Lothian Buses & First Scotland East

[bramptontrev]

RE: Lothian Buses & First Scotland East

(19/06/2014 18:49)bramptontrev Wrote:  Date for Edinburgh Open Doors day now announced as 27/28 September 2014 - http://www.doorsopendays.org.uk/opendays...ewsid=163.

During previous Open Doors day, Lothian Buses have held a Depot Open Doors day.

http://www.doorsopendays.org.uk/opendays...&areaid=16

Lothian Buses Central Depot 27.09.14 (11.45-16.00)

55 Annandale Street, Edinburgh, EH7 4AZ

Constructed in just a few weeks in 1922 as Edinburgh’s Industrial Exhibition Hall the building played host to many large national shows in the 1920s, including the Scottish Motor Show and Edinburgh’s Christmas Fun Fair. The building became a bus garage in 1926 and was extended in 1933 and 1963 to accommodate the ever expanding fleet of buses.

http://www.lothianbuses.com

Building Date: 1922

ACTIVITIES: guided tours, information leaflets/notes, behind the scenes access, children’s activities, visual displays, stewards/volunteers at key points.

[Metroline1511]

RE: Lothian Buses & First Scotland East
Lothian Buses have clearly gained from the contraction of First buses in Edinburgh and to the south and east.

The latest news is that Lothian Buses are set to gain from another contraction of First, namely their London disposals! They are due to acquire 50 ex-First London Volvo B9TLs redundant from operations they sold to Metroline and Tower Transit. These will see off remaining Tridents, some early Volvo B7TLs and potentially even a few Volvo B7RLEs. All will be fully refurbished with new seating and wooden floors, and converted to single-door.

Suppose that First had not disposed of their London operations but still lost the routes concerned. They might have kept the Volvo B9TLs either to replace older London stock or for cascade to provincial services .... possibly Glasgow instead of Edinburgh!

[gilesbus1]

RE: Lothian Buses & First Scotland East
New Routes for Volvo B8L/ADL Enviro E400XLE's

These will go on services:-

11 Ocean Terminal - Hyvots Bank
16 Silverknowes - Colinton

from early March 2019, https://www.lothianbuses.com/news/2019/0...-revealed/

I find it odd the batch is being split as Lothian have single routes that have circa 30 vehicle run out figures, I would of thought splitting the batch between two routes isn't placing them on the busiest services unless these are relatively short distance services.

Also I thought Lothian still had a deal with Wrightbus, has that now been cancelled as a result of this, or are those vehicles for this year due as well for other routes or parts of Lothian's empire?

[gilesbus1]

RE: Lothian Buses & First Scotland East
Bus war set to return to Edinburgh between FirstGroup and Lothian Buses

Is FirstGroup after another caning here?

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/n...-1-4889775

[Metroline1511]

RE: Lothian Buses & First Scotland East
I was in the Edinburgh area for Easter and rode some Lothian buses on Good Friday.

I had not spotted that a few Volvo B5TLs had been delivered to East Lothian buses last year with green seats, I think 7 numbered 20001-07.

The seats in 1075 sagged a bit, unfortunately. The refurb of 1015 was excellent with grey panels, wooden floor and red seats.

A triviality I noticed is that in the main, vehicles from the 00s have blue seats (a throwback to Tartan in many cases) and from the 10s red seats. Exceptions are new ECB stock and Airlink route 100 Volvo B5LHs with a distinctive blue moquette.

I think any of the next 38 B8Ls on order not needed for route 100 will indirectly release standard double-decks to convert routes 2 & 49, enabling the oldest mainly 04-reg Eclipses to be withdrawn.

[gilesbus1]

RE: Lothian Buses & First Scotland East
The new low floor entry Volvo B8RLE coaches Lothian has bought look like they are for its new Green Arrow network running between Ex2 Linlithgow and Ex1 Edinburgh and Bathgate and Edinburgh and will launch on 30th June. This will be a subsidiary of Lothian Country Buses

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/n...-1-4931122

[johnluke]

RE: Lothian Buses & First Scotland East

(17/03/2019 15:54)gilesbus1 Wrote:  Bus war set to return to Edinburgh between FirstGroup and Lothian Buses

Is FirstGroup after another caning here?

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/n...-1-4889775

Lothian know that first are skint and dont have as much money in the pot as from the last war

[gilesbus1]

RE: Lothian Buses & First Scotland East

(27/05/2019 18:17)johnluke Wrote:  Lothian know that first are skint and dont have as much money in the pot as from the last war

Yep I'd say that as well, apparently they are starting a route duplicating Airbus using ADL E400MMC's transferred in from other Scotland East depots and also they are converting 14 deckers to open top layout for a sightseeing service duplicating Lothian's variety of tours, the only thing they are forgetting with that is that every time someone has competed on sightseeing tours in Edinburgh its failed and I can't see a duplicate Airbus doing much better either.

Though maybe the threat of strikes on Lothian Buses in the summer might help First to some extent if the strikes apply to open top services, although they are in a separate business unit that perhaps might not be effected, despite operating from the same depot at Marine.

[Winston]

RE: Lothian Buses & First Scotland East

(28/05/2019 20:14)gilesbus1 Wrote:  Yep I'd say that as well, apparently they are starting a route duplicating Airbus using ADL E400MMC's transferred in from other Scotland East depots and also they are converting 14 deckers to open top layout for a sightseeing service duplicating Lothian's variety of tours, the only thing they are forgetting with that is that every time someone has competed on sightseeing tours in Edinburgh its failed and I can't see a duplicate Airbus doing much better either.

Though maybe the threat of strikes on Lothian Buses in the summer might help First to some extent if the strikes apply to open top services, although they are in a separate business unit that perhaps might not be effected, despite operating from the same depot at Marine.

First have acquired an elderly fleet of open toppers for the new sightseeing tours, they're not converting them:

Dennis Trident / Plaxton President (Ex-Lothian)
32726 / V526 ESC
32727 / V527 ESC
32728 / V528 ESC
32729 / V529 ESC

Dennis Trident / ALX400 (Ex-Stagecoach)
32789 / T679 KPU
32790 / V473KJN
32792 / X274 NNO
32793 / X377 NNO
32794 / X276 NNO

ADL Enviro 400 (Ex-Metroline)
33500 / LK55 KKT

DAF DB250 / Plaxton President (Ex-RATP)
35010 / T210 XBV
35011 / T211 XBV
35012 / T212 XBV
35013 / T213 XBV

[gilesbus1]

RE: Lothian Buses & First Scotland East

(29/05/2019 22:42)Winston Wrote:  First have acquired an elderly fleet of open toppers for the new sightseeing tours, they're not converting them:

Dennis Trident / Plaxton President (Ex-Lothian)
32726 / V526 ESC
32727 / V527 ESC
32728 / V528 ESC
32729 / V529 ESC

Dennis Trident / ALX400 (Ex-Stagecoach)
32789 / T679 KPU
32790 / V473KJN
32792 / X274 NNO
32793 / X377 NNO
32794 / X276 NNO

ADL Enviro 400 (Ex-Metroline)
33500 / LK55 KKT

DAF DB250 / Plaxton President (Ex-RATP)
35010 / T210 XBV
35011 / T211 XBV
35012 / T212 XBV
35013 / T213 XBV

Thanks for that list its odd that 32726-32729 are coming from Lothian, so I assume by that Lothian aren't at all worried or they could have blocked the sale to them, unless of course they are being sold through dealers, such as Ensign etc as intermediaries.

Seems odd that First would pick to compete on the tour, as every other operator on it as ended up either closing or passing to Lothian in anycase. Plus not sure they will be in a good condition in a morning having been driven from Livingston in Rain/Snow/Wind etc, down the M8, Also would say from the age of all but the Enviro400, that they don't thing they will be there long term as every other one has an old series registration and are all round about 19/20 years old. Guess after one season they will be in PVS's yard awaiting crushing and Livingston depot will be closed and Lothian will operate all the services there. Lets not forget they are already at a disadvantage with the amount of dead mileage they will have to do to get there. Anyway interesting times.