Lothian Buses and ECB Discussion

[buslad1988]

None planned this soon.

I think confusions come from the fact that there’s another duty change this Sunday with more drivers returning. Which you’d think would go hand in hand with a service change.

 

[UK Bus Spotter]

Hi, I’ve noticed on the website bus times.org that the service 12 ( Lothian Buses ) and service X17 ( Lothian Country ) are making a return from the 2nd of August 2020

 

[overthewater]

Well. However x17 will not operate to Edinburgh. Still no sign of x38.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Pardon me for being cynical but this I think is the point where we will find out just how viable or not as the case may be some of the Lothian country network actually is. with this social distancing charade and lower passenger numbers because the government and media have scared a lot of people into staying indoors we're going to see things taking quite a while to return to normal and in the meantime I can see many a bus route across the country being quietly scaled back or cut all together without any publicity or fuss simply due to it being borderline viable before lockdown and now not viable at all

 

[CN04NRJ]

Pardon me for being cynical but this I think is the point where we will find out just how viable or not as the case may be some of the Lothian country network actually is. with this social distancing charade and lower passenger numbers because the government and media have scared a lot of people into staying indoors we're going to see things taking quite a while to return to normal and in the meantime I can see many a bus route across the country being quietly scaled back or cut all together without any publicity or fuss simply due to it being borderline viable before lockdown and now not viable at all

Sadly I think you may be right. The government has done a terrific job of making public transport seem like mobile coronavirus wagons (except for trains on a Friday/Saturday night it seems as both trains I caught home to Bathgate from Edinburgh Park last weekend were packed and smelled like a brewery!).

 

[Blindtraveler]

Indeed. And no government is less or more guilty

The number of cars driving past my block of flats in Muirhouse north west Edinburgh has steadily increased since about the second or third week of heavy lockdown and isn't diminishing even though the bus service is back to something that might vaguely be interpreted as usable. and this is not a reflection by the way on the staff who operate it but more the fact that things seem to be taking far longer than seems reasonable to my way of thinking to get back to something resembling normal

 

[kje7812]

Several route increasing in frequency from sunday:

Service Change - 2 August 2020 - Lothian Buses

From Sunday 2 August Lothian will introduce changes to routes and timetables for Lothian Buses, East Coast Buses, Lothian Country to help keep Edinburgh and the Lothians moving as the country continues to move through the Scottish Government’s routemap to recovery. For the last four months...

www.lothianbuses.com

 

[Bus9120UK]

Several route increasing in frequency from sunday:

Service Change - 2 August 2020 - Lothian Buses

From Sunday 2 August Lothian will introduce changes to routes and timetables for Lothian Buses, East Coast Buses, Lothian Country to help keep Edinburgh and the Lothians moving as the country continues to move through the Scottish Government’s routemap to recovery. For the last four months...

www.lothianbuses.com

Good to see the 12 coming back!

 

[Jordan Adam]

Good to see services increasing but i find the Lothian website so irritating and a pest at times to navigate. For example you can't get between sites, on the main Lothian Buses site there's tabs for all the Lothian family, yet when you click those tabs generally it doesn't take you to the website for that respective company, the only exception is the LMC tab which does take you to the LMC website. Although having looked at the website it's still showing last years tours! There's also a lack of information regarding the upcoming changes on the LC and ECB sites.

 

[computerSaysNo]

Several route increasing in frequency from sunday:

Service Change - 2 August 2020 - Lothian Buses

From Sunday 2 August Lothian will introduce changes to routes and timetables for Lothian Buses, East Coast Buses, Lothian Country to help keep Edinburgh and the Lothians moving as the country continues to move through the Scottish Government’s routemap to recovery. For the last four months...

www.lothianbuses.com

It's good that the 12 is back but I'm very surprised that the remainder of the routes are not being fully reinstated yet, for example the 15/X15 and 45 aren't running at all, 140 still seems to only be running to Roslin on Sundays, and the 300 is still only hourly.
A lot of people on the Facebook comments asking for these to be put back on again.

 

[Auld reekie]

It's good that the 12 is back but I'm very surprised that the remainder of the routes are not being fully reinstated yet, for example the 15/X15 and 45 aren't running at all, 140 still seems to only be running to Roslin on Sundays, and the 300 is still only hourly.
A lot of people on the Facebook comments asking for these to be put back on again.

Nothing to substantiate it but I was told the 45 would not comeback.
Having said that Herriot Watt resumes on 14th September so maybe then.

 

[Edirim]

140 only ever ran to Roslin on Sundays.
The 45 will surely come back when HWU and QMU start up again...it's a vital link.

 

[DunsBus]

It's good that the 12 is back but I'm very surprised that the remainder of the routes are not being fully reinstated yet, for example the 15/X15 and 45 aren't running at all, 140 still seems to only be running to Roslin on Sundays, and the 300 is still only hourly.
A lot of people on the Facebook comments asking for these to be put back on again.

The 140 has never run to Penicuik on Sundays, this was also the case in the latter days of the LB service 40 which the 140 replaced.

 

[computerSaysNo]

140 only ever ran to Roslin on Sundays.
The 45 will surely come back when HWU and QMU start up again...it's a vital link.

The 140 has never run to Penicuik on Sundays, this was also the case in the latter days of the LB service 40 which the 140 replaced.

Thanks for the replies, my mistake, I thought it ran to Penicuik every day of the week.

 

[kje7812]

140 only ever ran to Roslin on Sundays.
The 45 will surely come back when HWU and QMU start up again...it's a vital link.

I can't comment on QMU but at Heriot-Watt only a handful of buildings have reopened. Opening up is being done very gently.

 

[Auld reekie]

I can't comment on QMU but at Heriot-Watt only a handful of buildings have reopened. Opening up is being done very gently.

HW website says 14th September.

 

[computerSaysNo]

Are East Coast short of deckers at the moment? A few days ago there was an Urban 3 (single deck bus) on the 124, and today there's one on the 113.

 

[OmniCity999]

Are East Coast short of deckers at the moment? A few days ago there was an Urban 3 (single deck bus) on the 124, and today there's one on the 113.

Just utilising whats in Musselburgh. Musselburgh doesn't have its full contingent of buses back yet. Alot are still being kept at Marine and Longstone.

Its been decided that that operation needs so many vehicles at the moment and the number was allocated with others left elsewhere to allow movement in Musselburgh depot.

 

[scosutsut]

Are East Coast short of deckers at the moment? A few days ago there was an Urban 3 (single deck bus) on the 124, and today there's one on the 113.

Just utilising whats in Musselburgh. Musselburgh doesn't have its full contingent of buses back yet. Alot are still being kept at Marine and Longstone.

Its been decided that that operation needs so many vehicles at the moment and the number was allocated with others left elsewhere to allow movement in Musselburgh depot.

That explains why I've seen more Gemini 2 than the normal 3s on the 124 of late then. Hope passengers don't miss the rattling too much!

 

[Graeme Duncan]

It would be a sad state of affairs if the 45 was not reinstated don't forget it is long established route.

 

[computerSaysNo]

Just utilising whats in Musselburgh. Musselburgh doesn't have its full contingent of buses back yet. Alot are still being kept at Marine and Longstone.

Its been decided that that operation needs so many vehicles at the moment and the number was allocated with others left elsewhere to allow movement in Musselburgh depot.

Unless I'm missing something, Musselburgh has all its deckers back and is only missing a few singles.
According to the Lothian Vehicle Finder:

• 794-800 are all available for use (https://lvf.io/#LRT|ECB 20794-20800)
• 937-950 are all available for use (https://lvf.io/#LRT|ECB 20937-20950)
• Of 195-199, only 198 and 199 are seem to be in use (others haven't been used since March/April), but are singles anyway (https://lvf.io/#LRT|ECB 10195-10199)
• 101 and 102 are not in use (haven't been used since March), but are singles anyway (https://lvf.io/#LRT|ECB 10101-10102)
• The majority of 051-065 are available for use (052, 053 and 054 haven't been used since March/April) but are singles anyway (https://lvf.io/#LRT|ECB 10051-10065)
• 2001-2008 are all available for use (https://lvf.io/#LRT|ECB 20001-20008)

So Musselburgh appears to have all its deckers back, and is only missing 8 singles (out of 21).
So if anything, deckers should be substituting for singles!

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

See in time when a full timetable was to return to all parts of the network (including subsidiaries), Should social distancing be required (which seems extremely likely) would Lothian look at the second hand market for extra deckers or use the fleet pretty much as it was pre lockdown (2, 36 etc running with singles)

 

[scosutsut]

See in time when a full timetable was to return to all parts of the network (including subsidiaries), Should social distancing be required (which seems extremely likely) would Lothian look at the second hand market for extra deckers or use the fleet pretty much as it was pre lockdown (2, 36 etc running with singles)

I'm going to guess no as the issues would include:

* 2nd hand market supply will dry up quickly as all operators would be affected the same way
* Has *insert operator here* got enough drivers for said additional fleet
* Has *insert operator here* got enough discs for said additional fleet
* Has *insert operator here* got the financial appetite for the costs that come with? (Given all the order cancellations - I'm going to go with no)

Plus Lothian would probably have more options than most operators to free up additional stock / keep vehicles due for disposal if they did have the appetite to put more vehicles out - B7s still lingering and the single deck order displacing older B7RLEs which could be kept on.

I personally don't see demand going back to "normal" this year or beyond. Keyboard monkeys like myself have been told there is no reason for us to be in, and no benefit to it either, so we're working for home for the foreseeable.

 

[ScotRail158725]

See in time when a full timetable was to return to all parts of the network (including subsidiaries), Should social distancing be required (which seems extremely likely) would Lothian look at the second hand market for extra deckers or use the fleet pretty much as it was pre lockdown (2, 36 etc running with singles)

lothian still have some withdrawn B7s still branded up so those will likely come back into use, 704 being one of those has recently had its tracker reactivated

 

[CN04NRJ]

lothian still have some withdrawn B7s still branded up so those will likely come back into use, 704 being one of those has recently had its tracker reactivated

717 too.

 

[Jordan Adam]

I'm going to guess no as the issues would include:

* 2nd hand market supply will dry up quickly as all operators would be affected the same way
* Has *insert operator here* got enough drivers for said additional fleet
* Has *insert operator here* got enough discs for said additional fleet
* Has *insert operator here* got the financial appetite for the costs that come with? (Given all the order cancellations - I'm going to go with no)

Plus Lothian would probably have more options than most operators to free up additional stock / keep vehicles due for disposal if they did have the appetite to put more vehicles out - B7s still lingering and the single deck order displacing older B7RLEs which could be kept on.

I personally don't see demand going back to "normal" this year or beyond. Keyboard monkeys like myself have been told there is no reason for us to be in, and no benefit to it either, so we're working for home for the foreseeable.

Fully agree, i can't see it happening. Demand probably isn't going to be there and operators don't have the cash to be investing in large amounts of 2nd hand deckers.

 

[Auld reekie]

It would be a sad state of affairs if the 45 was not reinstated don't forget it is long established route.

I agree.
If LB don’t reinstate it maybe FB would take over the route.

 

[Bus9120UK]

Lothian Buses Volvo B8L Alexander Dennis Enviro 400XLB SB19GLK 1126 at Seafield Garage on 28 July 2020.

Former Airlink liveried vehicle now repainted in white. Future use of the vehicle currently not known.

www.flickr.com

Lothian Buses Volvo B8L Alexander Dennis Enviro 400XLB SB19GLK 1126 at Seafield Garage on 28 July 2020.

Former Airlink liveried vehicle now repainted in white. Future use of the vehicle currently not known.

An image of one of the Ex-Airlink XLB's was published 2 days ago showing the buses in white. Wonder what their use will be?

 

[TheEastCoaster]

I agree.
If LB don’t reinstate it maybe FB would take over the route.

Perhaps if the First incarnation of the 20,63 and 64 go well they could do! Might be there way of slyly taking in a new city network.

as much as I feel most folk would dislike the idea it would be interesting to see how they would do it, for curiosity sakes at least

 

[OmniCity999]

Lothian Buses Volvo B8L Alexander Dennis Enviro 400XLB SB19GLK 1126 at Seafield Garage on 28 July 2020.

Former Airlink liveried vehicle now repainted in white. Future use of the vehicle currently not known.

www.flickr.com

An image of one of the Ex-Airlink XLB's was published 2 days ago showing the buses in white. Wonder what their use will be?

To be used as floats. At least 1 has gone down south on demonstration.