West Lothian buses

[overthewater]

Train is £6.80 return off peak Bathgate to Waverley , no brainer...

There can be seriously believe the OAP will keep this off peak service going..

Reduced again this week to £15 zone LM and if figures are as good as the last time you would expect this to become the price for travel with First

I never see the X17 or X18 busy in Edinburgh Maybe 3 passengers each outside Peaks.. Even then the peaks seem to get just as many City passengers as out of town people. I still dont get who is traveling on Lothian every single day? Why would you pay more?

 

[In Focus]

There can be seriously believe the OAP will keep this off peak service going..



I never see the X17 or X18 busy in Edinburgh Maybe 3 passengers each outside Peaks.. Even then the peaks seem to get just as many City passengers as out of town people. I still dont get who is traveling on Lothian every single day? Why would you pay more?

Generally for people who dont understand the day and weekly ticket concept LCB are cheaper from towns like Broxburn £1.70 to livi and Whitburn £2.70 to livi,pensioners dont really worry and its whatever turns up.
I think most weekly punters the ones with some Savvy have stuck by First and the cheaper long term travel option .

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

"Also their "new routes" map links to ECB network
https://greenarrowexpress.co.uk/new-routes/

It's cause the website was copied from ECB for some reason, so someone hasn't proof checked it.

 

[DunsBus]

Generally for people who dont understand the day and weekly ticket concept LCB are cheaper from towns like Broxburn £1.70 to livi and Whitburn £2.70 to livi,pensioners dont really worry and its whatever turns up.
I think most weekly punters the ones with some Savvy have stuck by First and the cheaper long term travel option .

Most likely too that punters will want to give their money to the company that they can trust.

 

[Jordan Adam]

There can be seriously believe the OAP will keep this off peak service going..

The OAP market will stick to First or the X18. The coaches are a huge put off for them.

 

[overthewater]

Especially since there have to change buses just to get to Princes street.

 

[overthewater]

Can anyone actually think of a brand new route given brand new stock?

 

[Gingerbus1991]

Can anyone actually think of a brand new route given brand new stock?

Sarcasm?

 

[CM]

Can anyone actually think of a brand new route given brand new stock?

There will have been plenty new routes started with brand new buses over the years, too many to list.

Off the top of my head, the Braehead Bullet was started with the then new B7RLEs.

 

[Man of Kent]

Can anyone actually think of a brand new route given brand new stock?

Stagecoach went straight in with Gold-spec double decks on the Torbay-Plymouth route that competed with (and rapidly saw off) First's X80/X81 equivalents.

 

[Train368]

I'm not sure how it works with First Bus getting sold but is it possible that Lothian could buy First West Lothian or is it more likely one big company will take over First buses as a whole?

This would be their perfect opportunity to take over West Lothian if they want it bad enough but at the same time it would likely lead to some of their own services getting axed due to similar First Routes being available to them.

 

[Bus Lightyear]

Can anyone actually think of a brand new route given brand new stock?

First, or maybe still known as Kelvin at the time, put new Darts on the service 11 corridor in Ayrshire against Stagecoach who had started new routes a few weeks previously in Glasgow with brand new Volvo B10s and B6s.

More recently Stagecoach allocated new coaches to the X51 when it was extended from Livingston to Glasgow.

First also put new buses on the 41/42 in Manchester about 6/7 years back when they took over an independent operator whose name escapes me.

 

[DunsBus]

First, or maybe still known as Kelvin at the time, put new Darts on the service 11 corridor in Ayrshire against Stagecoach who had started new routes a few weeks previously in Glasgow with brand new Volvo B10s and B6s.

More recently Stagecoach allocated new coaches to the X51 when it was extended from Livingston to Glasgow.

First also put new buses on the 41/42 in Manchester about 6/7 years back when they took over an independent operator whose name escapes me.

Bullocks (and no, I'm not swearing - that was their name!).

The FifeFirst service 56 had three brand new Darts amongst the Scanias transferred from Lowland, Midland Bluebird and York to run it.

 

[ChrisPJ]

First also put new buses on the 41/42 in Manchester about 6/7 years back when they took over an independent operator whose name escapes me.

Finglands? Although previously owned by East Yorkshire.

That was a venture that did the opposite of make a positive contribution to First profits.

 

[TheEastCoaster]

Off topic but does anyone know how much a return ticket from Linlithgow is on the 38? I’ve tried searching but nothing has come up

 

[Driver362]

Utter madness..... Lorhian are just stupied...ive always said that.....

Scotrail weekly to linlithgow is £45. Saving fiver or quid a day?... Bathgate is £42....

Day return is cheaper on scotrail from bathgate....

Stagecoach x51 weekly to Glasgow is £25.80...... To glasgow...

Staff must be deluded......

Are you for real ! ?

 

[Driver362]

"Not all new things are good things", i think that applies here unfortunately. The services will need more than just amendments if they are/were ever to work.

The B****y things have not even turned a wheel and this lot have them doomed to failure . Lothian should sack every senior management figure and install this lot as there successor. Then the world would be a better place

 

[Driver362]

The OAP market will stick to First or the X18. The coaches are a huge put off for them.

How's that then , do you have a crystal ball ?

 

[overthewater]

Are you for real ! ?

The Green arrow is OVER Priced, badly designed and yes the staff that created this bonker operations are deluded. It has created nothing to make better than the train, is so over priced is beyond a joke. PLease tell me why you any person would take this service off peak? It costs more than the train and you still have to walk...

 

[Jordan Adam]

The B****y things have not even turned a wheel and this lot have them doomed to failure . Lothian should sack every senior management figure and install this lot as there successor. Then the world would be a better place

You do know you can do multiple quotes on the same post? I'll show you here.

It's doesn't take a genie to work out these routes are not going to work, they've in short duplicated a service they already have, but made it slightly faster, charged a higher fare and allocated coaches. The public won't fall for that sort of gimmick and anyone with common sense will stick to the X18 (or train).

The EX2 probably has more potential, but it doesn't cover enough markets to justify a half hourly frequency, nor a offpeak service. The EX2 may have worked if it went to Falkirk. It's almost as if they're expecting a house and a new car from a charity raffle.

How's that then , do you have a crystal ball ?

Again just a case of common logic, OAP's prefer low floor buses and will rather take a slower route if they know it will be a low floor bus. As mentioned already the EX1/EX2 not going along Princes Street will be another put off.

 

[Driver362]

I just think the anti lothian all there ideas are stupid etc etc etc are a bit much tbh jordan . Granted all there ideas might not be good ones but at least wait and see ? . I dont come on here mocking first or any other operator but lets be honest and fair about it ? . And trust me what i see on the ground day in day out with my own eyes , there is no shortage of material !

 

[DunsBus]

These routes should have been launched at the start, instead of the best part of a year afterwards. Not that it would have made much difference anyway - as I said earlier, folk are sticking with First.

 

[Jordan Adam]

I just think the anti lothian all there ideas are stupid etc etc etc are a bit much tbh jordan . Granted all there ideas might not be good ones but at least wait and see ? . I dont come on here mocking first or any other operator but lets be honest and fair about it ? . And trust me what i see on the ground day in day out with my own eyes , there is no shortage of material !

I wouldn't consider myself anti-Lothian, without going in to a detailed explanation i don't hate Lothian, i just think some of their ideas and moves lately have been poorly thought out and executed. I also do think the management are getting far too ego driven and petty.

It's hard to defend the EX1/EX2 when it's such a poor idea, it has next to no redeeming features other than the fact it uses coaches, a gimmick that the bulk of the public won't fall for and has failed in the past. The only thing they've got right in WL so far is the X18 and even that could be questionable.

 

[overthewater]

Simple fact is, most on here will pull up any company that just poor.

I could overlook many things with lothian if it wasn't for the fact its ripping the public off...

 

[GusB]

Simple fact is, most on here will pull up any company that just poor.

I could overlook many things with lothian if it wasn't for the fact its ripping the public off...

I really don't see why you're getting so upset about fares on a service that you probably won't ever use. If you think those fares are a rip-off, then perhaps you should spend a bit of time in my part of the world. A fiver single for a journey more than double the miles as my local journey into town? Bargain.

 

[Train368]

Does anyone know if other service changes are coming on the 30th e.g. the next phase?

 

[Jordan Adam]

Does anyone know if other service changes are coming on the 30th e.g. the next phase?

Nothing else is planned, just the EX1/EX2.

 

[Train368]

It sounds like nearly everyone in this discussion agrees the new Green Arrow services aren't good enough, so what would everyone suggest Lothian do to fix that and make them better?

I would start off by extending the EX1 to Whitburn via Armadale as I feel their is a tiny bit more demand in those towns and I'd introduce a weekly/monthly Lothian WEST ticket that's cheaper than Scotrail options.

 

[yorkie]

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[Jordan Adam]

It sounds like nearly everyone in this discussion agrees the new Green Arrow services aren't good enough, so what would everyone suggest Lothian do to fix that and make them better?

I would start off by extending the EX1 to Whitburn via Armadale as I feel their is a tiny bit more demand in those towns and I'd introduce a weekly/monthly Lothian WEST ticket that's cheaper than Scotrail options.

• Axe the EX1
• Enhance/improve the X18
• Improve ticketing options
• Make sure drivers actually know the routes
• Sort the rattling on the Ex-London Geminis
• Extend the EX2 to Falkirk with the surplus coaches from the EX1.