overthewater
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If they subcontract to Stuart coaches, then it will run to time. They manage it with Route 235/236
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Scottish Citylink
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overthewater
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Mcgill/First before that awfully slow at times, Blue bus never took that long over that section of the route and still operated to time. In fact its old 701/702 did Harthill to Livingston in 28mins, It's no surprise those buses used to be busy.
Tartanarmy85
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So EM Horsburgh will run the 23 for Citylink been said
computerSaysNo
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What's the point in Citylink bidding/being awarded then, if they're just going to outsource it?
Flying Snail
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Citylink outsource all their services.
Hopefully there is through ticketing on the 902 available to improve connections which will make the service pretty attractive
gingerheid
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That is easily the most confusing Citylink service I have ever seen!
Based on the timetable it's definitely not intended as a feeder into other Scottish Citylink services because it doesn't have viable connections with the 902 (unless I'm missing something) or the 900? So it's their first standalone local service, purely intended to do the bit of the current 23 that Lothian won't, and if any connections were intended it's into the 72 in the morning and out of the 72 in the afternoon?
JKP
Member
Citylink only have an operator’s licence for 6 vehicles so subcontract most of their operations.
megabusser
Member
Will it be in CityLink livery? Smallest bus branded CityLink since the Glasgow AirPort Express service many many years ago I guess!
JKP
Member
The connections are into the 902 with a wait of 10 minutes approximately. See Edinburgh and the Lothians Council Tender Services thread for the Citylink timetable which also shows through fares onto the 902.
gingerheid
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The connections off the 902 aren't however so excellent?
Thanks for the directions to the other thread!
The phrase "at Harthill Services 15 mins walk" on the timetable makes me cry a little inside. Imagine a country that has a bus route that serves a railway station but doesn't mention connections there, operated by / for / through / whatever a company that has connections from an interchange that's near the route but that it doesn't serve, that's now separated from the "good" bit of it's former route that it really needs to be part of...
Why would anyone use this out of choice? We really need to rethink how we do public transport
(Though I accept the connections to places on the 902 that aren't Glasgow or Edinburgh offer things the train connections that are almost the same price at Shotts don't.) Itching to get the crayons out and draw up a route with some bus / coach / rail interchanges that's part of a franchised bus network...
AndrewTaylor95
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Hairy Haggis from Fauldhouse will be operating it.
overthewater
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The connections off the 902 aren't however so excellent?
Thanks for the directions to the other thread!
The phrase "at Harthill Services 15 mins walk" on the timetable makes me cry a little inside. Imagine a country that has a bus route that serves a railway station but doesn't mention connections there, operated by / for / through / whatever a company that has connections from an interchange that's near the route but that it doesn't serve, that's now separated from the "good" bit of it's former route that it really needs to be part of...
Why would anyone use this out of choice? We really need to rethink how we do public transport
What is rather odd is that in the early and evenings there is a direct bus from Shotts to Harthill services.
JKP
Member
That will be funded by Spt who will no doubt not change anything until the contract ends. Seems odd that a two hourly Sunday daytime frequency becomes hourly in the evening.
Stan Drews
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The current contract ends in July 2024, however it was retendered to the same specification, so unlikely to be any change whoever wins the new contract.
markymark2000
On Moderation
It's SPT, their bus team don't have a clue. You'd be extremely surprised to see how many examples there are of no core service but a full Sunday or full evening service exist. Keep funding the same thing as there's no accountability there.
gingerheid
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That's been going on a long time. I remember a few decades back Muirkirk having a better Sunday evening than weekday daytime service!
Anyone who wishes to discuss SPT tendered services should do so in the appropriate thread:
SPT Tendered Routes
*Mod note* Posts 1-34 were originally in this thread: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/first-greater-glasgow.164437/ https://www.firstgroup.com/greater-glasgow/news-and-service-updates/planned-changes/changes-spt-tendered-services-sunday-12 SPT changes announced too now. 31 absolutely...
www.railforums.co.uk
Hairy Haggis' Yutong TCe12 coach was on the service earlier (https://flickr.com/photos/davidsbus...feed-66235640-1701704115-1-72157721697913001/ - link opens image of Yutong TCe12 YD22 BYP) but it was swapped for a Caetano Levante - I am unsure if this is as per the schedule or a swap due to issues.
Very interesting allocation for a local service, thanks for posting.
On a separate note, what is the actual routing when it gets to Whitburn cross in terms of it turning round to be facing the right direction for the return journey? The only way I can think is for it to loop round via the Academy but the timetable doesn’t seem to allow for this.
Judging by the bus stop locations, along the B7066? It looks like it terminates half way along West Mains Street.
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AndrewTaylor95
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Terminates at Whitburn Police Station bus stop then takes a left down Armadale Road then right into Ellen Street then up Shanks Road.
computerSaysNo
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Maybe I've just seen the unlucky buses today but the 10am from Edinburgh to Inverness was at least 20 minutes late leaving Edinburgh and looked as if it was plugged into a battery booster (it was an Astromega), and the 1020 from Edinburgh to Aberdeen has failed to start again at Dundee because of a battery issue (it is an Elite i). Is this a common failure type at Citylink?
computerSaysNo
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Sorry for having to ask this here. Where or do Citylink/Megabus post service updates? I can't see anything on either the Citylink or Megabus website; the Megabus website points users towards their Twitter/X page but all the posts I'm seeing on there are from years ago; I've searched for and found the Citylink Facebook page but this appears to only contain marketing material; the Citylink website has a page titled "Timetables and Service Updates" but I can only see timetables there and not updates? I'm not sure where else to look.
Updates are reguarly posted on the Citylink Twitter/X page. However, the posts on the Megabus Twitter/X page look up to date as well so I am unsure what you are seeing?
computerSaysNo
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Thanks for the link. Is there a way to reorder the posts on Twitter/X? As even on the Citylink link you provided I'm still seeing only posts from March this year, from 2019, and from 2020 (attached screenshot). I've tried the menu at the top right but that's just privacy settings and I can't see any other menu on the page. Thanks.
