First Greater Glasgow

[overthewater]

private plates....

 

[CM]

private plates....

The plates on Lothians ex-London Volvos are not private plates, they are Northern Irish plates.

 

[GaryMcEwan]

I'm certain they're infact Armagh plates with them being LXZ reg's

 

[KGGXXXY]

A quick search of the First Glasgow private plates on flickr shows them previosly on former SBG group companies taken over by first (KCB, Lowland and Midland Bluebird) First must have had them on retention for a while.

CSU932 - KCB originally Argyll Bus and Coach, unbranded refurb
FSU334 - Midland now U1 RED
KSU391 - Lowland now U1 RED
WLT408 - KCB now 61 Blue
WLT677 - KCB, also on an olympian now 61 Blue
WLT910 - KCB now 61 Blue

 

[overthewater]

Your learn something new everyday.

 

[JumpinTrainz]

There is a dart sitting at Caledonia with the new style livery. Are all the buses changing livery or is it just if they’re getting branding applied?

 

[Gingerbus1991]

All of first need a livery change, the lilac scheme is nice but just isnt either eye-catching nor pleasing to the eye in a fancy way.

 

[Gingerbus1991]

The plates on Lothians ex-London Volvos are not private plates, they are Northern Irish plates.

They paid £16,500 for the plates to hide the age of them

 

[JonnyB1984]

Hopefully you stick around for the new stock coming in over the next 3 months so we can see an apology . I wouldn’t hedge your bets on the Tridents going in any great volume. expect to see the first new buses arrive tomorrow.

As for the councillor stating the 75 buses, this was stated by First at the Glasgow City Partnership meeting the other week in the City Chambers.

New vehicles must have arrived in that invisible paint.

There is a dart sitting at Caledonia with the new style livery. Are all the buses changing livery or is it just if they’re getting branding applied?

Where was the dart at Caley in the new colours? - you got any pics of it ... ?

 

[JumpinTrainz]

New vehicles must have arrived in that invisible paint.



Where was the dart at Caley in the new colours? - you got any pics of it ... ?

Afraid not! I was driving by Caley yesterday about 3 and it was sitting out in the depot. I’m positive it was a dart but if not something very similar it was a small bus and definately had the new livery at the back of it but unbranded at the front.

 

[AlexanderPS]

Caetano in new livery: https://flic.kr/p/2b3iSpD

E300 in new livery: https://flic.kr/p/2aXUYzL

 

[route101]

They paid £16,500 for the plates to hide the age of them

Wouldnt take much digging to find the age.

 

[route101]

Afraid not! I was driving by Caley yesterday about 3 and it was sitting out in the depot. I’m positive it was a dart but if not something very similar it was a small bus and definately had the new livery at the back of it but unbranded at the front.

The caetano darts do have a very short wheelbase .

Was on 2 this afternoon and boy was it packed heading east , really need deckers on it.

 

[JumpinTrainz]

Caetano in new livery: https://flic.kr/p/2b3iSpD

E300 in new livery: https://flic.kr/p/2aXUYzL

Ahh that’s the one! Really liking this new livery. The E300s really suit it too! Can’t help but feel like I prefer it to the current livery. It’s far more striking and modern. Can’t help but feel underwhelmed by the current Olympia livery. Wonder what colour the 201 will be branded

 

[route101]

Ahh that’s the one! Really liking this new livery. The E300s really suit it too! Can’t help but feel like I prefer it to the current livery. It’s far more striking and modern. Can’t help but feel underwhelmed by the current Olympia livery. Wonder what colour the 201 will be branded

Too much white towards to the front unless its getting more paint

 

[JumpinTrainz]

The caetano darts do have a very short wheelbase .

Was on 2 this afternoon and boy was it packed heading east , really need deckers on it.

The 2 could probably do with some E400s for peak time services. It’s a busy service all day long! Would be good to see the 2 branded given it’s such a long and busy service

 

[route101]

The 2 could probably do with some E400s for peak time services. It’s a busy service all day long! Would be good to see the 2 branded given it’s such a long and busy service

Only see the odd gemini on it . If theres gaps in the buses heading along the Gallowgate from town , you get very busy 240 , 2 and 255s

 

[JumpinTrainz]

I wonder what the plan is for the B7TLs. First Glasgow seem to have a fair number of them. I remember them being great when they first arrived, however as the years went on I find them least desirable. They are very grubby inside and the noise from the fans is extremely off putting both outside and inside the bus. It would be nice to see them receive a little touch up or if failing that they could be sent elsewhere. I’m pretty sure there’s places screaming out for modern deckers.

It just seems silly having newly refurbished B9TLs on the 61 then along comes a grubby old B7TL... kind of ruins it. It’s the same with the ALX400s they are also tired looking on the inside and they're not even that long from refurbishment. New E400MMCs for the 60 would be nice

 

[Robertj21a]

I wonder what the plan is for the B7TLs. First Glasgow seem to have a fair number of them. I remember them being great when they first arrived, however as the years went on I find them least desirable. They are very grubby inside and the noise from the fans is extremely off putting both outside and inside the bus. It would be nice to see them receive a little touch up or if failing that they could be sent elsewhere. I’m pretty sure there’s places screaming out for modern deckers.

It just seems silly having newly refurbished B9TLs on the 61 then along comes a grubby old B7TL... kind of ruins it. It’s the same with the ALX400s they are also tired looking on the inside and they're not even that long from refurbishment. New E400MMCs for the 60 would be nice

Not sure there are many places at all 'screaming out for modern deckers'.

 

[KendalKing]

They paid £16,500 for the plates to hide the age of them

I have never paid that much for ageless number. I use to pay between £300 - £500

 

[route101]

I wonder what the plan is for the B7TLs. First Glasgow seem to have a fair number of them. I remember them being great when they first arrived, however as the years went on I find them least desirable. They are very grubby inside and the noise from the fans is extremely off putting both outside and inside the bus. It would be nice to see them receive a little touch up or if failing that they could be sent elsewhere. I’m pretty sure there’s places screaming out for modern deckers.

It just seems silly having newly refurbished B9TLs on the 61 then along comes a grubby old B7TL... kind of ruins it. It’s the same with the ALX400s they are also tired looking on the inside and they're not even that long from refurbishment. New E400MMCs for the 60 would be nice

The 54 and 07 plates need an internal refurb for sure . Time well tell if they are only going to do a few buses on the 61 or go the full hog

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Wouldnt take much digging to find the age.

I have never paid that much for ageless number. I use to pay between £300 - £500

I don’t think they’re trying to hoodwink bus enthusiasts who are prepared to “dig” but just joe public who might notice an old reg though won’t do “digging”.

Think the £16.5k is for ALL the buses so treated - not far off your figures and pretty minimal.

Not sure there are many places at all 'screaming out for modern deckers'.

There are if only because First didn’t buy much between 2007-11 for the provinces and then divested London where they had been spending. Whilst Bristol et al has had investment over a few years, between 2009-15, there were 6 new deckers for Weston so whilst the recent deliveries are welcome, there’s a lot of 2001-5 vintage stuff grinding away, and this is a decent OpCo. First Eastern Counties has a sizeable decker requirement and aside from e400 in 2013 for the X1, and a few Streetdecks for Norwich, they’re updating with 2012 B9s from Leeds. The London and Moir issues will take some time to sort!

 

[Gingerbus1991]

I wonder what the plan is for the B7TLs. First Glasgow seem to have a fair number of them. I remember them being great when they first arrived, however as the years went on I find them least desirable. They are very grubby inside and the noise from the fans is extremely off putting both outside and inside the bus. It would be nice to see them receive a little touch up or if failing that they could be sent elsewhere. I’m pretty sure there’s places screaming out for modern deckers

The engine fans can be upgraded, read this article: https://www.busandcoachbuyer.com/avid-technologys-efan-micro-hybrid/

The buses would be quieter and better on fuel

 

[Jordan Adam]

Too much white towards to the front unless its getting more paint

I agree, They should paint the light clusters and the central panel between then Indigo too. I suspect if they're getting branded up it will look far less plain.

Either way it's promising to see new things being tried.

 

[smtglasgow]

That refreshed livery looks good – and the wee Kernow Dart has scrubbed up well. Still not sure what services they’ll suit. Even the quietest routes have decent loads at school times, and these Darts are VERY small.

Agree that the 2 could do with more capacity. If they could lose the Airdrie section, it might work as an all decker route, but it has a high PVR so would be expensive to do at a time when the existing decker routes need new vehicles. I also think the 77 should be a double decker route. I wondered at the time if First were making a mistake by avoiding Fastlink, but they were right and they’ve definitely won the battle for the hospital traffic.

 

[Gingerbus1991]

That refreshed livery looks good – and the wee Kernow Dart has scrubbed up well. Still not sure what services they’ll suit. Even the quietest routes have decent loads at school times, and these Darts are VERY small.

Agree that the 2 could do with more capacity. If they could lose the Airdrie section, it might work as an all decker route, but it has a high PVR so would be expensive to do at a time when the existing decker routes need new vehicles. I also think the 77 should be a double decker route. I wondered at the time if First were making a mistake by avoiding Fastlink, but they were right and they’ve definitely won the battle for the hospital traffic.

I would certainly say first had made a mistake leaving the fastlink, all stagecoach has done is take passengers from first who use the x19 as a faster bus to the city centre, its almost as if first left the door wide open, the 77 apparently can’t be decker based because theres a weight restriction on the route at the clyde tunnel, ive never driven the 77 so im not sure.
Where other routes are concerned, I’d join the 87 and 9A together with a new service number, operating every 15 mins to braehead with 1 of the half hourly buses going going to the airport via renfrew to the airport.
Paisley rd wst and penilee would have a bus to the airport as well.
Id do the same with the 41 and 10 routes and just rerouted them to join within the city centre to operate every 15 mins, creating links from easterhouse direct to silverburn.
There must be demand surely for these sort of things, especially if first took a reduced ticket offer to employees of the airport or nhs worker etc to promote bus travel

 

[overthewater]

What about Mcgills? There operated via the Fastlink and then give up, Also First has never operated Govan Direct Glasgow service in years. There is no demand for such service why would people from Easterhouse go to silverburn when there is Glasgow Fort next door? Travel time would be 80-90mins? bonkers, you would be quicker taking X19 and then changing to an x8.

 

[Robertj21a]

I would certainly say first had made a mistake leaving the fastlink, all stagecoach has done is take passengers from first who use the x19 as a faster bus to the city centre, its almost as if first left the door wide open, the 77 apparently can’t be decker based because theres a weight restriction on the route at the clyde tunnel, ive never driven the 77 so im not sure.
Where other routes are concerned, I’d join the 87 and 9A together with a new service number, operating every 15 mins to braehead with 1 of the half hourly buses going going to the airport via renfrew to the airport.
Paisley rd wst and penilee would have a bus to the airport as well.
Id do the same with the 41 and 10 routes and just rerouted them to join within the city centre to operate every 15 mins, creating links from easterhouse direct to silverburn.
There must be demand surely for these sort of things, especially if first took a reduced ticket offer to employees of the airport or nhs worker etc to promote bus travel

There's been quite a few deckers on the 77 recently.

 

[route101]

Usually a few geminis on the 77 and they can do the full route . Im suprised the 77 goes to the airport . Dont think first operated a route on the fastlink?

 

[route101]

I remember the 77 came out of being the Braehead Bullet between Partick and Braehead , think it was when escape opened in Late 2006 . Certainly a lot use it from West End to Barehead / Hospital and popular with people with first passes .