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West Lothian buses

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alexf380

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It was involved in an accident a few years ago and was repainted into standard Olympia livery when it was repaired. Pretty sure it's still in service down in York.
 
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Observer

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Siemens Trains said:
I rarely go to Bo'ness (or Falkirk or Alloa) so can't speak from much personal experience, but isn't the Bo'ness to Edinburgh bus service a basket case that no company is willing to touch almost regardless of council subsidy? I noticed a 'Community' service appearing on Edinburgh bus stop flags along the A8, which I believe is a 'once per day' minibus for Bo'ness.
First used to run some Bo'ness routes but weren't they lame ducks? I can't imagine there's much of a market here for Lothian Country, and extends a bit too far beyond territory that can be supported from a West Lothian depot.
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Siemens Trains said:
Looks like I stand corrected, thanks.
But then I suppose the question may be why would First pull out of this market if other operators can do well between Bo'ness and Edinburgh? Too far from Deans following closure of the Linlithgow depot perhaps?
If passengers are happy with the present setup and growth has already taken place maybe it isn't worth Lothian Country competing here - is Green Arrow much different to the Citylink service?
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I would suspect the only reason why the community service seems to be fine is the fact that they're running 16 seat minibuses on this, saving a lot of the running costs from previous attempts.

First and Prentice Westwood put on full size coaches as per the contract which were not economical and the council cancelled the contract, the latter making peak journeys commercially and then pulling out as they could no longer afford to put them on, and eventually the community service was introduced after a lot of time and effort was put in to it to make it work.

Any other operator would have got their cards thrown at them for non low floor running, yet the council gave them a local bus contract to run last year and seemingly a small school contract as well now.

And as stated before, Citylink noticed what was going on and put the 909 into Bo'ness (previously they wouldn't entertain it), but both services seem to be able to co-exist fine regardless, as the routes are slightly different.
 
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overthewater

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When is the next set of changes due, must be 9 days? Will first fully restore its services, whill LCB fully restore there's?
 
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JurassicMan

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TheEastCoaster said:
I’m hoping we can get the X17/X38 back to help keep the buses spacious for commuters :smile:
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Heard a little rumour (maybe LCB staff on here can confirm or dent) that they had sold quite a few of the single deckers previously used on X38 ,
Maybe some newer vehicles for the route when it kicks off again ?
 
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Jordan Adam

Jordan Adam

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JurassicMan said:
Heard a little rumour (maybe LCB staff on here can confirm or dent) that they had sold quite a few of the SD previously used on X38 ,
Maybe some newer vehicles for the route when it kicks off again ?
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I can't see why they'd sell them off, surely even if the X38 were going they'd move them back to Lothian.
 
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Bus9120UK

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JurassicMan said:
Heard a little rumour (maybe LCB staff on here can confirm or dent) that they had sold quite a few of the SD previously used on X38 ,
Maybe some newer vehicles for the route when it kicks off again ?
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This is definitely false, Eclipse 2's are not old enough to just be sold
 
ScotRail158725

ScotRail158725

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Bus9120UK said:
This is definitely false, Eclipse 2's are not old enough to just be sold
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doesnt matter though, they could sell them regardless, i do agree its unlikely though. i reckon they’ve mixed the eclipse 2s with the Ex Arriva vehicles
 
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overthewater

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If the route comes back, I take Lothian are trying to cut the costs by putting in cheaper book value stock?
 
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Stan Drews

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ross4122 said:
I'm not sure how that would cut the running costs of a service?
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Depreciation is one of the running costs, so if vehicles with a lower depreciation charge were used on a service it would reduce the overall cost of operation. One of the reasons that operators sometimes favour older fully depreciated stock for certain uses/services.
 
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RomeoCharlie71

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Stan Drews said:
Depreciation is one of the running costs, so if vehicles with a lower depreciation charge were used on a service it would reduce the overall cost of operation. One of the reasons that operators sometimes favour older fully depreciated stock for certain uses/services.
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How I forgot about depreciation I don't know... :oops: I'm awaiting my certification of Advanced Higher Accounting!

But yes, that makes sense, thanks.
 
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Lothiangem22

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JurassicMan said:
Heard a little rumour (maybe LCB staff on here can confirm or dent) that they had sold quite a few of the SD previously used on X38 ,
Maybe some newer vehicles for the route when it kicks off again ?
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Lothian’s city fleet have a large order of single deck vehicles on order which were too advanced in the build process to adjust due to COVID 19. Also, with the loss of the 20 and 63 (7 buses on a normal timetable) it may be possible to see some of the current hybrid fleet he cascaded to other parts of the group?
 
Jordan Adam

Jordan Adam

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Lothiangem22 said:
Lothian’s city fleet have a large order of single deck vehicles on order which were too advanced in the build process to adjust due to COVID 19. Also, with the loss of the 20 and 63 (7 buses on a normal timetable) it may be possible to see some of the current hybrid fleet he cascaded to other parts of the group?
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The new single decks are said to be for the 30. Surely they'd be better keeping the 7900H's for the other single deck city routes and transferring the B7RLEs out instead as these are far more suited to rural/faster running.
 
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computerSaysNo

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Jordan Adam said:
The new single decks are said to be for the 30. Surely they'd be better keeping the 7900H's for the other single deck city routes and transferring the B7RLEs out instead as these are far more suited to rural/faster running.
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The Eclipse 2s have a higher capacity than the 7900s, could it be possible they are keeping the Eclipses for City work and putting the smaller 7900s to the quieter Country work?
Also the 7900s have to stop accelerating when they change gear meaning lower overall acceleration, could this therefore make them less suitable for City operation and more suited to Country where they are likely to be "cruising" at a constant speed for longer?
 
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CN04NRJ

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GregA said:
The Eclipse 2s have a higher capacity than the 7900s, could it be possible they are keeping the Eclipses for City work and putting the smaller 7900s to the quieter Country work?
Also the 7900s have to stop accelerating when they change gear meaning lower overall acceleration, could this therefore make them less suitable for City operation and more suited to Country where they are likely to be "cruising" at a constant speed for longer?
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The 7900s are definitely much better to drive out of the city, they're quite suited to the 63 for example. Would be great to see them move on to LCB or ECB to replace the older B7RLEs.
 
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Avenger20

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CN04NRJ said:
The 7900s are definitely much better to drive out of the city, they're quite suited to the 63 for example. Would be great to see them move on to LCB or ECB to replace the older B7RLEs.
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I imagine a 7900 would work quite nicely on the 139 but don't think there is enough capacity for anything else ECB runs, unless they go for more local work.
 
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CN04NRJ

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cammyeaston said:
I imagine a 7900 would work quite nicely on the 139 but don't think there is enough capacity for anything else ECB runs, unless they go for more local work.
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I think they'd be well suited to LCB routes, one thing is for sure is that the capacity isn't enough for the 30. Shame they didn't go to LCB in the first place for the X38 with the 13 plate B7s moving to Longstone.
 
Jordan Adam

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CN04NRJ said:
The 7900s are definitely much better to drive out of the city, they're quite suited to the 63 for example. Would be great to see them move on to LCB or ECB to replace the older B7RLEs.
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The issue with them is more the interior specification. The seats are no good for longer journeys.
 
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computerSaysNo

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Jordan Adam said:
The issue with them is more the interior specification. The seats are no good for longer journeys.
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Are any of the Country routes which don't go into Edinburgh suitable for single deck vehicles?
On the ECB side, would they work on the 106 to Fort Kinnard?
Also, I believe there was talk of the City route 26 being revised to no longer serve Tranent; would the 7900s work for a shuttle between Mussleburgh/Prestonpans and Tranent?
 
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