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West Lothian buses

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OmniCity999

OmniCity999

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SpeedbirdA350 said:
Often bridges show their height as say 16' 3" but are really 16' 9" so to give that extra little clearance. Could this be the reason the sign has not been changed? I don't quite know the road out there as hardly out there.
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No, its showing its original height plus the discretional extra, which is wrong.
 
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Cartaker

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Weemidi. I can give you some figures from family and friends using the Ex2 bus this week. Monday 2nd bus of morning 13 evening 17. Tuesday mid morning bus 17 mid afternoon 14, today 12.30 bus 4 evening bus after 6pm 19. There is a market and it is being used but the main problem is no advertising. Oldies think they cannot use their pass and toddlers are not sure where it goes. The bus timetable stuck at a bus stop can be helpful but most bus shelters just have the number. Needs to be advertised more. Or are they hoping to fail??
 
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Stopper

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Cartaker said:
Weemidi. I can give you some figures from family and friends using the Ex2 bus this week. Monday 2nd bus of morning 13 evening 17. Tuesday mid morning bus 17 mid afternoon 14, today 12.30 bus 4 evening bus after 6pm 19. There is a market and it is being used but the main problem is no advertising. Oldies think they cannot use their pass and toddlers are not sure where it goes. The bus timetable stuck at a bus stop can be helpful but most bus shelters just have the number. Needs to be advertised more. Or are they hoping to fail??
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There’s loads of problems including lack of advertising, lack of proper pricing/ticketing (although I was told this will improve soon), lack of logical stops (for example nobody gets off at Ratho or Maybury but I’m sure a Murrayfield stop would go down well). The EX2 has been lucky so far due to the awful current bus service in Linlithgow and the shambolic rail service which has driven numbers up quicker than expected. At the moment it seems to be pretty busy in peak times and it’s a new bus so it needs to be given a chance to grow.
 
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overthewater

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Ratho is because its main interchange to the airport. There no point stopping at the Airport road end because you would have to walk some way to catch a connection. So ratho should be staying.

LCB should have used single deckers and allowed local fares,
 
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Stopper said:
There’s loads of problems including lack of advertising, lack of proper pricing/ticketing (although I was told this will improve soon), lack of logical stops (for example nobody gets off at Ratho or Maybury but I’m sure a Murrayfield stop would go down well). The EX2 has been lucky so far due to the awful current bus service in Linlithgow and the shambolic rail service which has driven numbers up quicker than expected. At the moment it seems to be pretty busy in peak times and it’s a new bus so it needs to be given a chance to grow.
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Sorry do not wish to disagree with you but 4 people got of the bus today at Maybury going into Edinburgh and 1 on my journey back. Admittedly the only times that has happened on my journeys. My suggestion would be a stop at either Roseburn or DrumBrae. Drumbrea being the preferred
 
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oldman

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overthewater said:
LCB should have used single deckers and allowed local fares,
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For better or worse, the concept is high-quality coaches catering for long-distance passengers, who don't mind paying a bit more for quality. It either works like that or it doesn't work at all.
 
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TheEastCoaster

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oldman said:
For better or worse, the concept is high-quality coaches catering for long-distance passengers, who don't mind paying a bit more for quality. It either works like that or it doesn't work at all.
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I never thought of it like that strangely enough, though say in the next decade if LCB/Green Arrow are still a thing, when the single fares will increase again (and they will) to the point that city singles are £2.00, and LCB/ECB fare zones are like

CityWEST/Zone C - £3.00
CountyA/Zone D - £4.00
CountyB/Zone E - £5.00
CountyC/Zone F - £6.00

LCB might make the single fares to Bathgate the same price as a single is on Green Arrow, and since Linlithgow is obviously in CountyWest B even though it’s not confirmed it might be safe to assume it will have the same fate, in the next few years, but hopefully when LCB expand more they can offer a direct route similar to the 38
 
FlybeDash8Q400

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Regarding Skylink movements here’s what I think might happen, could put money on it that it will be wrong though:

431-437 to ECB
577-583 to LC
584-590 stay at Skylink for mainly the 400

Leaves numbers more or less the same and means 584 can be used on normal routes if needbe
 
Jordan Adam

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A few points to note.

  • LCB will be using deckers even on quieter services because deckers have a higher (and bigger) profile than single deckers. (Admittedly this logic is somewhat jaded seeing as the vehicles don't carry any real form of external route branding)
  • ADL have confirmed they do not currently intend to build any articulated vehicles and are not in discussions about doing so.
  • EX1/EX2 are barely "long distance", although i can understand why they've allocated coaches seeing as these spend a significant portion of the route sitting at a higher speed, although i think the current vehicle choice was wrong, especially with that stupid pointless rear door.
 
OmniCity999

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Jordan Adam said:
A few points to note.

  • LCB will be using deckers even on quieter services because deckers have a higher (and bigger) profile than single deckers. (Admittedly this logic is somewhat jaded seeing as the vehicles don't carry any real form of external route branding)
  • ADL have confirmed they do not currently intend to build any articulated vehicles and are not in discussions about doing so.
  • EX1/EX2 are barely "long distance", although i can understand why they've allocated coaches seeing as these spend a significant portion of the route sitting at a higher speed, although i think the current vehicle choice was wrong, especially with that stupid pointless rear door.
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They have confirmed?

If a company is working on something they dont want people to know about that is exactly what they say...
 
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TheEastCoaster

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So what service is permanently allocated single deckers? At first I noticed it was 280, then 281 when that was introduced and now it’s 287 which I believe makes more sense
 
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overthewater

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I though the 287 couldn't use singles because of the road? If that is no longer the case then maybe the Ex1 should go via wester inch.
 
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TheEastCoaster

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overthewater said:
I though the 287 couldn't use singles because of the road? If that is no longer the case then maybe the Ex1 should go via wester inch.
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That’s actually a good suggestion, a lot of folk were angered by the X18 withdrawn from that area so why not add the Ex1 to replace it
 
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smtglasgow

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scotrail158713 said:
Sorry if I’m mistaken but was it not withdrawn because of low usage?
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Regardless of whether we’re talking about First or LCB, is this not the key issue? There are only a few decent corridors in the area and they’re all over-bused. Everything else is marginal, and while it’s good to see new links etc, there are clearly a finite number of bus users in the area. Serving new-build estates designed around cars is hugely challenging for any operator, even one like Lothian that seems to try a bit harder than most. Firsts revised network last summer seemed like a decent attempt to cover most bases and focused on the best corridors. I’d be prepared to bet that if First disappeared tomorrow LCB would eventually end up with a very similar network.
 
Jordan Adam

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smtglasgow said:
Regardless of whether we’re talking about First or LCB, is this not the key issue? There are only a few decent corridors in the area and they’re all over-bused. Everything else is marginal, and while it’s good to see new links etc, there are clearly a finite number of bus users in the area. Serving new-build estates designed around cars is hugely challenging for any operator, even one like Lothian that seems to try a bit harder than most. Firsts revised network last summer seemed like a decent attempt to cover most bases and focused on the best corridors. I’d be prepared to bet that if First disappeared tomorrow LCB would eventually end up with a very similar network.
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That's what happens when there's a bus war! Agree with most of your post though. That said First haven't done that much to their network since LCB came other than the 600 and 26 extension. I'm surprised they've not tried to "defend" the 29.
 
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