Some more bus changes

A change or 2 for the new year:

http://www.midlothian.gov.uk/Article.aspx?TopicId=0&ArticleId=19119

I was pleasantly surprised to see no major changes to the 15, 37, 47 and X47 services as I had expected some cutbacks. They obviously make enough money running in the city to cover the cost of being quiet out here during the off-peak times.
No suprise though to see a very limited bus service for Midlothian over Christmas and New Year while the politicians keep telling us "use public transport!"

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/topstories/Passengers-face-hike-in-fares.4760784.jp

More bad news for bus users as it looks like single fares will rise to £1.30 with Daytickets climbing to £3. As the cost of fuel falls, Lothian Buses increase their fares so obviously all the shops like Aldi, Lidl, Debenhams, Tesco etc have got it wrong. They should be putting their prices UP to encourage more business:evil: instead of all these reductions and sales!

So the council spend god knows how much on Park and Rides all over the city, Dig up the roads and cause chaos by putting bus lanes everywere. Introduce trams no one wants and causeing even more chaos and upset. All to encourage us not to use our cars so much. Ok then why are not dropping the prices of the bus fares instead of increasing them. O yes its to pay for all these things. I dont care if they are still the cheapest bus fares in the country, That doesnt make me feel any better when i hand over my money every morning. Are they going to make sure the actuall bus turns up on time and doesnt use the excuse of the various road works or snow for being late. I dont actually need to get the bus in the morning I could walk and I think if the prices go up I will be. and Im sure there are a few more that will feel the same way.

Well, here's the confirmation about the fares rises.
http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/topstories/Bus-passengers-facing-second-ticket.4788046.jp
It will be £1.20 for a single and £3 for a day ticket. Also an annual ticket is to rise by £100 Luckily for me I've just renewed mine but I'll have to face it eventually. If the reason for the rise is due to the fall in revenue, I'm not sure whether this rise will help to encourage more people to use public transport especially in these difficult times.

I don't see there being much of a change to folk using the buses for travelling into Edinburgh, but I think that the number of people using the buses to travel within the likes of Dalkeith or Penicuik will drop as £1.20 to go 1 or 2 stops is simply daylight robbery. As a monthly pass holder though I've not seen anything to suggest that it is going up in price, be suprised if it doesn't though. Suspect that First will be quick to up their fares to match Lothian as well.

The cost of the 4 Week Ridacards must be going up to £41+ otherwise it works out much cheaper then a yearly one (£540 divided by 13 = £41.53). Many buses coming from and going to Penicuik seem fairly empty nowadays, especially when you get two or three following each other so something is going to happen.
This increasing fares while cutting services all seems a bit familiar - maybe the new boss of Lothian Buses will be called Beeching!

Standing at Cameron toll the other day waiting to come home and a 47, 47x and a 37 all arrived at the same time. Do we need 3 buses to Penicuik all together, Spread them out and they might be used more.

Going by the timetable the buses should be spread out, the bit that gets me is that during the morning peak there are buses starting from Straiton Park & Ride that are due to set off 5 minutes after / before the X47 passes through from Penicuik (every 10 mins) thus a 5 min frequency - however as users of the X47 know it is regularly later out of Penicuik, generally due to time taken to load passengers so it reaches Straiton and loads up then within 2-3 mins the bus starting at Straiton leaves and runs virtually empty the whole way into Edinburgh, almost pointless having the buses that start from Straiton. I also see that the X48 to Sherrifhall P & R is to change so that is no longer runs limited stop during the day.

Here's the new bus fare info here, not amused at the 4 month ridacard going up to £45 (from £37) but I guess it still works out better than paying singles..

http://www.lothianbuses.com/news/?revised-fares-from-sunday-18-january-2009-47.html

While at Straiton today I noticed that the display for the Park and Ride said there were 541 spaces left. Since it has a capacity of 600 vehicles this does not seem to be a great success, especially with the £12 million cost. I imagine not many people would want to be standing in the open there waiting for a bus at with the current weather conditions!!!

SamTyler wrote:

While at Straiton today I noticed that the display for the Park and Ride said there were 541 spaces left. Since it has a capacity of 600 vehicles this does not seem to be a great success, especially with the £12 million cost. I imagine not many people would want to be standing in the open there waiting for a bus at with the current weather conditions!!!

someone was telling me this morning how they park in the new park and ride at straiton when they go to Argos and the Next sale ect as there is never any spaces in the bottom wee carpark.

That makes it a very expensive carpark exstention.

bumble wrote:

someone was telling me this morning how they park in the new park and ride at straiton when they go to Argos and the Next sale ect as there is never any spaces in the bottom wee carpark.

That makes it a very expensive carpark exstention.

I wondered if that would happen as that car park always seems to be busy. How many people park there and actually shop there though?

Seems like Lothian Buses are making extra cash already from the increase in fares which comes in on Sunday 18th January. I have heard quite few people on buses this week putting in £1.20 instead of the £1.10 fare since all the signs at stops were updated with the new prices in plenty of time. I leave it to you to decide if this was LB being efficient or hoping to catch people out

I noticed the revised fares at the bus-stops earlier this week. However, it does clearly say it's from 18 January 2009!

First now appear to be feeling the pressure in Midlothian & East Lothian, in particular it looks like Rosewell is a repeat of Penicuik a few years back in that they are pulling out – how long before the only First bus services in Midlothian are the ones passing through to the Borders?

Service 6/X6/X8 - Certain journeys on both services will be withdrawn on the Monday to Friday timetable.
Service X13 - Two journeys will be withdrawn. These journeys are the 0744 Pencaitland - Edinburgh and the 1740 Edinburgh - Pencaitland
Service X29 - This service will be withdrawn. However service 129 still covers some of the route.
Service 78/X78 - These services will be withdrawn
Service X81 - This service will be withdrawn.
Services 86/86A/X86 - There will be timetable and route alterations to these services. Between Mayfield and Birkenside this service will increase to a 20 minute frequency. In Edinburgh City Centre all services will terminate at Charlotte Square.
Service 129 - This service will be reduced to a 20 minute frequency during the day Monday to Saturday. On the Saturday timetable there will be a change to the route and all services on a Saturday will terminate at Charlotte Square.
Service 140 - There will be timetable and route alterations to this service. This service will be revised to only operate between Polton Cameron Crescent and Queen Margaret College.

Just as long as they don't touch the 141 as my kids have to use that sometimes.

On a different note, on Friday I got a 15 from George Street out to Penicuik - thought just for a change, anyway in terms of journey time it didn't take that much longer than a 47 can take however in terms of comfort the difference is clear. I know they use probably about the oldest buses in the fleet on the 15 but jings, it was very uncomfortable and when it came to heading up Grahams Road I actually moved seats to try and minimize the impact when hitting the speed bumps. Compared with the 141 drivers the journey up Grahams Road was smooth but even at that the empty seat in front of me was visibly vibrating. Think I might have become a 'bus snob' in prefering the comfort of the modern buses, which thankfully Lothian have plenty of...

It is funny how quickly buses which were the latest thing become outdated. Certainly it seems very odd getting on to the old style 15 buses with their narrow doorway but even the more modern 51 registration vehicles which used to be used on the Penicuik routes seem very old fashioned now, especially if you get one of them with the strange twin doors.

I certainly would not fancy going on any of the old First buses, some of which are 20 years plus old.

As from 20th April First service 62 is being altered, the 62A via Roslin (daytime) will be revised so that it serves Roslin in the evenings instead of during the day. As previously made known through the local papers the 78 / X78 / X81 are being completely withdrawn & the 140 is being revised. Interestingly the 62 & X95 are also to be rerouted in Edinburgh so they terminate at Waterloo Place instead of the bus station. No change to the 139 (school service) and the 141. I have also heard that Lothian are about to announce changes to the 3, 29 & 31 to compensate for the withdrawal of First services including a new peaktime X29, not seen any official confirmation of this as yet though...

I was really annoyed with Lothian buses this evening. When I reached George street and walked down to where the 37/47 bus stop was, opposite the Scott monument I found that it was all taped up as they were digging up the road There were no warnings that it was going to happen and no signs telling you where the next stop was. As it turned out, I had to walk up to the Scotsman building and was not happy as I have problems with walking at the moment.

Anyway I arrived to find that an X47 was due. However, a few minutes later the bus tracker changed it to 23 minutes In the end it turned up with 17 minutes still to go

Quite agree with you - they love to move stops about with no warning. George Street is a pain with stops for different routes being blocks apart so you have to walk halfway along the street to get another bus.
The bustrackers are definitely not the most reliable things as they often show "5 minutes" just as the bus appears or "DUE" when it does not arrive for ages. Hopefully they can perfect the technology.

Noticed tonight the bus stop from Princes Street is now round in South St Davids Street opposite Jenners but right at the traffic lights which mean't no queing buses trying to get round the corner delayed by buses at the stop - of course this could all change again without notice. I think George St is a muddle, but the buses seem to flow so much better than they did on Princes Street.

Just in case you can't keep track of where bus stops are in Edinburgh, as from tomorrow (6th June) buses from Midlothian will not be stopping on Princes Street (anywhere) and will instead be using a new bus stop in St Andrews Sq (southside).

+ According to my sources there might be a few changes to Lothian Buses in towards the end of July, with very few of its services escaping some change...

musicman wrote:

+ According to my sources there might be a few changes to Lothian Buses in towards the end of July, with very few of its services escaping some change...

Judging by how much quieter many of the buses are now that is not a surprise. I would hope that some of the services in the city where 2 or 3 buses follow each other along (eg. 22, 26) will be reduced (oops I mean revised) but there might be cutbacks to our 37 and 47 services too. I guess we shall just have to wait and see when Lothian Buses announce them since the council no longer have the Bus Updates section on their website.