Lothian Buses & First Scotland East

[Metroline1511]

RE: Lothian Buses & First Scotland East
I spent a few days in Edinburgh last week. A few changes have happened on Lothian Buses recently. Some new Volvo 7900Hs are entering service on route 30. These have red seats, unlike last year's route 1 examples with green seats. Route 30 is still mixed Eclipse/ 7900H, while routes 12 and 38 are mixed Dart/ Eclipse. So, these routes are probably going over to full Eclipse operation to replace Darts. Darts are still alive and well on route 36 at least.

Leather-seated Eclipses ex-route 49 were evident on route 45. With the double-decking of route 49 and increases on Dalkieth routes after First pulled out, many 601-30 Tridents are back in service, mainly on routes 14 and 25, with occasional ones on route 19, and one even drifted onto route 11! Of these, 614-16 have been refurbished with green seats, similar to E400Hs on route 10.

Talking of refurbishments, Volvo B7TLs for routes 34 and 44, and Volvo B9TLs for routes 22 and 26 are being refurbished. These have a blue moquette of a similar shade to the former Tartan livery, but with lines to a similar style to new buses since 2011. That said, route 22 B9TLs largely retain Harlequin livery, even if reupholstered. As several route 26 B9TLs are refurbished but have a red front, I doubt forthcoming Volvo B5TLs will be for route 26. My money is on routes 11 and 16 but time will tell.

It seemed odd seeing fewer First buses, especially with high-profile route 86 now withdrawn. The only First buses I rode in Edinburgh were on Galashiels and Falkirk services, technically Midland Bluebird rather than FSE.

The trams are nice for being long and spacious, with reasonable leather seating. However, they did not seem heavily used. The tramline does strike me as having been a vanity project by Councillors who were voted out of office in 2007!