Of course, and I'm all for young drivers getting into the industry. They are a necessity. New bus drivers at large companies tend to start on easy routes in minibuses or single deckers where speed and distance doesn't really come into it.
Nonsense
Perfect example was last year when Fort William stared and the 25 plates rolled out, within a month every single one had some sort of damage
Why they would let inexperienced drivers out in a 300k+ coach on rural roads does seem to smack of desperation. The A82 north of Fort William in particular from Invermoriston to Inverness is a brutal road for Coaches and needs maximum skill and experience in reading the road conditions.
It is quite common to have a starter rota which only covers certain routes for new drivers, it reduces the amount of route training needed before they start earning (and reduces the amount a new driver has to take in all at once), keeps them away from the more 'difficult' routes (either due to high demand, complicated ticketing, tough or complicated routes) and can be used to keep them off certain types of buses (again to help training and transition). It tends to only be the bigger operators who have enough work to be able to separate out enough work and enough new drivers coming through on a regular basis to justify doing it - though even medium sized operators will have shifts that they allocate to drivers whilst being accompanied by mentors.
maybe narrow roads near fort william isnt the place to do it though is it
Nobody is saying unprofessional, more that Ember have to use inexperienced drivers because the experienced drivers who flocked to them after seeing above average wages are now realising that the grass isn't always greener.
I think the point that is being made is that if you go back to the days when these services, which ember are now competing on across the Highlands, were being operated by the Scottish Bus Group from their depots in the area, new inexperienced drivers would be learning their trade on the local routes. A driver would only be selected to go on the ‘express’ rota once they had proved themselves to be competent on those routes, which would give management much more confidence in their abilities to cope with the different challenges on the longer routes on the A9, A82 etc. Ember do not have that option and it would appear they are suffering from an increased level of damage to coaches, which clearly comes at a cost.
That's a bit bug bear of mine, they hardly ever get washed as they don't have the time. They are arriving at the hubs Dundee, Aberdeen and Inverness with just enough time to put a charge into them before departing again. They don't have enough time to have a proper wash, just a quick clean or rubbish inside and toilet dropped however ive seen plenty of vehicles starting the day fresh with toilets full, rubbish everywhere and disgusting outside. Partly due to then skimping out on wash facilities with a walk round brush that takes ages Vs a automatic one
Personally I don't think it's too much to ask of the driver to do a quick clean up if they get layover time. It only takes a few minutes to go through the coach and pick up litter. I would say that counts as "light cleaning". They could potentially dry up any spills with disposable absorbent towels as well.
E15 launching
Looks like they are finally dropping the soft launches and going to full service as they are a total waste of time
Dundee to Inverness direct is poorly served by both bus and train. The train, changing at Perth has some long layover times between Southbound Glasgows and Northbound Inverness trains. Inverness via Aberdeen is a longer journey. A direct Ember serving the route you suggested would make sense using the new Tay crossing and bypassing Perth.
There’s a departure that leaves GLQ at 1439 aswell, arrives around 1937 into Inverness via Aberdeen
Hopefully then continuing into Ayrshire. It’s ridiculous how cut off Ayrshire is from the rest of Scotland, considering how many people live there!
Would it be more viable if it started at St. Andrews? Lots of tourists travelling from there to the Highlands.
I do wonder if they will start there own version of the 900.