Lothian Group discussion (Lothian City, Lothian Country Bus and East Coast Buses)

[computerSaysNo]

Their intended use was private hires. As such, with the rest of the coaching fleet, their trackers werent made public.

Ahh. Did they receive much work?
What's the most exotic place they've been to... Ibiza? Hawaii?

 

[OmniCity999]

Ahh. Did they receive much work?
What's the most exotic place they've been to... Ibiza? Hawaii?

As far as i can remember, Ayr - on rail replacement when the issues with Ayr station peaked.

not regular work, it was highly seasonal, hence their move back to stage work.

 

[Graham Alexand]

20's are double decks
10's are single decks

Internally vehicles in the ECB fleet are referred to with their full number e.g 20950 and not by the shortened, wider fleet numbering system of 950 - as many enthusiasts would have you believe.

Thanks OmniCity999

 

[computerSaysNo]

As far as i can remember, Ayr - on rail replacement when the issues with Ayr station peaked.

not regular work, it was highly seasonal, hence their move back to stage work.

Ahh okay, thanks for that

There's a lot of "Rare" workings this morning, I guess as it's the first weekday of the new timetable.
Good to see 201-215 back.
It appears that the 45 is being operated entirly by Skylink vehicles, is this a permanent thing or just for today?

 

[Jordan Adam]

Their intended use was private hires. As such, with the rest of the coaching fleet, their trackers werent made public.

It seems they were typically used on schools rather than private hire, unless by hires you're also including school contracts?

I must say i was surprised when Lothian refurbished and dedicated so many deckers to Non-Service work. Especially given that LMC hadn't really found it's footing yet, it seemed quite a bold risk to make. Given they were back on service work by the end of 2019 it seems the risk didn't pay off unfortunately.

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

20's are double decks
10's are single decks

Internally vehicles in the ECB fleet are referred to with their full number e.g 20950 and not by the shortened, wider fleet numbering system of 950 - as many enthusiasts would have you believe.

I will say I’ve been into Musselburgh garage a few times (with permission obviously, I was speaking to Mark Heritage about jobs - I ended up getting a job in the railway) and the drivers there picking up the duty cards always referred to them by the short number (this was prior to the B5TL’s arriving so it must have been in 2017 when ECB was fairly new). Perhaps since then this has changed, I imagine on the radio they’ve always been referred to by the 5 digits though.

I suppose for two reasons I don’t use the full number, if I’m talking to a friend about ECB chances are they’ll still know what I’m talking about, I don’t work for them. Secondly I don’t work for Lothian (mainly as I’ve been turned down too many times) so as a member of the public I’ll stick with what I know if that make sense, ultimately I know it’s fleet number is 20950 and yes I’m wrong to think it’s anything else but I’ve known it 950 since it was knew. TfE app also can only show up to four digits, another thing that makes me not use the full number.

I don’t wanna get too off topic but in my work we don’t refer to Headcodes fully all the time (only drivers and train managers do, signallers we have here are even worse and often don’t use phonetics) unless an important message is passed out on the radio - usually set swaps.

 

[CN04NRJ]

Ahh okay, thanks for that

There's a lot of "Rare" workings this morning, I guess as it's the first weekday of the new timetable.
Good to see 201-215 back.
It appears that the 45 is being operated entirly by Skylink vehicles, is this a permanent thing or just for today?

Is the 'rare' search term an actual thing? If so I see I made it onto there with 891

 

[Lothian_Bus]

So XLB's have returned to service 11 but not the 31. The 37 is still using them but not the 26 as it has returned to Marine.

Looks like the current XLB routes now are 11,16, 22 and 37.

I thought 401-430 would have returned to Longstone at some point but not the case yet.

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

I thought 401-430 would have returned to Longstone at some point but not the case yet.

I think they will return to Longstone along with 441-465 at somepoint. Probably likely that the ex London B9TL’s and some more early B9TL’s return to Central (870 onwards remain at Longstone). Then again the ex London examples work well in my view at Longstone covering the single deck routes (this obviously can’t and won’t last forever) but perhaps some of those B5TL’s might stay at Central permanently?

I think it’s likely most of the new stuff is staying at central for now incase a full scale lockdown comes back.

 

[Lothian285]

1126 and 1128 are on the 16, and 1127 on the 22. Do these still have their Airlink interiors?

 

[TheEastCoaster]

This is quite off topic but i was hoping someone could help me (delete if appropriate)

I'm doing graphic design currently and i was wanting to use Lothian's timetable/route maps and network map as a template for a class project, to see if i can replicate it, i downloaded the current network map as a PDF from the website but i was wondering if there are other resources i could use that perhaps someone on here might have a hold off or know someone who does?

If not it's okay, i just thought i'd ask! but if anyone has any templates or anything they can share with me please let me know! thank you

 

[SpeedbirdA350]

Is the 'rare' search term an actual thing? If so I see I made it onto there with 891

Yes, any bus that has not been used on a route in 2 months will be marked as rare.

 

[Bus9120UK]

So XLB's have returned to service 11 but not the 31. The 37 is still using them but not the 26 as it has returned to Marine.

Looks like the current XLB routes now are 11,16, 22 and 37.

I thought 401-430 would have returned to Longstone at some point but not the case yet.

XLB's were on the 31 yesterday.

 

[OmniCity999]

1126 and 1128 are on the 16, and 1127 on the 22. Do these still have their Airlink interiors?

Full Airlink interiors intact.

It seems they were typically used on schools rather than private hire, unless by hires you're also including school contracts?

I must say i was surprised when Lothian refurbished and dedicated so many deckers to Non-Service work. Especially given that LMC hadn't really found it's footing yet, it seemed quite a bold risk to make. Given they were back on service work by the end of 2019 it seems the risk didn't pay off unfortunately.

It wasn't schools work in the trading sense of the word though, it wasnt school runs it was hires to events, they couldnt even get school work! It was very rare that they were out. A couple did the Ed Uni shuttle eventually too.

 

[Lothian_Bus]

XLB's were on the 31 yesterday.

Yes but on a Sunday XLB's will go on extra routes. I was waiting for today to see how the allocation would work.

 

[ScotRail158725]

I think they will return to Longstone along with 441-465 at somepoint. Probably likely that the ex London B9TL’s and some more early B9TL’s return to Central (870 onwards remain at Longstone). Then again the ex London examples work well in my view at Longstone covering the single deck routes (this obviously can’t and won’t last forever) but perhaps some of those B5TL’s might stay at Central permanently?

I think it’s likely most of the new stuff is staying at central for now incase a full scale lockdown comes back.

The 57/08/09/59/11 plate B9s seem to be all over the place today

 

[CN04NRJ]

I think they will return to Longstone along with 441-465 at somepoint. Probably likely that the ex London B9TL’s and some more early B9TL’s return to Central (870 onwards remain at Longstone). Then again the ex London examples work well in my view at Longstone covering the single deck routes (this obviously can’t and won’t last forever) but perhaps some of those B5TL’s might stay at Central permanently?

I think it’s likely most of the new stuff is staying at central for now incase a full scale lockdown comes back.

Whatever depot code they've got on the side of the bus they perform the same function, and I'm guessing they've allocated buses based on the minimum amount of staff/expense required to get the required amount of buses to a depot at the moment with Marine just reopened.

That being said I was hoping Marine would be getting their 7900s back this week

 

[Lothiangem22]

Whatever depot code they've got on the side of the bus they perform the same function, and I'm guessing they've allocated buses based on the minimum amount of staff/expense required to get the required amount of buses to a depot at the moment with Marine just reopened.

That being said I was hoping Marine would be getting their 7900s back this week

a couple more new single decks were on the back of low loaders at the end of last week being delivered so I don’t suppose it will be long before we see a shift of the single deck fleet. I’d imagine deliveries will increase over the next fortnight with entry into service not long after.

 

[CN04NRJ]

a couple more new single decks were on the back of low loaders at the end of last week being delivered so I don’t suppose it will be long before we see a shift of the single deck fleet. I’d imagine deliveries will increase over the next fortnight with entry into service not long after.

Hopefully the embargo will be lifted soon and they can be discussed on here

Interested to note that 1-10 didn't make it out today, assuming these are off for the time being. Can't say I'm surprised if they are.

 

[scosutsut]

Hopefully the embargo will be lifted soon and they can be discussed on here

I'm actually impressed and disappointed in equal measure that it hasn't broken here, or on bookface as far as I have seen. Only because I'm a nosey git ha ha.

 

[OmniCity999]

I'm actually impressed and disappointed in equal measure that it hasn't broken here, or on bookface as far as I have seen. Only because I'm a nosey git ha ha.

there'll be another delivery to Seafield tomorrow if anyone's interested in a peak, unfortunately for us we cant cover them up in transit...

 

[scosutsut]

there'll be another delivery to Seafield tomorrow if anyone's interested in a peak, unfortunately for us we cant cover them up in transit...

There's only really one surprise left as far as I see it, will continue to wait and see.

 

[Lothiangem22]

there'll be another delivery to Seafield tomorrow if anyone's interested in a peak, unfortunately for us we cant cover them up in transit...

you’ll soon run out of room indoor at Seafield at this rate!

 

[overthewater]

I take it the "spare" buses will be shipped off to Newbridge to help free up room?

 

[OmniCity999]

I take it the "spare" buses will be shipped off to Newbridge to help free up room?

The forecourt at Seafield was cleared recently in preparation for mass delivery. There's also plenty of space inside.

There are still a good few vehicles at Newbridge.

 

[Bus9120UK]

Just spotted a double deck 38? Thought low bridge at balgreen stopped doubles from the 38? Bus 898.

 

[Lothiangem22]

Just spotted a double deck 38? Thought low bridge at balgreen stopped doubles from the 38? Bus 898.

this is a rush... believe it does the x29 to Frederick street then picks up the 38 southern section only at Balgreen for extra capacity to kings buildings. This section can be quite busy in the morning.

 

[Bus9120UK]

this is a rush... believe it does the x29 to Frederick street then picks up the 38 southern section only at Balgreen for extra capacity to kings buildings. This section can be quite busy in the morning.

Cool. Thanks for clarifying

 

[Lothiangem22]

The forecourt at Seafield was cleared recently in preparation for mass delivery. There's also plenty of space inside.

There are still a good few vehicles at Newbridge.

omni - I’m assuming you’re the person to ask... is there much for Lothian to do upon delivery before they enter service?

 

[CN04NRJ]

omni - I’m assuming you’re the person to ask... is there much for Lothian to do upon delivery before they enter service?

Depending on the manufacturer I guess, assume they'd have to fit AVL, radio and ticket machines themselves.

When I worked in Cardiff the ADL buses came fully liveried and with hoppers but the Mercedes arrived in base livery so needed the livery completed with vinyls, holes cut in the dash/cab for the hoppers, radio, telematics, ticket machines and so on. Heck, the 13 Yutongs that Newport Bus had this week were delivered to the UK without interiors!

Hopefully it won't take ours long to get into service though.