CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh
Bus latest
(797 posts)-
Posted 3 months ago #
-
https://news.stv.tv/highlands-islands/two-people-taken-to-hospital-after-bus-crash-in-highlands
Ember Inverness to Edinburgh bus. Some passengers continued journey by train apparently.
Posted 3 months ago # -
“
Greens pledge free bus travel for all in manifesto as parties hit campaign trail
“
Posted 3 months ago # -
“
Anti-bus residents of posh suburb near Glasgow accused of trying to disrupt new route“
Posted 1 month ago # -
“
Doubts have been raised about John Swinney’s pledge to extend the £2 bus fare cap to the Glasgow area within 100 days of the SNP being re-elected after Transport Secretary Stephen Flynn failed to explicitly confirm the commitment
“
Posted 1 month ago # -
“
A mum from Poltonhall has described how getting around with children and seeing her relatives has become an “absolute nightmare” since a key bus route in Midlothian was scrapped earlier this year.
Allison Brunton, who had to leave her job as a carer two years ago to look after her son, said the decision to withdraw the 46 service - which ran from Rosewell to Musselburgh via the Royal Infirmary and Dalkeith - has uprooted her day-to-day life and routines.
“
Posted 1 month ago # -
Rosewell is fast becoming a PT outpost. The 46 was the only bus that actually entered the village; the 31 was the only one in and out of Edinburgh and it loops at a pretty uninviting roundabout, on the distributor road, a short way outside the village. But the kinds of houses Midlothian has built are all your prosperous two-car, converted-garage, sprawling McMansions, and the North Esk valley is just as arsey to get across as it ever was.
She had to take her three-year-old son to the hospital nearly ten times last year due to tonsillitis, and said she “couldn’t imagine” doing the journey now with children in tow, which would require taking two buses or having to walk the distance.
I know 'but family' and 'but weather' and stuff, but Rosewell residents literally have the old Peebles railway path that goes directly past the hospital, and it's only 2.5 miles. That's fifteen minutes' cycling, tops. If it were converted back into rail, probably light rail/tram-trains and could be plugged in Eskbank and perhaps even Penicuik, it might actually solve a ton of transport issues.
What Rosewell (and Auchendinny, and Roslin, and Penicuik) also doesn't have is even a single car club car. Loanhead now has one, but that's cold comfort if you live more than a mile or so away.
Posted 1 month ago # -
“
An alternative to the planned Scotland-wide £2 bus fare cap has been proposed by an operator which argued it would better protect rural and lesser-used services.
“
Posted 1 month ago # -
“
Children aged five to 11 receive a card with no picture, which only gives access to free travel, and can be used up until the day before their 12th birthday.
From then until the day before they turn 22, they can use the Young Scot NEC (National Entitlement Card) which is a valid form of photo ID as well as a bus pass and rewards card. However, this must be applied for in advance.
“
https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/midlothian-girl-walked-school-alone-34077919
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
Where to start?
East Lothian has engaged with HiyaCar to offer the council's pool car fleet to local residents as a pseudo car club that gets the fleet in use when it would otherwise be idle outside the Council's working times
I've been pressing some folk at Lothian Buses to include a car club membership deal which has sound data from the annual CoMoUKsurveys to show that car club members make 4-6 times more use of the bus or cycling for local trips
Ultimately I'm hoping that I can eventually get a large service provider to deliver a Total Mobility deal that I was working on in 1996 and have delivered my own personal hacks to achieve. I'd love to also look at a small Mobility Makeover feature or video showing what could be achieved using existing systems but bursting those silos
In 1996 the vision was to use a single portal (the ITSO bus pass) to hire bikes, hire cars & get almost any public transport 24 hr/day this 2008 video brings it to the next level of a phone app. I'm enjoying my own hack with its slight inconvenience of having to bridge across various providers but I am enjoying 24hr access to new electric cars with 3 all within a short walk of my front door which so far this year has cost me under £200 TOTAL
Here's the video ... from nearly 20 YEARS ago
https://www.flickr.com/photos/h52/48590678631/
The other detail for bus services that work for smaller settlements is the Medice cura te Ipsum we already have for Strathaven (who run their own express coach service hourly to Glasgow 6 days per week) or Glenfarg (who run a Section 22 permit community bus operation with 8 buses (large motor cars with 16 seats or fewer) that are driven by local people with regular Class B driving licences (& MIDAS certificates) who can be paid or volunteer with the local bus services tailored to local needs. They also run the local school bus contract which provides a revenue stream to support the operation, and an on demand late night bus that meets the Ember coach at the Kinross request stop at midnight to get people home after a night out in Edinburgh
Tons that can be done but I need to get this going with some key players
PM & I'll try to spot you when I'm next on CCE
PS per the £2 single fare bus cap... last I checked an annual Lothian Buses Ridacard cost barely £700/year that's £2 per DAY for unlimited bus trips
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
Re £2 bus fare cap - my partner and I were quite surprised to travel Inverness<->Scrabster with bikes for 8 quid return for the pair of us on a recent holiday (Ember).
I rather agree that middle-class types like us going on holiday should not be subsidised to such an extent, or if we are, we should be taxed more to compensate!
On the return journey quite a lot of passengers on that bus were schoolchildren who got on and off along the stretch around Invergordon as the service happened to pass through at a convenient time. Interesting dynamic for an express coach service
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
Ember's principals Pierce & Keith are a refreshing change from old school bus managers
They use many different applications for modern systems, with the most relevant being the request stop systems so that the coach driver gets a manifest displayed on the cab binnacle en route, and only stops when there are passengers getting on/off
I travelled from Glasgow to Kinross one Saturday, to have breakfast with a LeJog ride & ride to Perth with them
I was on 03.19 coach to Dundee & changed at St Madoes (05.00-05.30) the coach was well filled with U22 bus pass users (not driving home?) & one guy got off at Auchterader at 04.30 for a 1½ mile hike from the A9 coach stop
I'm pressing Ember to call at Gills Bay and JoG road end (by Youth Hostel) as they cannot get use of the Citylink coach stand on Scrabster Harbour, whilst there's no decent coach service to Gills Bay for the faster & shorter Pentland Ferries service (3 per day) to St Margarets Hope
Hoping that Ember services to Carlisle and Newcastle start soon?
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
“
The firms said if its £4.3 million bid had been successful, it would have purchased vehicles from ailing bus builder Alexander Dennis, in the hopes of securing Scottish jobs.The company has now taken the matter to the Competition Appeal Tribunal in a bid to overturn the decision and force the process to be reformed.
Sandy Easdale hit out at the process, saying: “The move would have boosted Scottish jobs and enabled it to remove more diesel vehicles from its fleet across Scotland.
“The largest share – £13 million – was awarded to coach firm Ember to buy 100 Chinese electric coaches to expand its existing network, which would not result in any diesel vehicles being replaced.“
https://www.thenational.scot/news/26272413.mcgills-take-legal-action-scottish-government/
As regular bus users we 'enjoy' the confusion of sometimes having four ways to get from A to B.
At Perth at 17.30 last Thursday we had a choice of the following routes to Edinburgh / Haymarket.
1. 17.36 ScotRail train, change at Stirling, wait and take train at 18.30 arriving 19.13 Haymarket
2. 17.45 Citylink M90 to Queensferry St (no show / no info at bus station or phone)
3. 17.50 Flix (McGills) via Broxden then direct to Ingliston Park and Ride and Edinburgh bus station - changed onto tram at P&R arriving 19.25 Haymarket (friendly driver and quiet bus)
4. 17.59 Ember e-bus with stops in Fife, arriving 19.09 Haymarket (Delayed over 30 mins due to road incident on A9) Bus leaves from stop between bus station and railway station (!)
We chose Flix as quite comfortable and on time (early!). Plus free with our passes. Next time we might take Ember as it overtakes Flix and the tram. Flix Wi-Fi wasn't working on our bus but otherwise good.
Posted 2 weeks ago # -
“
Breaking news: Princes Street closed 'into August'“
Posted 1 week ago #
Reply
You must log in to post.
posts
