I have been working on some ideas for a while now on a new speculative bus service and an extension of the N14 to the Royal Infirmary. I also have some ideas regarding the service pattern and numbering of the Edinburgh Trams Network in the years time when/if the South Line and the South Sub are built/reopened. I understand that Trams have not been spoken about in this thread in a while if ever but I felt like this was the place for it.
New Service 42: Davidson's Mains Tesco - Holyrood Gait
Via Drylaw, Blackhall, Craigleith, Stockbridge, City Centre, Bristo Square & Surgeons Hall
Frequency: Hourly Monday to Saturday (Service would start slightly later on Saturdays).
Service would be subsidised by the City of Edinburgh Council replacing current service 60.
This route would replace local links along the old 42 route which was withdrawn both in 2017 and 2022 and would absorb the section of current route 60 between Bristo Square to Holyrood to provide a direct service from Dumbiedykes to the City Centre while maintaining the connection to Surgeons' Hall & The University of Edinburgh Central Area Campus, the first journeys in both directions on the Monday to Friday timetable would be timed to arrive at the campus before 0845am, making the route a suitable choice for any students along the route. While the interchange between the 60, Train & Tram at Haymarket would be removed, this can however be done at the Mound & Hanover Street with both Princes Street Tram Stop & Edinburgh Waverley Railway Station being in walking distance. Merging both routes into one also provides a direct connection from Dumbiedykes to Craigleith Retail Park.
This route would be operated out of Central Depot and would require 2-3 Single Decker Vehicles.
Extension of N14 from Surgeons' Hall to Royal Infirmary
This extension would operate via Cameron Toll, Lasswade Road, Hyvots Bank & Ferniehill (Following the N31, then the N11 along its current route to Hyvots Bank then the former N11 extension to the Royal Infirmary). This extension would only require 1 additional vehicle and the timetable would be adjusted to connect with the N11 at Hyvots Bank, therefore only requiring one route to be extended to the Royal Infirmary. This would also add more Night Buses on the Lasswade Road corridor and reintroduce a 24 hour link to the Royal Infirmary.
Proposed Edinburgh Trams Services
After the construction of the South Line and the reopening of the South Sub Line connecting to the Edinburgh Trams network (I understand that both projects are in stages of development and there are currently no set plans of getting spades in the ground, but if these happened then I would have the network operate in the way proposed).
Routes & Numbers (I would propose that the routes be numbered in the 50 series for better identification).
50: Edinburgh Airport - Newhaven: Current Line, the number 50 was given to this line in certain media (Bustimes.org currently lists the current line under "T50" and the Lothian Network map in 2014 listed the Tram as "Tram 50").
51: Picardy Place - BioQuarter: This route would be one of two services on the South part of the North-South Line, this route would operate every 10 minutes and alternate with route 52 to provide a 5 minute frequency between North Bridge & BioQuarter. Departure times at Picardy Place would be staggered in 6-12 minute intervals so that it would not interfere with Route 50, with trams waiting at subsequent stops for 30-60 seconds until the time between trams becomes every 10 minutes by North Bridge). This route would then get a frequency increase to every 7 minutes to match route 50 and rerouted via Princes Street & North to Granton whenever the Northern section is built.
52: Portobello/Brunstane - BioQuarter via Morningside & City Centre (South Sub & South Line): This route would operate every 10 minutes (Which was supported by Network Rail in the proposals for the South Sub) and would alternate with route 51 to provide a 5 minute frequency between North Bridge & BioQuarter. Combining this route means that it would provide many direct journey opportunities and would remove the need to terminate trams in the City Centre. Whenever the Northern section is also added to the network and the above changes are made to route 51 then this route be split, with the 52 being reduced to every 20 minutes, and a new 53 being introduced following the 52 from Brunstane to Princes Street via the South Sub to maintain the 10 minute frequency, then following route 50 to Newhaven to provide similar level of service on the Newhaven & BioQuarter Lines.
Map below of Edinburgh Trams proposed services (also showing the proposed tram stop at the West Town development).
As always feedback is appreciated and it helps me to refine my proposals to make more suitable changes.
