First Aberdeen

[Haribolover06]

Any indication which Streetlite’s will be leaving Aberdeen?

I believe it will be the 10 in Olympia Livery and are not painted in Aberdeen Livery

EDIT - well it would make the most sense

 

[Jordan Adam]

Any indication which Streetlite’s will be leaving Aberdeen?

Ten are due to leave so one would assume it'll be the ten still in Olympia livery (63193/94/98/202/05-10), however that may not necessarily be the case. Notably of the six B7RLEs (69352-57) due to leave the fleet two (69356/57) were repainted less than a year ago.

 

[Volvodart]

69290/4 were the first repaints done in the new livery and both could do with a repaint, 69294 especially with the number of panels not in the correct livery.

 

[Deltic1961]

I'm on the bus from Dyce to town just now (the one that goes along Mugiemoss Road) and I can't believe the amount of time it's spent sitting idle. Couple of minutes at BP, same again at Haudagain and again at Woodside Fountain. Been on for 20 minutes now and a good 7 minutes of that could be trimmed off. Add to that another 4 minutes for a driver change at Adelphi. Passengers wouldn't want to be in a hurry.

Surely it's costing the company money in drivers wages if you multiply that up across all the journeys.

No wonder fares are so much more expensive in Aberdeen

 

[Volvodart]

It is getting speeded up from 3 July by about 4 minutes from Dyce to Broad Street. The times are similar for most of the day to help passengers know when the bus is due rather than individual journies getting less time because they are quieter.

 

[lachlan]

I'm on the bus from Dyce to town just now (the one that goes along Mugiemoss Road) and I can't believe the amount of time it's spent sitting idle. Couple of minutes at BP, same again at Haudagain and again at Woodside Fountain. Been on for 20 minutes now and a good 7 minutes of that could be trimmed off. Add to that another 4 minutes for a driver change at Adelphi. Passengers wouldn't want to be in a hurry.

Surely it's costing the company money in drivers wages if you multiply that up across all the journeys.

No wonder fares are so much more expensive in Aberdeen

I found that too when taking it from St. Machar to Dyce. Couldn't believe how much slack there was in the timetable. I was on the way to Inverurie. No wonder getting a bus into town then a train back out tends to be quicker.

 

[Deltic1961]

Yeah it's insane but not a new problem. You'd think with modern software they'd be able to project journey times based on traffic flow rather than just making each journey to the longest common denominator.

I really wonder if they actually drove the buses at 30 or 40mph (rather than 20mph) and cut out all the idle time how much better (and cheaper) a service it would be.

I've recently been in Newcastle and Dundee and the buses in these places seem to move quickly and journeys seem shorter.

The company don't seem to respond to any sort of customer communication so there's no point complaining really. Better just to use alternative modes of transport.

 

[Jordan Adam]

Yeah it's insane but not a new problem. You'd think with modern software they'd be able to project journey times based on traffic flow rather than just making each journey to the longest common denominator.

I really wonder if they actually drove the buses at 30 or 40mph (rather than 20mph) and cut out all the idle time how much better (and cheaper) a service it would be.

I've recently been in Newcastle and Dundee and the buses in these places seem to move quickly and journeys seem shorter.

The company don't seem to respond to any sort of customer communication so there's no point complaining really. Better just to use alternative modes of transport.

As bad as the 18 is (especially inbound) it's nowhere near as bad as the 19 currently is out to Culter, at the moment it's the norm for the bus to sit all the way out to Culter at 15MPH and still arrive at each timing point 5 minutes early. The new timetable for the 19 will cut off 20 minutes on a round trip so it should improve things. As Volvodart noted the new timetable for the 18 does have the running time reduced and it does appear that one bus will be saved.

They will want to be cautious for any reductions to not affect reliability. The 1/2 were also over timed on the Bridge Of Don end so they've reduced running time however it has come at the expense of the 2 which is now more prone to running late towards Ashwood in the mid-late afternoon. With that said i do think running time between Riverview Drive and Powis Lane on the 18 and Mannofield to Culter on the 19 could be reduced further.

The reopening of Union Street should hopefully improve the situation as journey times through the city centre will be much less unpredictable.

Granted it probably isn't of much use for you but i usually try to get the X27 if i'm heading out that way as it's significantly faster to Bucksburn than the 17/18 or 727. Unfortunately however the X27 also suffers from being severely over timed between P&J Live and Dyce Railway Station.

 

[lachlan]

Yeah it's insane but not a new problem. You'd think with modern software they'd be able to project journey times based on traffic flow rather than just making each journey to the longest common denominator.

I really wonder if they actually drove the buses at 30 or 40mph (rather than 20mph) and cut out all the idle time how much better (and cheaper) a service it would be.

I've recently been in Newcastle and Dundee and the buses in these places seem to move quickly and journeys seem shorter.

The company don't seem to respond to any sort of customer communication so there's no point complaining really. Better just to use alternative modes of transport.

When I last contacted First, in this case concerning an incorrect route for the number 19 that could lead to people waiting on the wrong side of the road, they said they were closed and due to large numbers of queries they would not respond to queries sent outwith office hours.

 

[Deltic1961]

Customers are merely an inconvenience.

 

[Jordan Adam]

When I last contacted First, in this case concerning an incorrect route for the number 19 that could lead to people waiting on the wrong side of the road, they said they were closed and due to large numbers of queries they would not respond to queries sent outwith office hours.

If this is regarding a bus stop flag or timetable then there's nothing First can do about it, those are solely the responsibility of the council. Most of the bus stop flags in Aberdeen haven't been updated for around 4 years, although the bus stop timetables are usually kept up to date. .

 

[lachlan]

If this is regarding a bus stop flag or timetable then there's nothing First can do about it, those are solely the responsibility of the council. Most of the bus stop flags in Aberdeen haven't been updated for around 4 years, although the bus stop timetables are usually kept up to date. .

Ah, should have specified that this is on Google Maps. Though again I'm not sure how much input First have on that either.

 

[Deltic1961]

Talking about that the night bus signs at the stops on Union Street are still illuminated even though there's not been a service for over 2 years

 

[Volvodart]

The signs are the Councils, you would be better contacting them.

 

[Jordan Adam]

This afternoon I compiled a guide containing all bus services to the Airyhall and Craigiebuckler areas including a route map and combined timetable. It's nothing too fancy however hopefully it should be more useful having a route map of all services and timetable in one place rather than having to navigate multiple operators poorly designed websites!

Unfortunately the schedulers at First seemly haven't paid much attention as almost all 11As and 15s operate at the same time. Something which could be easily resolved if the times for the 11 and 11A were swapped round!

I intend to make a similar guide for services to Countesswells over the next few days as time allows.

You can download the PDF here.

 

[Deltic1961]

Are First buses using Union Street yet now its open again?

Just saw a 19 turn left on to Market Street on Sunday afternoon which would suggest not.

 

[Volvodart]

Only 1 and 2 until Sunday's timetable changes for 11, 13, 15, 17-19 and 23.

 

[scosutsut]

This afternoon I compiled a guide containing all bus services to the Airyhall and Craigiebuckler areas including a route map and combined timetable. It's nothing too fancy however hopefully it should be more useful having a route map of all services and timetable in one place rather than having to navigate multiple operators poorly designed websites!

Unfortunately the schedulers at First seemly haven't paid much attention as almost all 11As and 15s operate at the same time. Something which could be easily resolved if the times for the 11 and 11A were swapped round!

I intend to make a similar guide for services to Countesswells over the next few days as time allows.

You can download the PDF here.

Looks good (without knowing the area, but it reads well)

I looked at it on mobile it may render differently on a bigger screen but if you are looking for feedback a few points:

Change the orientation of the pages from portrait to landscape and try and jig all the timetable info into fewer tables - makes for easier reading.

Some of the timetable info is nicely in tables and some not, again not sure if that's device specific I can screenshot of you aren't seeing that - but the table structure looks much better.

Lastly, there is a typo on the word guidance at the top of a few pages.

As I said though, great idea and looks great, all the above ideas are just to polish it!

 

[Jordan Adam]

First day of the new services today, as expected the destination displays are yet to be updated...

Notably the 13 now requires 5 buses on a Sunday and gets 24 minutes layover at Scatterburn, this means the Sunday PVR is now the same as the Weekday PVR prior to 2016. Similarly the 11/11A now require 4 buses on a Sunday (one more than before) and get extensive layover at either end. A bus could be quite easily saved if the 11/11A and 23 were to interwork at Northfield/Heathryfold.

It appears some Streetlites will be getting branded for the revised 13 as there's one (presumably 63200 or 63207) sitting at King Street Depot with a gold front wedge. Notably all 7 E200MMCs still carry the previous Platinum 13 livery, albeit they haven't actually been on the 13 since early 2021 due to reliability issues.

Edit: Reports of a branded Streetlite have turned out to be false.

 

[JumpinTrainz]

First day of the new services today, as expected the destination displays are yet to be updated...

Notably the 13 now requires 5 buses on a Sunday and gets 24 minutes layover at Scatterburn, this means the Sunday PVR is now the same as the Weekday PVR prior to 2016. Similarly the 11/11A now require 4 buses on a Sunday (one more than before) and get extensive layover at either end. A bus could be quite easily saved if the 11/11A and 23 were to interwork at Northfield/Heathryfold.

It appears some Streetlites will be getting branded for the revised 13 as there's one (presumably 63200 or 63207) sitting at King Street Depot with a gold front wedge. Notably all 7 E200MMCs still carry the previous Platinum 13 livery, albeit they haven't actually been on the 13 since early 2021 due to reliability issues.

Edit: Reports of a branded Streetlite have turned out to be false.

Are the E200MMCs expected to stay with Aberdeen? They don’t seem in any rush to get them into the new livery.

 

[Jordan Adam]

Are the E200MMCs expected to stay with Aberdeen? They don’t seem in any rush to get them into the new livery.

They're meant to be staying unfortunately with 10 Streetlites leaving. But until that actually happens things may change.

 

[Marty82]

First Aberdeen have applied for planning permission for EV charging for up to 148 buses at their King Street depot.

https://publicaccess.aberdeencity.g...s.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=REP53QBZHNO00

 

[Volvodart]

Interesting - no plans for artic parking there.

 

[Jordan Adam]

Interesting - no plans for artic parking there.

There's also no plans for coach parking either.

 

[Surreyman]

First Aberdeen have applied for planning permission for EV charging for up to 148 buses at their King Street depot.

https://publicaccess.aberdeencity.g...s.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=REP53QBZHNO00

I thought that First Aberdeen were awarded funding under 'BEAR 4' for 129 vehicles - I thought this meant Euro 6 upgrades for existing Diesel buses, I thought this was a bit excessive for the current fleet, maybe the funding was for Gas/Electric?

 

[Volvodart]

This plan is for the long term, and 24 of the converted buses are likely to be replaced by the new electric buses. If, for some reason, the electric buses were not here when the low emission zone enforcement starts in 2024, First would be in trouble if they had not been converted. The new buses are due by Spring 2024 which is just before enforcement starts.

 

[Jordan Adam]

I thought that First Aberdeen were awarded funding under 'BEAR 4' for 129 vehicles - I thought this meant Euro 6 upgrades for existing Diesel buses, I thought this was a bit excessive for the current fleet, maybe the funding was for Gas/Electric?

The plan is more to future proof the depot, First have done similar down in Glasgow iirc. Most of the fleet has been upgraded to Euro 6 in recent months, the only vehicles planned to be done that are yet to be done are the Citaros and E500s, this was mainly because they're the first of their types to be upgraded so kits still had to be developed/tested for them. 11108 returned from Eminox yesterday.

 

[Deltic1961]

Is it just me or does anyone else think the huge amounts of money and effort being spent on the "green agenda" are a waste of time? We are spending a fortune saving the planet apparently yet not so far away they are demolishing entire cities in a pointless war.

£500,000 on one bus is just insane.

 

[lachlan]

Is it just me or does anyone else think the huge amounts of money and effort being spent on the "green agenda" are a waste of time? We are spending a fortune saving the planet apparently yet not so far away they are demolishing entire cities in a pointless war.

£500,000 on one bus is just insane.

Hydrogen and electric buses are so much more pleasant to ride. The cost is worth it for a quiet, smooth ride Never mind the environment

 

[scosutsut]

Is it just me or does anyone else think the huge amounts of money and effort being spent on the "green agenda" are a waste of time? We are spending a fortune saving the planet apparently yet not so far away they are demolishing entire cities in a pointless war.

£500,000 on one bus is just insane.

Technology only improves as it develops and it doesn't develop if no one buys it. A modern PC is a completely different beast to one from say the 80s - but we wouldn't have evolved the concept to where we are now if people hadn't bought them back then.

So while I think the cost of EVs is eye watering, and whilst I'm not convinced on pure battery is either the best or most sustainable option for heavy transport, I don't think there is an option of not starting this journey - given the loud warnings from the vast majority of the science community that we are kicking our own planet in the knackers!