Bus News

After the "service improvements" come the "fare changes" - great news for all Lothian Buses commuters!!!

http://lothianbuses.com/news/article/fare-changes-from-19-april

http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/transport/lothian-buses-raise-day-ticket-prices-1-3729367

I see that it will cost me and extra £57 per year Still, my current ridacard pass does not expire until December.

Back to the resurfacing work again on Rullion Road

http://www.penicuikcuckoo.co.uk/2015/07/resurfacing-works-to-get-underway/

It is getting to be like the Forth Bridge painting used to be - a never ending job!

Is everyone else finding that the buses are getting more and more behind during the day. Most times I go for a bus heading in to Penicuik, it seems to be 10 to 15 minutes behind the time is supposed to arrive on the timetable. Who knows what they will be once the Fringe and Festival kicks in at the end of the week! Very silly how most of Penicuik (except Ladywood) has a better service on Saturday than during the week!

I'm on holiday at the moment so I haven't been using the buses. However, I can't wait to go back to work next week with all these lovely tourists holding up the buses while they ask the driver for directions to where they want to go

Another diversion for the 37 as it goes on a tour of half the county

http://lothianbuses.com/service-updates/details/hawthorn-gardens-loanhead-from-friday-14-august

The X62 sees timetable and route changes as of 7th September, reverting back to a 30 min frequency Monday to Saturday and 60 minute on a Sunday and is extended once again to Melrose via the new Tweedbank railway station

http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/scotland_east/travel_news/service_updates/?item=15581&conf=0

musicman wrote:

The X62 sees timetable and route changes as of 7th September, reverting back to a 30 min frequency Monday to Saturday and 60 minute on a Sunday and is extended once again to Melrose via the new Tweedbank railway station

http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/scotland_east/travel_news/service_updates/?item=15581&conf=0

Obviously not making enough money and with competition from the railway coming in they have decided to cut back. I see we are due more changes from Lothian Buses in October with some people suggesting the possibility of an X15 service from Penicuik. Hopefully any changes to the other routes will not just be padding out the timetables to allow the to keep to time instead of running 10 - 15 minutes late as seems pretty common nowadays.

Seems like Lothian Buses are finally listening with (hopefully) improvements to the X37 and an X15 too though they seem to be cutting back services as well. Of course, the reason behind the cutbacks is poor passenger levels which is due to the poor service!
Changes due in October:

http://www.busandcoachforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=11222&sid=877ce26a17d7cb8bb5c32a562dab1177&start=1780

Interesting reading, unfortunately it looks like I'm in the minority in being a X37 passenger getting off at Cameron Toll. The 40 change also seems a bit odd, ah well.....

Full details and new timetables are now available to download from the Lothian Buses site:

http://lothianbuses.com/news/article/Service-Changes-4-October-2015

Going to be some unhappy passengers and some happy ones in October - what will ou do with all the time saved on the X15 and X37 services???

More info on the X15 service posted on the Lothian Buses site - hope they have fitted seatbelts as these buses are going to be going so fast!

http://lothianbuses.com/news/article/service-x15-from-5-october

Buses back running on Rullion Road again tonight (even though the road has not yet been finished - I guess they will be busy Saturday and Sunday on double time)

Rullion Road shut again so bus diversion is back! Anybody know if it is true that they are going to put up new signs at the county borders saying "Midlothian - the byeword for incompetence"

Well, the bus driver did come and warn everyone that the X37 would not be stopping
between Newington and Kaimes crossroads, but that did not stop people pressing the bell
half way up Liberton Brae I didn't realise that it would not be stopping at Straiton
either and that you had to wait until it was in the Park and Ride before you could get off.

How are people coping with the speed of the new X37 - must be hard to cope with the G-force as it whizzes along the route? People trying to get off between stops sounds like the old days of the X71 / X77 / X78 which did not stop until Bislton or even Glencorse giving some numpties a nice long journey back to south Edinburgh.

More changes to the Lothian Buses services from April with X15, 37, X37, 40, 47 and X47 all affected - see more on the Bus Forum here:

http://www.busandcoachforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=219304&sid=77ce57b8707ed346e2b95642981538de

More details will no doubt come out nearer the time and once it happens we can see if it makes any real difference (ie: will buses arrive on time and not take so long)

I hope they are not going to restore the Newington and Cameron toll stops for the X37.

As someone who uses the bus stops at Cameron Toll I'd say they should be reintroduced instead of having to sit on a rush hour 37 that spends more time stopped than moving or a 47 that is generally always packed by the time it gets to Cameron Toll... If anything I'd say missing out the stop at kaimes would be more apt...

More details on the changes coming on 10th April:

http://lothianbuses.com/news/article/changes-to-services-from-sunday-10-april

And they have also decided to tell us about the service levels for the Easter Holidays too:

http://lothianbuses.com/news/article/Good-Friday-Easter-Monday

An interesting new service X47. I wonder how much time will be added going through Easter Bush and what the times will be?

Sneaky! Lothian Buses kept quiet about an increase in the single fare from £1.50 to £1.60 coming in with the changes on 10th April - just saw it in leaflets on buses today.

http://lothianbuses.com/news/article/changes-to-fares

and tram prices going up too!
http://edinburghtrams.com/news/Edinburgh-Trams-to-introduce-a-new-return-ticket

Is this a new service operating in to Boyd-orr Drive in Pencuik...or just a lost driver??? Good job he did not keep going up Mauricewood Road!

Maybe it's a new service taking the kids to and from school

From 13th November the 40 will no longer serve Auchendinny;

Entry from the 'Midlothian Travel Team Newsletter 96'

Service 40
This will continue to run every half-hour during the daytime Mon-Sat and hourly in the evenings and on Sundays. The Sunday service will continue to run from Musselburgh to Roslin [change at Bilston or Roslin for Penicuik].
On service 40, improved reliability is being found by changing the route to allow adjustments to the running time and slightly longer layover times at Penicuik as effective recovery time.

40 will run direct between Gowkley Moss and Glencorse via Milton Bridge instead of via Auchendinny
40s heading towards Musselburgh will run direct from the Morrisons bus stop in Eskbank Road to the bus stop opposite the County Hotel on the High Street in Dalkeith [instead of taking the loop via Buccleuch St, Newmills Road and South Street]. The 40 to Musselburgh will no longer call at the Buccleuch Street or South Street bus stops in Dalkeith. There is no change to the 40 route via Dalkeith heading to Penicuik which will continue to call at the Jarnac Court bus stop. Usage of the 40 bus in Auchendinny has been analyzed.

Despite the new housing recently occupied in the village, on average no more than 15 people a day board the 26 buses on route 40 towards Penicuik. In the opposite direction towards Dalkeith, the average daily boarding total is no higher than 6 people a day on 26 buses.

Auchendinny is not served by buses on a Sunday at the moment, and the Council introduced a Ring & Go demand responsive taxi service so that
villagers could call upon a service to reach Gowkley Moss or Milton Bridge where they can catch main road buses, or travel right into Penicuik. The Council is now arranging an extension of the current Sunday Ring & Go service to cover Mondays to Saturdays too, to commence from the date of the Lothian Buses changes scheduled to commence on Sunday 13 November 2016.

A nice wee detour for 37, X37, 47 and 67 users next week:

https://lothianbuses.co.uk/service-updates/details/liberton-gardens-from-monday-17-october

I assume this is due to the water mains problems seen recently in the Liberton area?