Xplore Dundee

[kez19]

I have noticed that the NX Xplore Dundee vinyls are finally going, noticed it on a couple of their buses (hybrid) and a Gemini (Gemini on the 2 today), I also noted that they have either changed font and have increased the size (similar to what has been done on both McGills at Glasgow and Midland Bluebird), also the display of 5a is now 5A.

Displaying of Ninewells Hospital is now Ninewells with the H symbol on routes 5, 10, 17 and 22 (i'll guess route 6 has but I haven't seen it).

 

[Resuwen]

Was in Dundee today and just as I’ve seen with Midland Bluebird and the hotch-potch of vehicles that come into Edinburgh (either in McGill‘s livery, unbranded First colours and the short-lived original McGills Midland Bluebird livery) it really strikes me this company doesn’t care very much about the presentation of its vehicles.

The proper new Xplore Dundee livery looks genuinely good and fresh on the few vehicles it’s on, so why not get it rolled out more quickly and establish a better looking fleet?

There are some decent vehicles there, not least the electric City bodied ones, but then seeing an old Wrights single decker in the tired Olive green on route 10 which such a dim LED display it was unreadable just looked shabby.

Maybe I‘m spoiled by living somewhere where Lothian have such high standards of presentation, but this was definitely a case of could do better.

 

[kez19]

Was in Dundee today and just as I’ve seen with Midland Bluebird and the hotch-potch of vehicles that come into Edinburgh (either in McGill‘s livery, unbranded First colours and the short-lived original McGills Midland Bluebird livery) it really strikes me this company doesn’t care very much about the presentation of its vehicles.

The proper new Xplore Dundee livery looks genuinely good and fresh on the few vehicles it’s on, so why not get it rolled out more quickly and establish a better looking fleet?

There are some decent vehicles there, not least the electric City bodied ones, but then seeing an old Wrights single decker in the tired Olive green on route 10 which such a dim LED display it was unreadable just looked shabby.

Maybe I‘m spoiled by living somewhere where Lothian have such high standards of presentation, but this was definitely a case of could do better.

The thing is with the new livery is mostly on the Enviro400s they brought in and the other livery is Eastern Scottish (buses been brought over from the other depot in Livingston?)

As for the dim LED display I think that bus in question has been like that since the NX days but its probably never been looked at.

In terms of McGills and pushing the new livery though, I agree it should have gone through quicker (they even advertised the new look but ever since not much).

 

[Yorkshireguy]

Was in Dundee today and just as I’ve seen with Midland Bluebird and the hotch-potch of vehicles that come into Edinburgh (either in McGill‘s livery, unbranded First colours and the short-lived original McGills Midland Bluebird livery) it really strikes me this company doesn’t care very much about the presentation of its vehicles.

The proper new Xplore Dundee livery looks genuinely good and fresh on the few vehicles it’s on, so why not get it rolled out more quickly and establish a better looking fleet?

There are some decent vehicles there, not least the electric City bodied ones, but then seeing an old Wrights single decker in the tired Olive green on route 10 which such a dim LED display it was unreadable just looked shabby.

Maybe I‘m spoiled by living somewhere where Lothian have such high standards of presentation, but this was definitely a case of could do better.

At least the exteriors are relatively uniform... there's the odd single decker going around with non-matching seat covers, and quite a bit of signage still references National Express Dundee almost 9 years after the rebrand. CCTV cameras are often broken, as are next stop announcements on the buses that have them. The "Project Boost" objectives feel imperceptible, with bus stop rebranding in the city centre reaching only a single stance on Whitehall Street, bus allocation consistency feeling no different in practice and the Fly service still not getting the new website they claimed would launch in January.

Dundee feels like the forgotten middle child of McGill's right now, with seemingly little ambition for growth and a product that could be much better presented even with current resources - especially with the quality of the Emerald buses. Any arrival of new electric buses after recent route testing must surely be years away. Meanwhile, Stagecoach have brought back Tridents on the 73, so it's no better over there...

 

[Mollman]

Was in Dundee today and just as I’ve seen with Midland Bluebird and the hotch-potch of vehicles that come into Edinburgh (either in McGill‘s livery, unbranded First colours and the short-lived original McGills Midland Bluebird livery) it really strikes me this company doesn’t care very much about the presentation of its vehicles.

The proper new Xplore Dundee livery looks genuinely good and fresh on the few vehicles it’s on, so why not get it rolled out more quickly and establish a better looking fleet?

There are some decent vehicles there, not least the electric City bodied ones, but then seeing an old Wrights single decker in the tired Olive green on route 10 which such a dim LED display it was unreadable just looked shabby.

Maybe I‘m spoiled by living somewhere where Lothian have such high standards of presentation, but this was definitely a case of could do better.

It does take a while to rebrand a fleet - look at Bee Network services in Manchester. Even the sainted Lothian didn't change to the new livery overnight.

 

[Resuwen]

I get that it can take a while, but from what I can see not a single vehicle that didn’t arrive in the new livery has been repainted

 

[kez19]

I get that it can take a while, but from what I can see not a single vehicle that didn’t arrive in the new livery has been repainted

I agree that the previous vehicles from National Express hasn’t been repainted but they have only applied the recent logo change on some of their buses, I believe that there is a single decker that has the new logo on the side but on the back window carries the previous one.

I be surprised if the new livery is only being applied to as and if new buses arrive as they don’t seem bothered repainting the recent electrics or emeralds.

 

[Tayway]

Stagnation with a veneer of modernity does seem to be the current approach at Xplore – hopefully they are working away at service increases and so on behind the scenes since the network now is incredibly depleted compared to even five years ago.

 

[Tayway]

Noticed on twitter that Xplore are upping the frequency of the 22 to every 12 minutes Mon-Fri from 27 May – hopefully a sign of more improvements to come.

https://twitter.com/XploreDundee/status/1785704213810405672

 

[GusB]

Another electric service from Dundee to Edinburgh, albeit just a trial.

FLY service begins trial of Yutong GTe14 battery-electric coach - routeone

Xplore Dundee's FLY coach service between Dundee and Edinburgh Airport is benefiting from a trial of a Yutong GTe14 battery-electric coach.

www.route-one.net

Xplore Dundee’s FLY coach service between Dundee and Edinburgh Airport is benefiting from a trial of a Yutong GTe14 battery-electric coach, which is on loan from Pelican Bus and Coach.

Driver Gareth Almond took control of the launch journey, in which Cllr Lynne Short, Dundee City Spokesperson for Culture, Sport and History, as well as McGill’s Group Managing Director Alex Hornby and Xplore Dundee Director and General Manager, Stephen Riggans, were all on board.

Testing will continue over the summer months of the tri-axle, which has a range of up to 300 miles on a single charge.

The 53-seater coach debuted on National Express’s London to Stansted Airport service this spring.

 

[Resuwen]

Any progress on repaints of the bus fleet into current livery?

 

[numtot12345]

Another electric service from Dundee to Edinburgh, albeit just a trial.

FLY service begins trial of Yutong GTe14 battery-electric coach - routeone

Xplore Dundee's FLY coach service between Dundee and Edinburgh Airport is benefiting from a trial of a Yutong GTe14 battery-electric coach.

www.route-one.net

Will this run in direct competition with that Ember ZEB service which I think runs between Dundee and Edinburgh/Edinburgh airport?

 

[overthewater]

Will this run in direct competition with that Ember ZEB service which I think runs between Dundee and Edinburgh/Edinburgh airport?

This service has been operating since before covid, Its just now trying out Electric coaches.

 

[83G/84D]

Enviro 200MMC YX65 PXR ex 4121 seen in Pudsey today now operating for Squarepeg still in Xplore Dundee green.

It’s one of several they have apparently.

 

[kez19]

Enviro 200MMC YX65 PXR ex 4121 seen in Pudsey today now operating for Squarepeg still in Xplore Dundee green.

It’s one of several they have apparently.

I believe 4116 is with them too (Flickr search Squarepeg)

https://flickr.com/search/?sort=date-posted-desc&text=squarepeg+4116

according to bustimes.org the ones circulating in the area are 4116, 4120 and 4121
or by reg: YX65 PXR, YX65 PXP AND YX65 PXR

https://bustimes.org/operators/squarepeg/vehicles

 

[kez19]

Noticed on one of the Enviro 400 MMC (5/5A), the next stop announcements have been updated and sounds very much like the Alexa Male voicing it.

I also noted on the next stop display, it tells you to get off for the V&A.

 

[Strathtay 260]

Any progress on repaints of the bus fleet into current livery?

Yes, 8905 and training vehicles 2291 and 2292 - that's it!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 Aug 2024 ==

8910 has now apparently been repainted according to bustimes

 

[kez19]

Yes, 8905 and training vehicles 2291 and 2292 - that's it!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 Aug 2024 ==

8910 has now apparently been repainted according to bustimes

According to Bustimes the training vehicles 2291/92 are from First Scotland/McGills as the previous vehicles (was it 2412/13) that were NX buses seem to have disappeared. (2412 was repainted to training but 2413 seemed to have been a bit off a bus to be put on a route to then be as a trainer).

 

[Stan Drews]

According to Bustimes the training vehicles 2291/92 are from First Scotland/McGills as the previous vehicles (was it 2412/13) that were NX buses seem to have disappeared. (2412 was repainted to training but 2413 seemed to have been a bit off a bus to be put on a route to then be as a trainer).

That is correct. 2291/2 have come from the Scotland East business acquired from First in 2022. These two buses have Euro VI conversions so are LEZ compliant unlike the native ex NatEx buses.

 

[kez19]

That is correct. 2291/2 have come from the Scotland East business acquired from First in 2022. These two buses have Euro VI conversions so are LEZ compliant unlike the native ex NatEx buses.

At a guess that'll be the reason that some are still on the road (in other bus companies)? I took it was an age thing for buses but I guess not.

 

[Stan Drews]

At a guess that'll be the reason that some are still on the road (in other bus companies)? I took it was an age thing for buses but I guess not.

I’d expect it will be a key factor in them being still in use. There are many examples across the UK where Euro VI conversions are outliving newer buses that were built to Euro V specification.

 

[kez19]

I’d expect it will be a key factor in them being still in use. There are many examples across the UK where Euro VI conversions are outliving newer buses that were built to Euro V specification.

I was under the impression that buses like B7RLE was on the way out but guessing if they can be converted to standards such as Euro 6.

I wonder then why at the time examples 2412/13 had not been converted under NX (before McGills)?

 

[Strathtay 260]

8910 has recently re-entered service in its new livery. Additionally it is branded for the 5 which came as a surprise for me as I thought they were moving away from route brandings.

 

[kez19]

8910 has recently re-entered service in its new livery. Additionally it is branded for the 5 which came as a surprise for me as I thought they were moving away from route brandings.

I’m surprised that none of the 22 routed buses weren’t rebranded first, just apart from updating the vinyl to 12 mins.

 

[Strathtay 260]

That's now the third of the Enviro400 MMCs to be rebranded into their new livery - 8901.

 

[kez19]

I noticed today on the app they have forgotten to switch or update a ticket machine?

On the app it said it was 2834 (double decker to Ninewells at 0930 from Whitfield), instead it was a single decker 2432?

Thought to look on bustimes for accuracy in what I say yet it’s completely different?

 

[Strathtay 260]

Tracking error, probably a ticket machine swap.

 

[kez19]

Tracking error, probably a ticket machine swap.

I did suspect that when I boarded the bus this morning.

 

[Strathtay 260]

New MB Tourismo BV74 MYW arrived today in a dark blue FLY livery.

 

[ajrm]

New MB Tourismo BV74 MYW arrived today in a dark blue FLY livery.

Actually it's been here all week apparently—someone pm'd me after I'd posted the comment you're quoting on Facebook.