Perhaps so - but there are some patient heavy hitters behind ember with greater financial nous than Stagecoach - it’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out!
Agreed. They're a small operation in global terms, but iirc they've raised a fair amount of speculative venture capital. The aim of those investors will be to go big or go home - getting a small payout by selling out to a conventional bus company won't have any appeal at all.
That would certainly raise a few eyebrows at the Competition and Markets Authority, considering a) Stagecoach's existing position in the area and b) its significant stake in Scottish Citylink.
split 70/30 with Stagecoach last i remember.
I was close enough!
That went out of the window when the proposed merger between National Express and Stagecoach fell through. It was discussed here: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/stagecoach-takeover-discussion.222545/
With Embers ambition to grow and Inverness, Thurso, Skye, Oban and Fort William due to launch soon with future expansions into England also spoken about I can see the express networks being very different in 10 years time.
I've been going back through the earlier posts in this thread and it's quite remarkable how far Ember has come so far. It hasn't done too badly considering that it started out as a two coach operation. Expansion plans haven't come to fruition as expected (see this post: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/ember-electric-coach-service.192935/post-5064552) but the service was launched at a time when the industry, along with every other, was in a difficult position due to the pandemic.
Watch out in the next few weeks for the expansion with Oban, Fort William, Inverness and Thurso coming up to launch.
I regularly do - the Aberdeen service is run from Edinburgh, but I do Glasgow to Dundee on both twin and triple-axle Yutongs and have never experienced the issue you complain of. I have sat at the back of noisy diesel Citylink’s so I would suggest anyone sitting adjacent to the power plant might find it noisier than if sitting elsewhere, but the comfort experienced on ember journeys is one I look for to.
The newer ones are quieter still - but that’s not to say the older ones were ’noisy’ in the first place! I usually sit near the front nearside and the passengers are usually noisier than the motors.
One of the Stagecoach examples has unusual loud motors for some reason, I wonder if that was the one you were on.
GTe14s have great legroom
I see Citylink are now doing a £33 return from Edinburgh or Glasgow to Fort William.