgh's further away, but Glasgow's quite a bit cheaper per mile (due to us being in the ex-SPT area, of course).

 

[Bittern]

I'll never understand how they come up with these fares.

 

[rail-britain]

£10.40CDR to Edinburgh compared to £3.30CDR to Glasgow

Where are those fares travelling from?
What date of travel?
Are those the realigned fares that apply from 13 December?

 

[Bittern]

Has construction on the new stations finished?

 

[Damien1986]

Has construction on the new stations finished?

I would assume so!

 

[Failed Unit]

Has construction on the new stations finished?

No not according to the article in today's Scotsman. But they are close so no risk just finishing touches. I understand they would be safe and legal to use now.

The service will be half hourly because of the delays to the 380s not going to the full service until Spring? Yes Roger dmus will assist in the peak for Bathgate only.

So it looks like the PM maybe should have kept his eye on the 380 program. Yes the line will open on time and to budget just with less trains.

 

[rail-britain]

The stations I have looked at (as at Monday 08 November) have the basic structures in place, but many have items missing

 

[Bittern]

They look strange without platform ramps.

 

[Damien1986]

How will the timetable work out on Boxing Day seeing as trains don't run to Edinburgh on those days?

 

[Bittern]

Haymarket terminating, maybe?

 

[Failed Unit]

Haymarket terminating, maybe?

It will be more morelikely Drumgellock as this is the edge of the SPT area. Just like they don't go beyond Croy and Shotts on the other routes.

 

[CarterUSM]

Just to add, there is also a return to the run down this year on Christmas eve and Hogmanay in the SPT area, so don't expect much in the way of services after 2200.

 

[me123]

It will be more morelikely Drumgellock ...

The station is spelled DRUMGELLOCH; note the "ch" at the end that should be pronounced in the Scottish way.

Trains will be able to terminate in Drumgelloch; they'll just go to the crossover a bit further down the line. So it's likely that that will happen on Boxing Day.

Interestingly, Drumgelloch sees a reduction in late evening service as a result of this new timetable; the last trains terminate at Airdrie rather than Drumgelloch IIRC.
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Just to add, there is also a return to the run down this year on Christmas eve and Hogmanay in the SPT area, so don't expect much in the way of services after 2200.

I remember last year that this was rather odd; I'm pretty sure it meant that trains were running on Christmas morning, much to the surprise of some passengers on the train on Christmas Eve! I'm quite disappointed, however, at the loss of Hogmanay services; if anything, I'd like to see improved services before and after the bells.
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On another note, you can now see the half hourly timetable online on the East Coast website. Basically, existing services on the North Clyde Line run as now (with minor tweaks). The Helensburgh services will now continue to/from Edinburgh calling at all stations between Edinburgh and Glasgow, giving a half-hourly frequency throughout the day. There will also be a half-hourly service to Bathgate, strengthened in the peaks to 4tph.

 

[CarterUSM]

I remember last year that this was rather odd; I'm pretty sure it meant that trains were running on Christmas morning, much to the surprise of some passengers on the train on Christmas Eve! I'm quite disappointed, however, at the loss of Hogmanay services; if anything, I'd like to see improved services before and after the bells.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
On another note, you can now see the half hourly timetable online on the East Coast website. Basically, existing services on the North Clyde Line run as now (with minor tweaks). The Helensburgh services will now continue to/from Edinburgh calling at all stations between Edinburgh and Glasgow, giving a half-hourly frequency throughout the day. There will also be a half-hourly service to Bathgate, strengthened in the peaks to 4tph.

I tend to agrree, but even the normal service runnig doesn't seem to attract much in the way of patronage , though that may have more to do with folk not expecting it to run anyway. In any case , the powers that be are not funding it, and selfishly , i may add, i'm pretty happy about it.