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Lothian Buses is a major bus operator based in
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
,
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
. It is the largest
municipal bus company A municipal bus company is an operator of bus services owned by the local government authority. This article lists all current municipal bus companies in the United Kingdom. Most municipal bus companies disappeared between 1968 and 1974 before (o ...
in the United Kingdom: the
City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council is the local government authority for the city of Edinburgh, capital of Scotland. With a population of in mid-2019, it is the second most populous local authority area in Scotland. In its current form, the counci ...
(through Transport for Edinburgh) owns 91%,
Midlothian Council Midlothian Council is the local authority for Midlothian, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, covering an area immediately south of the city of Edinburgh. The council is based in Dalkeith. Since the last boundary changes in 2017, eighteen c ...
5%,
East Lothian Council East Lothian Council is one of the 32 local government councils in Scotland covering the East Lothian area. Since the last boundary changes in 2017, 22 councillors have been elected from 6 wards. History East Lothian District Council had been ...
3% and
West Lothian Council West Lothian Council is the local authority for the council area of West Lothian in Scotland. History West Lothian District Council was created in 1975 as one of four districts within the Lothian region. The West Lothian district took its name ...
1%. Lothian operates the majority of bus services in Edinburgh, and is a significant operator in
East Lothian East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the histo ...
,
Midlothian Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh, ...
and most recently
West Lothian West Lothian ( sco, Wast Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Iar) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and was one of its shires of Scotland, historic counties. The county was called Linlithgowshire until 1925. The historic county was bounded geogra ...
. It operates a comprehensive night bus network, three routes to
Edinburgh Airport Edinburgh Airport is an airport located in the Ingliston area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the busiest airport in Scotland in 2019, handling over 14.7 million passengers. It was also the sixth-busiest airport in the United Kingdom by t ...
, and owns the subsidiary companies Lothian Country, East Coast Buses, Edinburgh Bus Tours and Lothian Motorcoaches.


History

The company can trace its history back to the ''Edinburgh Street Tramways Company'' of 1871, also involving at various times the tramway companies of ''Leith'', ''Musselburgh'' and ''Edinburgh North''. The City Council ('' Edinburgh Corporation Tramways'' Department) took over operation of the tramways in 1919, at which time most of the system was cable operated. Electrification of the tram network was completed in 1923, but the first motor buses had arrived in 1919. The city's trams ceased operation between 1950 and 1956, after which the operation became the ''Edinburgh Corporation Transport'' Department. In 1965, it purchased its first rear-engined double-decker bus, a Leyland Atlantean PDR1/1 (registration ESF 801C). This bus is currently preserved at the
Scottish Vintage Bus Museum The Scottish Vintage Bus Museum is a transport museum in Lathalmond, 2.5 miles north of Dunfermline, Fife. The museum is open every Sunday between Easter and the start of October. History The museum was established in 1986 in Whitburn, West Lot ...
. Almost 600 buses were added to the fleet over the next 17 years. Following local government reorganisation, ''Edinburgh Corporation Transport'' was renamed ''Lothian Region Transport'' on 16 May 1975. In January 2000, it was again renamed as ''Lothian Buses''.


Awards

Lothian Buses have won several awards for their services to the Lothian region including ''Bus Operator of the Year'' in the 2007 UK Bus Awards, and has subsequently been voted ''Public Transport Operator of the Year (Bus)'' at the 2008 National Transport Awards. When the company was cited for its substantial route development, 32% growth in passenger numbers since 1998 and £100 million investment in low-floor buses since 2000. Lothian Buses was voted ''Best UK Bus Company'' in 2002 and 2003, and vehicles previously carried the wording ''Voted Scotland's Best Bus Company 2006'' in a laurel wreath type logo near the fleetname. In November 2011, the company won the ''Top City Operator of the Year'' award at the UK Bus Awards.


Fares

Lothian Buses have operated a flat-fare system since March 2006. Adult and child singles and day tickets, pre-paid multiple singles and 'Ridacards' are also available, with senior citizens travelling on
free travel pass A free travel pass is the privilege of a certain class of passengers to use a public transport service without paying a fare or presenting a ticket. They may need to present an identification card produced by their employer or other sponsoring org ...
es in line with the rest of Scotland. , an adult single fare is £1.80 and a child fare costs 90p. An adult day ticket costs £4.50 and a child day ticket £2.50. Fares are paid into a hopper, which automatically dumps the money into a vault to which the driver has no access; change is not given. The Lothian 'Ridacard'
bus pass A transit pass (North American English) or travel card (British English), often referred to as a bus pass or train pass etc. (in all English dialects), is a ticket that allows a passenger of the service to take either a certain number of pre-purc ...
is a pre-paid plastic
smartcard A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card (ICC or IC card) is a physical electronic authentication device, used to control access to a resource. It is typically a plastic credit card-sized card with an embedded integrated circuit (IC) c ...
giving unlimited travel on regular daytime and night bus services, as well as Edinburgh Trams services. It is purchased initially from a Transport for Edinburgh Travelshop, where the owner's picture is incorporated on the card to prevent misuse. Once purchased, the card can be placed onto an on-board reader, which reads the contactless chip in the smartcard. Cards can be credited for a weekly, 4 weekly or annual period. A warning is displayed on the last five days of validity. The card can then be topped up at Transport for Edinburgh Travelshops or
PayPoint PayPoint plc is a British business offering a system for paying Invoice, bills in United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Ireland and Romania. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange. History The PayPoint network was set up in 1996 with the aim of ...
equipped retailers. Lothian Buses launched contactless payment on their normal day network in 2019. Passengers can tap their contactless card to be able to travel when they board the bus. Daily capping is provided so that the passenger is only charged the maximum value of a day ticket if they make three or more journeys in one day. Otherwise they will be charged an adult single. Passengers can view their journey history by going to Lothian's website. Regular Lothian Bus services running within Edinburgh and the west of
East Lothian East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the histo ...
operate a flat fare, but from
Longniddry Longniddry ( sco, Langniddry, gd, Nuadh-Treabh Fada)
...
,
Macmerry Macmerry is a village located on the old A1 (now renumbered the A199) just east of Tranent. The village has a primary school with a roll of around 100. There is an industrial estate to the east of the town. Originally this area was part of t ...
and
Ormiston Ormiston is a village in East Lothian, Scotland, near Tranent, Humbie, Pencaitland and Cranston, located on the north bank of the River Tyne at an elevation of about . The village was the first planned village in Scotland, founded in 1735 ...
there is a zonal system with East Coast Buses having six zones.


Network, brands and subsidiaries


Lothian-branded network

Lothian-branded services are the core of the Lothian Buses group. There are some core services in the Lothian network that have followed more or less the same route since they were operated by trams in the 1950s, like services 3, 4, 5, 10, 11 and 16. However, the routes and timetables of most services are frequently modified in minor ways. For example, in recent years several confusing details such as letter suffixed routes and clockwise/anticlockwise circular services have been removed from the map. In the last ten years, there have been many temporary and permanent diversions in the New Town, including the closure at various times of Princes Street for tram works, George Street for pedestrianisation and Leith Street for the reconstruction of the St James Centre. The majority of current routes pass through the city centre from opposing termini, either crossing or following Princes Street in full or in part. This means that there are some arteries in and out of the New Town that are served by as many as a dozen different routes, such as Nicolson Street and
Leith Walk Leith Walk is one of the longest streets in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is the main road connecting the centre of the city to Leith. Forming most of the A900 road, it slopes downwards from Picardy Place at the south-western end of the street to the ...
. Some of these services, like services 3, 26 and 37, extend into outlying towns in East and Midlothian. There are also some more orbital routes, such as service 38. List of Services as of 11th September 2022 is below: * 1 - Clermiston - Balgreen - Gorgie - City Centre - Leith - Seafield * 2 - Gyle Centre - Broomhouse - Gorgie - Old Town - Niddrie - The Jewel * 3 - Clovenstone - Sighthill - Gorgie - City Centre - Gilmerton - Dalkeith - Mayfield * 4 - Hillend - Oxgangs - Slateford - City Centre - Northfield - The Jewel * 5 - Hunter's Tryst - Oxgangs - Morningside - Bridges - Northfield - The Jewel * 7 - Newhaven - Leith - Bridges - Liberton - Gracemount - Royal Infirmary * 8 - Muirhouse - Granton - Canonmills - Bridges - Moredunvale - Royal Infirmary * 10 - Western Harbour - Bonnington - City Centre - Polwarth - Craiglockhart - Bonaly * 11 - Ocean Terminal - Pilrig - City Centre - Morningside - Kaimes - Hyvots Bank * 12 - Gyle Centre - Broomhouse - Cortorphine - Old Town - King's Buildings - Portobello * 14 - Muirhouse - Granton - Goldenacre - Leith - Bridges - Niddrie - Greendykes * 15 - City Centre - Brunstsfield - Morningside - Kaimes - Easter Bus Campus * 16 - Silverknowes - Granton - Leith - City Centre - Morningside - Oxgangs - Torphin * 19 - Granton - Western General - City Centre - Lochend - King's Road * 21 - Clovenstone or Gyle Centre - Clermiston - Leith - Portobello - Royal Infirmary * 22 - Gyle Centre - Broomhouse - Stenhouse - Balgreen - City Centre * 23 - Trinity - Canonmills - City Centre - Morningside - Greenbank * 24 - West Granton - Drylaw - Stockbridge - City Centre - Marchont - Royal Infirmary * 25 - Heriot Watt Uni - Sighthill - Gorgie - City Centre - Leith - Restalrig * 26 - Clerwood - City Centre - Portobello - Musselburgh - Seton Sands or Tranent * 27 - Silverknowes - Canonmills - City Centre - Polwarth - Craiglockhart - Hunter's Tryst * 29 - Silverknowes - Stockbridge- City Centre - Gilmerton - Newtongrange - Gorebridge * 30 - Clovenstone - Balgreen - City Centre - Niddrie - Fort Kinnaird - Musselburgh * 31 - East Craigs - Corstorphine - City Centre - Lasswade - Bonnyrigg or Polton Mill * 33 - Wester Hailes - Gorgie - City Centre - Royal Infirmary - Sheriffhall P&R - Millerhill * 34 - Heriot Watt Uni - Slateford - City Centre - Lochend - Leith - Ocean Terminal * 35 - Heriot Watt Uni - Chesser - Slateford - Old Town - Leith - Ocean Terminal * 36 - Gyle Centre - Craiglockhart - Morningside - Stockbridge - Leith - Ocean Terminal * 37 - Silverknowes - City Centre - Liberton - Loanhead - Easter Bush or Penicuik Deanburn * 38 - West Granton - Craigleith - Balgreen - Morningside - Blackford - Royal Infirmary * 41 - Cammo - Cramond - Davidson's Mains - City Centre - Marchmont - King's Buildings * 44 - Balerno - Currie - Slateford - City Centre - Duddingston - Musselburgh - Wallyford * 45 - Heriot Watt Uni - Currie - Colinton - Bridges - Portobello - Queen Margaret Uni * 47 - Granton - Western General - Old Town - Liberton - Straiton - Penicuik Ladywood * 48 - Fort Kinnaird - Royal Infiramry - Dalkeith - Mayfield - Newtongrange- Gorebridge * 49 - Fort Kinnaird - Portobello - Leith - Bridges - Royal Infirmary - Dalkeith - Rosewell


Liveries

Traditionally, Edinburgh Corporation, LRT and Lothian Buses had been generally painted in a madder (a dark red) and cream (or white) livery. When low floor disabled access vehicles were introduced in the late 1990s, they were given their own distinguishing "harlequin" livery, moquette covered seating and brightly coloured floors and walls. The last high step bus was removed from service by Lothian in the late 2000s, making the distinction irrelevant. Lothian began to phase out the harlequin livery in May 2010, replacing it with a version of the traditional madder and white colour scheme. This had sweeping curved lines, having been updated to suit the body shapes of more modern buses. The last harlequin bus was repainted in 2016. In late 2016 a new livery, known as the fleet of the future livery, was unveiled on a batch of new Wright Gemini 3 Streetdeck style buses, for route 22. The angular shape and style of this livery was a complete departure from anything Lothian had designed before, and as of 2021 is the standard livery for all new vehicles. The livery underwent a minor adjustment when a fleet of new
Alexander Dennis Enviro400 XLB The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC (sold as the Alexander Dennis Enviro400) is a low-floor double-decker bus produced by the British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis since 2014, replacing the Alexander Dennis Enviro400. The Enviro400 MMC is ...
s were put into service in 2019, with smoother curves and a lack of a smaller 'cheatline' on the bus's lower sides. While the Enviro400 XLBs carried the coat of arms of the city of Edinburgh on each side, every batch of vehicles bought thereafter have not had the same coat of arms added.


Airlink and Skylink

Lothian directly operates three services to
Edinburgh Airport Edinburgh Airport is an airport located in the Ingliston area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the busiest airport in Scotland in 2019, handling over 14.7 million passengers. It was also the sixth-busiest airport in the United Kingdom by t ...
; Airlink 100, Skylink 200 and Skylink 400. This is in addition to the service provided by Edinburgh Trams, which has one of its termini at the airport. All Lothian airport services use special airport fare zones, meaning a single ticket to the airport costs significantly more than the standard single ticket. However, a journey that does not include the airport zone is charged at the standard fare.


Current airport routes

Airlink 100 runs to
Waverley Bridge Waverley Bridge is a road bridge in Edinburgh linking Market Street in the Old Town, Edinburgh, Old Town with Princes Street in the New Town, Edinburgh, New Town. The bridge forms part of the roof of Edinburgh Waverley railway station, Edinburgh ...
along Corstorphine Road. Since 30 July 2017, Airlink has accepted contactless card payments as well as cash and ridacard fares. Skylink Services also accept Contactless, beginning with purchase of normal tickets but now works with the "Tap Tap Cap..." scheme. Skylink 200 commenced on 23 April 2017, running from the airport to the north of Edinburgh, terminating at Ocean Terminal. It was initially operated by single decker buses, but double deckers have been used since 1 October 2017. Skylink 400 commenced on 29 July 2018 operating to
Fort Kinnaird Fort Kinnaird is a large outdoor retail park located off the A1 in the south-east of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is currently the second largest retail park in the UK with 75 units occupied. History Built on the site of the former Newcraighall C ...
via Gracemount,
Fairmilehead Fairmilehead is a district of southern Edinburgh, Scotland. It lies approximately due south of the city centre and borders Midlothian. The area comprises the neighbourhoods of Buckstone, Caiyside, Caiystane, Swanston, Frogston and Winton. T ...
,
Oxgangs Oxgangs is a suburb in the south-west of Edinburgh, Scotland. Surrounding districts include Caiystane, Dreghorn, Redford, Fairmilehead, Colinton and Swanston and Colinton Mains. The post code area for Oxgangs is EH13. Etymology The name d ...
and
Colinton Colinton ( gd, Baile Cholgain) is a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland situated south-west of the city centre. Up until the late 18th century it appears on maps as Collington. It is bordered by Dreghorn to the south and Craiglockhart to the north ...
. It replaced and upgraded the old service 18.


Former airport routes

Skylink 300 commenced on 1 October 2017, as an upgrade and renumbering of the old service 35, which ran from the airport to the Ocean Terminal via
Slateford Slateford ( gd, Àth na Sglèata) is an area of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It is east of the Water of Leith. The former village of Slateford lies on the Lanark Road where it crosses the Water of Leith, south west of Slateford Stati ...
,
Longstone Longstone or Long Stone may refer to Places *Longstone, Edinburgh, a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland * Longstone, County Armagh, a townland in County Armagh, Northern Ireland *Longstone, Cornwall, a hamlet in Cornwall, England *Longstone, Isles of Sc ...
and
South Gyle South Gyle (pronounced ) is an area of Edinburgh, Scotland, lying on the western edge of the city and to the south and west of an area of former marshland once known as the Gogarloch, on the edge of Corstorphine. Most of the buildings in th ...
. The 35 had been a way of getting to the airport while only paying the standard Lothian fare, and usually used repainted ex-Airlink vehicles with extra luggage racks. The route was amended on 29 July 2018, shortening the route considerably and introducing a new terminal at Cameron Toll. At the same time, a modified 35 was reintroduced, but this service terminated at Heriot-Watt University rather than the airport. Skylink 300 was withdrawn from the timetable change on the 11th September 2022 due to low passenger demand.


COVID vaccine centre

Between June 2021 and March 2022, Skylink services 200, 300, and 400 were adjusted to call at the
Royal Highland Centre The Royal Highland Centre, originally the Royal Highland Showground, is an exhibition centre and showground located at Ingliston in the western outskirts of Edinburgh, Scotland, adjacent to Edinburgh Airport and the A8. History The Royal Highla ...
, which was in use as a vaccination centre during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. These services were reverted to their original routings when the centre closed in March 2022.


Liveries and vehicles

Airlink 100 was originally branded as "Airline", and has used many different liveries and logos, though all have been primarily blue. Airlink buses are always new when they start on the service, and are cascaded to other services after a few years. Over the years, the service has used the
Leyland Olympian The Leyland Olympian was a 2-axle and 3-axle double-decker bus chassis manufactured by Leyland between 1980 and 1993. It was the last Leyland bus model in production. Construction The Olympian had the same chassis and running gear as t ...
,
Scania Omnicity The Scania OmniCity is an integrally constructed transverse-engined low floor city bus that was available from Scania on the European market between 1997 and 2012. The OmniCity was introduced in September 1996 as the first product based on t ...
,
Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 The Wright Eclipse Gemini is a Low-floor bus, low-floor double-decker bus body that was built by Wrightbus since 2001, based on the single-deck Wright Eclipse design. The second-generation Eclipse Gemini 2 was launched in 2009, followed by the ...
and the
Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 The Wright Eclipse Gemini is a low-floor double-decker bus body that was built by Wrightbus since 2001, based on the single-deck Wright Eclipse design. The second-generation Eclipse Gemini 2 was launched in 2009, followed by the third-generatio ...
. Between June 2017 and August 2019 the Airlink service used a light blue and grey version of the standard angular livery. These vehicles have since moved onto Skylink, still with the light blue livery. other Skylink services use a medium blue and white version of the angular livery. From August 2019, Enviro400 XLBs have been introduced on the Airlink Service, with a dark blue plain livery with a large gold Airlink logo on both sides.


East Coast Buses

In summer 2012,
First Scotland East First South East & Central Scotland, formerly known as First Scotland East, was an operator of both local and regional bus services in Clackmannanshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Lothian, Falkirk, Fife, Midlothian, North Lanarkshire, Scottish B ...
withdrew route 44B from Edinburgh to Pencaitland. This prompted Lothian Buses to expand into East Lothian much further than they had for years; far past the Tranent terminus of the service 26. Operations were initially branded as ''East Lothian Buses,'' and service 113 launched on 12 June 2012. A second service was added in September 2014 (the 104 to Haddington). The brand name was changed to ''Lothian Country Buses.'' One reason for launching as a separate brand was to make it easier to introduce a zonal fare system, rather than the flat fare of Lothian Buses. First Scotland East announced in June 2016 that they would be withdrawing entirely from East Lothian by 14 August, believing the county to be unprofitable. Lothian later announced the creation of a wholly owned subsidiary company, ''East Coast Buses,'' to again fill the gap left by First. The new company also took over the former First depots at North Berwick and Musselburgh, and took on many former First staff. From 23 April 2017, the two Lothian Country Buses routes were integrated into East Coast Buses. The services operated as of 11th September 2022 are: * X6 - Edinburgh - The Jewel - A1 - Wallyford - Tranent - Macmerry - Gladsmuir - Haddington * X7 - Edinburgh - The Jewel - A1 - Haddington - East Linton - West Barns - Dunbar * 106 - Fort Kinnaird - Mussselburgh - Tranent - Macmerry - Haddington - East Linton - Dunbar * 113 - Western General Hospital - City Centre - Musselburgh - Tranent - Ormiston - Pencaitland * 124 - Edinburgh - Brunstane - Musselburgh - Longniddry - Aberlady - Gullane - North Berwick * X5 - Edinburgh - The Jewel - A1 - Longniddry - Aberlady - Gullane - North Berwick * 139 - Midlothian Community Hospital - Eskbank - Dalkeith - Dalkeith Campus * 140 - Penicuik - Roslin - Bonnyrigg - Eskbank - Dalkeith - Whitecraig - Musselburgh * 141 - Penicuik - Easter Bush - Bonnyrigg - Eskbank - Dalkeith - Whitecraig - Musselburgh * N106 - Edinburgh - Fort Kinnaird - Musselburgh - Tranent - Macmerry - Haddington - Dunbar * N113 - Edinburgh - Brunstane - Musselburgh - Wallyford - Tranent - Ormiston * N124 - Edinburgh - Brunstane - Musselburgh - Longniddry - Aberlady - North Berwick


Liveries and vehicles

East Lothian Buses services were initially operated by existing Lothian vehicles. The service was later operated by five
Wright Eclipse The Wright Eclipse is a low-floor single-deck bus body that was built by Wrightbus between 1999 and 2019. The second-generation Eclipse 2 was launched in 2008, followed by the third-generation Eclipse 3 in 2015. The Eclipse, and its sister desi ...
bodied
Volvo B7RLE The Volvo B7RLE is a low-entry single-deck bus chassis manufactured by Volvo. It was superseded by the Volvo B8RLE in 2013. Specifications The Volvo B7RLE is similar to its predecessor, the B10BLE. In essence the B7RLE is the front section of t ...
s and two
Plaxton President The Plaxton President was a low floor double-decker bus body built at Northern Counties plant in Wigan, England and branded as a Plaxton product for its main production run. It was first unveiled in 1997 on the longitudinal Volvo B7L chassi ...
bodied
Dennis Trident 2 The Dennis Trident 2 is a 2-axle low-floor double-decker bus chassis originally manufactured by Dennis, which was unveiled in 1997 and replaced the Dennis Arrow. It was built by TransBus after Dennis was incorporated into the group in 2001, th ...
s. The East Lothian Buses/Lothian Country Buses livery was a version of the standard Lothian design featuring sweeping curved lines in bright green and cream, similar to the livery of the former
Scottish Motor Traction Scottish Motor Traction (SMT) was founded in Edinburgh in 1905 by William Johnston Thomson. It operated buses in much of central Scotland. Aside from its traditional bus operations, it operated an air taxi service with a De Havilland Fox Moth b ...
/
Eastern Scottish Eastern Scottish Omnibuses Ltd. was a bus and coach operator based in Edinburgh, Scotland and a subsidiary of the Scottish Bus Group (formerly SMT Group). Eastern Scottish was formed in June 1985 from the main part of Scottish Omnibuses, Scott ...
buses. East Coast Buses uses a version of the more recent, angular Lothian design, in green and grey (though the ECB green is slightly bluer than that formerly used by LCB).


Lothian Country

In June 2017, a new subsidiary named Lothian Country commenced operating route 43 to
South Queensferry Queensferry, also called South Queensferry or simply "The Ferry", is a town to the west of Edinburgh, Scotland. Traditionally a royal burgh of West Lothian, it is administered by the City of Edinburgh council area. It lies ten miles to the no ...
after the previous operator
Stagecoach East Scotland Stagecoach East Scotland (legally incorporated as Fife Scottish Omnibuses Ltd) ( gd, Stagecoach an Ear na h-Alba) is an operating region of Stagecoach UK Bus, with its regional base in Dunfermline, Scotland. The company operators under six d ...
deemed the service not economically viable. This new operation re-used the recently defunct Lothian Country Buses brand, for unrelated services travelling the opposite direction out of the city. On 19 August 2018, three new routes to West Lothian commenced creating new links between Edinburgh and
Bathgate Bathgate ( sco, Bathket or , gd, Both Chèit) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, west of Livingston, Scotland, Livingston and adjacent to the M8 motorway (Scotland), M8 motorway. Nearby towns are Armadale, West Lothian, Armadale, Blackburn, ...
, and
Edinburgh Park station Edinburgh Park railway station is a railway station in the west of Edinburgh, Scotland, serving the Edinburgh Park business park and the Hermiston Gait shopping centre. The new station building was designed by IDP Architects, and it opened on 4 Dec ...
and Whitburn. On 29 September 2018, services 280 and 287 were launched linking Livingston with Bathgate, Armadale and Blackridge, on 2 December 2018, Lothian Country introduced the X18 another express route from Edinburgh to Armadale via Broxburn and Bathgate and the Night service N28 replicating the X27 route as far as Deans South, on 31 March 2019 service 281 was launched linking Loganlea and West Calder with Deans North which was later withdrawn the same year, on 13 May 2019 service X17 was launched connecting Edinburgh City Centre with Fauldhouse, Loganlea and West Calder and on 17 November 2019 service X38 was launched connecting Edinburgh to Linlithgow rivalling First Scotland East's service with the same number. As of 20th November 2022, the services operated are: * X18 - Edinburgh - Corstorphine - Broxburn - Bathgate - Armadale - Whitburn * X27 - Edinburgh - Sighthill - Wilkieston - East Calder - Livingston - Bathgate * X28 - Edinburgh - Sighthill - Kirknewton - East Calder - Livingston - Bathgate * 43 - Edinburgh - Craigleith - Blackhall - Barnton - Dalmeny - Queensferry * N28 - Edinburgh - Sighthill - Kirknewton - East Calder - Livingston - Bathgate * N43 - Edinburgh - Craigleith - Blackhall - Barnton - Dalmeny - Queensferry Service 287 was withdrawn and replaced with and extension of the 275 to Bathgate running the same route, with the X27 replacing the 275 between Livingston and Whitburn. the X18 was extended from Armadale to Whitburn in March 2019, The X17 was renumbered the 276 and cut from the City Centre running as far as Broxburn on the east but was extended to Bathgate connecting West Calder and Loganlea with Bathgate, however the Fauldhouse section was withdrawn. the 281 which was withdrawn late 2019 was brought back a year later running between Livingston and Fauldhouse, running the same route as the 280 as far as Bathgate and then replicating
First Scotland East First South East & Central Scotland, formerly known as First Scotland East, was an operator of both local and regional bus services in Clackmannanshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Lothian, Falkirk, Fife, Midlothian, North Lanarkshire, Scottish B ...
's 26 service to Fauldhouse. The X38/EX2 was temporarily suspended in March 2020 and later withdrawn leaving both Kirkliston and Linlithgow out of the Lothian network. Service 281 was withdrawn in November 2021, Service 275 was withdrawn in June 2022 with service 276 replacing it in Pumpherston, Ladywell, St. John's Hospital and Wester Inch. In November 2022 services 276 & 280 was withdrawn and service X27 was changed to run its original route to Bathgate.


Edinburgh Bus Tours


History of tour operations

Lothian Buses have operated city tours using white liveried coaches. Later,
Leyland Atlantean The Leyland Atlantean is a predominantly double-decker bus A double-decker bus or double-deck bus is a bus that has two storeys or decks. They are used for mass transport in the United Kingdom, the United States, New Zealand, Europe, Asi ...
s were employed in this same livery, with blinds for City Tour. These wore an updated version of the white livery with blue detailing after a short period. An Edinburgh Classic Tour was set up in 1989 using open top Leyland Atlanteans, and later
Leyland Olympian The Leyland Olympian was a 2-axle and 3-axle double-decker bus chassis manufactured by Leyland between 1980 and 1993. It was the last Leyland bus model in production. Construction The Olympian had the same chassis and running gear as t ...
s, which competed with Guide Friday. This was as a result of Guide Friday introducing competition on the city centre to Airport route. The buses wore a blue and white livery, each carrying a name e.g. ''Scottish Star'', ''Lothian Star'' and ''Highland Star''. Lothian Buses also operated open top tours in
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
(in conjunction with local operator Tappins) and
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
under the Classic Tour identity. From 2002 to 2016, a sightseeing operation named MacTours operated across Edinburgh between March and October, using a fleet of 12
AEC Routemaster The AEC Routemaster is a Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, front-engined double-decker bus that was designed by London Transport Executive, London Transport and built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) and Park Royal Vehicles. The ...
buses painted in a dark red and cream livery. These were withdrawn in November 2016 due to changing environmental standards and disabled access requirements.


Current operations

Today's open-top services are operated by Edinburgh Bus Tours under four distinct brands: City Sightseeing, the Edinburgh Tour, the Majestic Tour and the 3 Bridges Tour. The City Sightseeing tour is operated as a franchise of the
City Sightseeing City Sightseeing is an open-top, sightseeing tour bus operator. It provides tour bus services in more than 130 cities around the world. As City Sightseeing has grown and expanded, the company now also provides boat tours, sightseeing trai ...
brand.
City Sightseeing City Sightseeing is an open-top, sightseeing tour bus operator. It provides tour bus services in more than 130 cities around the world. As City Sightseeing has grown and expanded, the company now also provides boat tours, sightseeing trai ...
and the Edinburgh Tour visit the
Old Town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins after thorough renovations. There are ma ...
,
New Town New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
, Calton Hill,
Holyrood Palace The Palace of Holyroodhouse ( or ), commonly referred to as Holyrood Palace or Holyroodhouse, is the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. Located at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edinbu ...
and
Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age, although the nature of the early settlement is unclear. ...
, albeit on slightly differing routes. The Majestic Tour operates a long loop from Holyrood and New Town, via the Royal Botanic Garden, to the coast at Ocean Terminal, the site of the former
Royal Yacht Britannia Her Majesty's Yacht ''Britannia'', also known as the Royal Yacht ''Britannia'', is the former royal yacht of the British monarchy. She was in service from 1954 until 1997. She was the 83rd such vessel since King Charles II acceded to the th ...
. The 3 Bridges Tour operates from the city centre to the
Firth of Forth The Firth of Forth () is the estuary, or firth, of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south. Name ''Firth'' is a cognate of ''fjord'', a Norse word meani ...
via
Blackness Castle Blackness Castle is a 15th-century fortress, near the village of Blackness, Scotland, on the south shore of the Firth of Forth. It was built, probably on the site of an earlier fort, by Sir George Crichton in the 1440s. At this time, Blacknes ...
and the village of Limekilns, connecting for the Three Bridges Cruise operated by Forth Boat Tours. All sightseeing services, with the exception of the 3 Bridges Tour, are operated with 30 purpose-built
Wright Gemini 3 The Wright Eclipse Gemini is a Low-floor bus, low-floor double-decker bus body that was built by Wrightbus since 2001, based on the single-deck Wright Eclipse design. The second-generation Eclipse Gemini 2 was launched in 2009, followed by the ...
bodied
Volvo B5TL The Volvo B5TL is a 2-axle low-floor bus, low-floor Double-decker bus, double decker built by Volvo Buses, Volvo. It replaced the Volvo B9TL, B9TL as Volvo's Euro 6 2-axle double decker product for the UK and Irish markets. Design The B5TL is po ...
open top bus An open top bus is a bus, usually but not exclusively a double-decker bus, which has been built or modified to operate without a roof. Early buses were constructed without roofs but in more recent times they have only been built for tourist and s ...
es, which replaced
Plaxton President The Plaxton President was a low floor double-decker bus body built at Northern Counties plant in Wigan, England and branded as a Plaxton product for its main production run. It was first unveiled in 1997 on the longitudinal Volvo B7L chassi ...
bodied Dennis Tridents in 2016. For the City Sightseeing tours, the livery is red, for Edinburgh Tours the livery is yellow and green, and Majestic Tours use yellow and blue coloured vehicles. Between 4 August and 26 August 2018, Edinburgh Bus Tours operated the '20 Days Of Summer' bus tour, serving destinations around Edinburgh such as the
Braid Hills The Braid Hills form an area towards the south-western edge of Edinburgh, Scotland. The hills themselves are largely open space. Housing in the area is mostly confined to detached villas, and some large terraced houses. The ''Braid Hills Hotel ...
,
Colinton Colinton ( gd, Baile Cholgain) is a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland situated south-west of the city centre. Up until the late 18th century it appears on maps as Collington. It is bordered by Dreghorn to the south and Craiglockhart to the north ...
,
Fettes College Fettes College () is a co-educational independent boarding and day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, with over two-thirds of its pupils in residence on campus. The school was originally a boarding school for boys only and became co-ed in 1983. In ...
, the Ocean Terminal and
Portobello Portobello, Porto Bello, Porto Belo, Portabello, or Portabella may refer to: Places Brazil * Porto Belo Ireland * Portobello, Dublin * Cathal Brugha Barracks, Dublin formerly ''Portobello Barracks'' New Zealand * Portobello, New Zealand, on Ot ...
using a fleet of refurbished former Mac Tours AEC Routemasters. On 2 April 2022, Edinburgh Bus Tours launched Cobbles' Tour, named after the Edinburgh Tour's
Scottish Terrier The Scottish Terrier ( gd, Abhag Albannach; also known as the Aberdeen Terrier), popularly called the Scottie, is a breed of dog. Initially one of the highland breeds of terrier that were grouped under the name of ''Skye Terrier'', it is one o ...
mascot 'Cobbles'. The service, which operates using five Volvo B5TL Wright Gemini 3s cascaded from the other open-top operations, serves the
Grassmarket The Grassmarket is a historic market place, street and event space in the Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. In relation to the rest of the city it lies in a hollow, well below surrounding ground levels. Location The Grassmarket is located direct ...
, Edinburgh Castle and the
Royal Mile The Royal Mile () is a succession of streets forming the main thoroughfare of the Old Town of the city of Edinburgh in Scotland. The term was first used descriptively in W. M. Gilbert's ''Edinburgh in the Nineteenth Century'' (1901), des ...
at a fifteen-minute frequency.


Lothian Motorcoaches

In June 2018, Lothian returned to the coach charter market after a 19-year absence through a new subsidiary named Lothian Motorcoaches that commenced with five
Plaxton Panther The Plaxton Paragon and Plaxton Panther are closely related designs of coach bodywork built by Plaxton in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England, since 1999,Millar, Alan (2007) ''Bus & Coach Recognition'' : Ian Allan Ltd., and still in producti ...
bodied
Volvo B11R The Volvo B11R is a 10.8-litre engined coach chassis available as both two- and tri-axle from Volvo since 2011. It was introduced as the second of the Volvo BXXR series, replacing the rest of the B12B range in 2011, and later its fellow BXXR pl ...
s and three-second-hand
Van Hool Van Hool NV () is a Belgium, Belgian family-owned coachbuilder and manufacturer of buses, Coach (bus), coaches, trolleybuses, and Semi-trailer, trailers. Most of the buses and coaches are built entirely by Van Hool, with engines and axle ...
bodied
Volvo B12M The Volvo B12M is an underfloor mid-engined bus/ coach chassis introduced by Volvo Buses in 2002 as a replacement for the Volvo B10M. It is available with a variety of bodies such as the Van Hool T9 Alizee, Sunsundegui Sideral and Plaxton Panther ...
Ts. A new depot is being built for Lothian Country and Lothian Motorcoaches in the Newbridge area. The design of the livery used by Lothian Motorcoaches was not related to the other brands of the group, being entirely dark grey with silver lettering, although the ''Airlink'' service is now operated with dark-blue Enviro400 XLBs, in a font similar to the Motorcoaches brand.


Night buses

Lothian Buses also operates a nightbus network. Ridership increased when the routes were re-numbered and re-routed to match daytime routes and increased in frequency. The operation of night buses provides a continuous 24-hour bus service to some areas of the city. This ticket allows for unlimited travel all night on any night bus. From 5 November 2016, East Coast Buses introduced its own nightbus service under the NightHawk brand, to
North Berwick North Berwick (; gd, Bearaig a Tuath) is a seaside town A seaside resort is a town, village, or hotel that serves as a vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of official accreditation based on th ...
and
Dunbar Dunbar () is a town on the North Sea coast in East Lothian in the south-east of Scotland, approximately east of Edinburgh and from the English border north of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Dunbar is a former royal burgh, and gave its name to an ecc ...
. In December 2018, Lothian Country introduced the Nightbus N28 to
Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...
. List of Night Services are below: * N3 - Haymarket - City Centre - Gilmerton - Dalkeith - Mayfield - Gorebridge * N11 - City Centre - Morningside - Kaimes - Hyvots Bank - Royal Infirmary * N14 - Muirhouse - Goldenacre - Leith - Bridges - Niddrie - Royal Infirmary * N16 - Silverknowes - Granton - Leith - City Centre - Morningside - Oxgangs - Torphin * N22 - Edinburgh Park - Broomhouse - Balgreen - City Centre - Leith - Western Harbour * N25 - City Centre - Gorgie - Sighthill - Hermiston P&R - Heriot Watt Uni * N26 - Clerwood - City Centre - Portobello - Musselburgh - Seton Sands * N28 - Edinburgh City Centre - Kirknewton - East Calder - Livingston - Bathagte * N30 - Clovenstone - Balgreen - City Centre - Niddrie - Fort Kinnaird - Musselburgh * N31 - Haymarket - City Centre - Liberton - Lasswade - Bonnyrigg * N37 - Silverknowes - City Centre - Liberton - Loanhead - Roslin - Penicuik Deanburn * N43 - Edinburgh City Centre - Blackhall - Dalmeny - Queensferry * N44 - City Centre - Slateford - Currie - Balerno * N106 - Edinburgh - Musselburgh - Tranent - Haddington - East Linton * N113 - Edinburgh - Musselburgh - Wallyford - Tranent - Ormiston * N124 - Edinburgh - Musselburgh - Prestonpans - Longniddry - Gullane - North Berwick


Infrastructure and operation

The previous company headquarters and engineering works in Shrub Hill, off
Leith Walk Leith Walk is one of the longest streets in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is the main road connecting the centre of the city to Leith. Forming most of the A900 road, it slopes downwards from Picardy Place at the south-western end of the street to the ...
, were sold in 1999 subject to planning permission, after being occupied by the company since 1871. After repeated delays, controversies and a public inquiry, in 2004, the site was sold to BL Developments for £12 million so that the site could be developed
flat Flat or flats may refer to: Architecture * Flat (housing), an apartment in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and other Commonwealth countries Arts and entertainment * Flat (music), a symbol () which denotes a lower pitch * Flat (soldier), ...
s and houses. The company as a whole operates three travel shops, six depots (Annandale Street,
Longstone Longstone or Long Stone may refer to Places *Longstone, Edinburgh, a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland * Longstone, County Armagh, a townland in County Armagh, Northern Ireland *Longstone, Cornwall, a hamlet in Cornwall, England *Longstone, Isles of Sc ...
and Marine in
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
and
North Berwick North Berwick (; gd, Bearaig a Tuath) is a seaside town A seaside resort is a town, village, or hotel that serves as a vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of official accreditation based on th ...
and
Musselburgh Musselburgh (; sco, Musselburrae; gd, Baile nam Feusgan) is the largest settlement in East Lothian, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, east of Edinburgh city centre. It has a population of . History The name Musselburgh is Ol ...
in East Lothian) and
Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...
in West Lothian. There is also a driver training school and an engineering depot at Seafield. Edinburgh has a network of
park & ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system (rap ...
services operates by Lothian Buses, with sites located at Hermiston,
Ingliston Ingliston (; sco, Inglistoun) is an area in the west of Edinburgh, near Maybury, South Gyle and Newbridge, and is home to Edinburgh Airport and The Royal Highland Showground. History The name Ingliston either means the "settlement of the In ...
, Sheriffhall,
Straiton Straiton is a village on the River Girvan in South Ayrshire in Scotland, mainly built in the 18th century, but with some recent housing. It was the main location for the film '' The Match,'' where two rival pubs played against each other in a ...
and
Wallyford Wallyford is a village near Musselburgh and approximately east of Edinburgh in East Lothian, Scotland. History The village was initially populated by coal miners and later grew as an overspill/commuter town for workers in Musselburgh and Edi ...
. Lothian's double decker buses were unique in Scotland in displaying the destination at both the front and rear. In early mornings and late evenings, some services are curtailed to the city centre or to early termini, in the transition to the
night bus service Night service, sometimes also known as owl service, refers to the public transport services operated during the night hours. These services are operated, mainly using buses but in certain cases using trams (or streetcars), not including inte ...
. In such cases, 'Part Route' is displayed in the intermediate display. Certain routes have all day short working termini, and minor diversions which are often indicated through the use of internal or external 'tram boards'. Since 2006 double-deck deliveries feature a 'Route Diverted; intermediate display, used when road closures cause a service to be diverted from its normal route.


Trams

Lothian Buses' services have been integrated with
Edinburgh Trams Edinburgh Trams is a tramway in Edinburgh, Scotland, operated by Edinburgh Trams Ltd. It is a line between St Andrew Square in the New Town and Edinburgh Airport, with 15 stops. Construction began in June 2008, and after encountering dela ...
, since the trams commenced operation in 2014 – both are managed by Transport for Edinburgh, with Lothian Buses serving interchange with the trams at various locations. The now closed guided busway element of Fastlink formed part of phase 1a of the tram permanent way.


Fleet

Edinburgh Corporation and Lothian Buses have historically employed a high degree of standardisation of their service bus fleet, including the use of
low-floor bus A low-floor bus is a bus or trolleybus that has no steps between the ground and the floor of the bus at one or more entrances, and low floor for part or all of the passenger cabin. A bus with a partial low floor may also be referred to as a low ...
es to facilitate maintenance savings. Lothian have never employed
minibus A minibus, microbus, minicoach, or commuter (in Zimbabwe) is a passenger-carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, ...
es on their services, although some
midibus A midibus is a classification of single-decker minibuses which are generally larger than a traditional minibus but smaller than a full-size single decker and can be anywhere between and long. While used in many parts of the world, the mi ...
es were used for a time. As of December 2019, the Lothian fleet, including East Coast Buses, Lothian Country, the Edinburgh Tour and Lothian Motorcoaches, consisted of 900 buses.


Current vehicles

Lothian first introduced low emissions vehicles in the form of hybrid buses into service in 2011 with the purchase of 15 Alexander Dennis Enviro400Hs; these were subsequently retrofitted with diesel engines in 2018 due to issues with the hybrid batteries. These were supplemented with the arrival of the first ten Volvo 7900Hs in April 2013, initially allocated to route 1 from
Clermiston Clermiston is a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland, to the west of the city and to the immediate north of Corstorphine, on the western slopes of Corstorphine Hill. Clermiston estate, built in 1954, was part of a major 1950s house-building programme ...
to
Easter Road Easter Road is a football stadium located in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland, which is the home ground of Scottish Premiership club Hibernian (Hibs). The stadium currently has an all-seated capacity of , which makes it the fifth-larges ...
. 20 more of the type were delivered in July 2014, followed by the delivery of another repeat order for 20 at the end of the year. In 2017, Lothian Buses introduced six
Wright StreetAir The Wright StreetAir is a low-floor single-decker electric bus design built by Wrightbus in Ballymena, Northern Ireland since 2017. An integral product based on a single-deck variant of the Wright StreetDeck chassis, the StreetAir replaces th ...
battery electric bus A battery electric bus is an electric bus that is driven by an electric motor and obtains energy from on-board batteries. Many trolleybuses use batteries as an auxiliary or emergency power source. In 2018, the National Renewable Energy Laborator ...
es for route 1, replacing the Volvo 7900Hs. Another five were planned to be purchased in 2018 to fully electrify the route, but the order did not materialise. These were later complemented by four
Alexander Dennis Enviro400EV The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 City is a low-floor double-decker bus produced by the British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis since 2018, produced as an alternative to the standard Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC bodywork. The Enviro400 City is ...
s in March 2021, purchased with funding by
Scottish Power Scottish Power is a vertically integrated energy company based in Glasgow, Scotland. It is a subsidiary of Spanish utility firm Iberdrola. ScottishPower is the distribution network operator for Central and Southern Scotland, Merseyside, Nor ...
and the first battery electric double-decker buses to be purchased for Edinburgh. Historically Lothian has purchased new buses for its regular services across Edinburgh, however in 2018, the company purchased 50
Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 The Wright Eclipse Gemini is a Low-floor bus, low-floor double-decker bus body that was built by Wrightbus since 2001, based on the single-deck Wright Eclipse design. The second-generation Eclipse Gemini 2 was launched in 2009, followed by the ...
bodied
Volvo B9TL The Volvo B9TL is a low-floor double-decker bus built by Volvo from 2002 until 2018. It superseded the Volvo Super Olympian and the Volvo B7TL. The 2-axle version has been superseded by the Volvo B5TL in 2014 and the 3-axle version has been su ...
s from
Tower Transit A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specific ...
and
Metroline Metroline is a bus company operating services in Greater London and south Hertfordshire. It is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Corporation and operates services under contract to Transport for London. As at March 2021, the fleet consisted of 1,5 ...
, which were heavily refurbished before the first of the batch entered service in April. In November 2018, the company announced the purchase of 42 13.4m
Alexander Dennis Enviro400 XLB The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC (sold as the Alexander Dennis Enviro400) is a low-floor double-decker bus produced by the British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis since 2014, replacing the Alexander Dennis Enviro400. The Enviro400 MMC is ...
bodied
Volvo B8L The Volvo B8L is a 3-axle bus chassis, for double-decker buses, manufactured by Volvo Buses since 2018, with pre-production batches being produced as early as in 2016. History In 2017, two pre-production Volvo B8Ls were completed; one with a W ...
tri-axle buses, the first batch being delivered in early 2019, in time to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the company. The vehicles have 100 seats, with front and centre doors. Another batch of these buses, branded in a dark blue and gold livery for the 'Airlink' 100 express service, were delivered and put into service later in the summer, featuring luggage racks and audio-visual announcements. These tri-axle vehicles have been criticised for lacking space to fit pushchairs, as well as their length causing near collisions with motorists, pedestrians and cyclists.


Preserved vehicles

Many vehicles previously used by Lothian Buses and its predecessors have been preserved (or are awaiting preservation) by various groups and societies. Several of the vehicles regularly appear at events, rallies and running days around Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom.


Route branding

Route branding been used by Lothian since the introduction of low floor vehicles, although many liveries have now been phased out in favour of more uniform branding. In 2010, the Harlequin livery used to identify low floor buses began to be phased out due to the company achieving full low-floor operation, with the company returning to their traditional madder and white livery. In July 2011, Lothian Buses introduced 60 new double deck buses. These buses continued with the same madder red and white pattern on the outside of the bus but Lothian Buses changed the seats to a matching madder red colour. They also changed the entrance to the bus to a more wooden effect. Routes 4, 5, 19, 23 and 27 were the first buses to receive this branding. These brands were: * Penicuik City Link (37, 47 and X47) between Edinburgh and
Penicuik Penicuik ( ; sco, Penicuik; gd, Peighinn na Cuthaig) is a town and former burgh in Midlothian, Scotland, lying on the west bank of the River North Esk. It lies on the A701 midway between Edinburgh and Peebles, east of the Pentland Hills. Na ...
. * Playing cards theme ** ''Club Class – across the City and Midlothian'' (3/3A), later superseded by "''3-Connect''" branding. ** ''East to West Through the Heart of the City'' (26) ** ''
Ace of spades The Ace of Spades (also known as the Spadille and Death Card) is traditionally the highest and most valued card in the deck of playing cards in English-speaking countries. The actual value of the card varies from game to game. Design The orn ...
– cutting across the city and Midlothian'' (31) * ''Service with a Sparkle'' (44) with black uppers and roofline and a yellow diamond symbol. This was superseded by a new branding, "''The Mill Race''" ** ''The Best Deal'' (29), later ''The Stock Brig'' ** ''Leader of the Pack'' (49), later ''The Queen of Scots'' * Connect branding ** ''26 Connect: Clerwood, City Centre, Seton Sands / Tranent'' (This supersedes the earlier playing card theme.) ** ''22 Connect: Gyle + Edinburgh Park, City Centre, Ocean Terminal'' ** ''3 Connect'' (later replaced by ''The Lady Victoria'' branding) * Zoom to the Zoo advertising (Route 26) Five variations exist, on two vehicles each: ** Glide to the Antarctic – Penguins ** Trek to China – Pandas ** Hop to the Amazon – Frogs ** Cha Cha to Chile – Flamingos ** Swing into Africa – Chimpanzees In 2017, Lothian Buses' partnership with the
Edinburgh Zoo Edinburgh Zoo, formerly the Scottish National Zoological Park, is an non-profit zoological park in the Corstorphine area of Edinburgh, Scotland. The land lies on the south facing slopes of Corstorphine Hill, from which it provides extensive v ...
was renewed, which saw 30 new buses receive livery designs featuring animals from the zoo including otters, penguins, koalas, red pandas and tigers. Colloquially known as "zoo buses", some of the animal designs appearing on these buses were decided by vote. A giraffe print design was added to the fleet in 2021 following the opening of the zoo's giraffe house.


Vehicle tracking

Lothian Buses are active members of the Bustracker system and are responsible for the funding of it as well as being partly responsible for the operation of it. It operates by tracking the movements of buses; computers then relay this information to the designated bus tracker signs throughout the city giving real-time and more up-to-date information on when buses are due to the passengers. In December 2009, it was announced that following the success of Bustracker, an application had been developed for the iPhone that is similar to the way Bustracker works. It allows people to download an application to their iPhone that enables them to see where their nearest bus stop is and when the bus is due. Although not developed by Lothian Buses or The City of Edinburgh Council, the application has now won the backing of both organisations. ''My Bus Edinburgh'' is an application developed for the Android platform which is similar in functionality to the iPhone application. Like the iPhone application, this application is developed by an independent developer, backed by Lothian Buses and The City of Edinburgh Council, and is available free of charge. In August 2010, the company introduced an early running alarm system for drivers, which is linked into the automatic
vehicle tracking system A vehicle tracking system combines the use of automatic vehicle location in individual vehicles with software that collects these fleet data for a comprehensive picture of vehicle locations. Modern vehicle tracking systems commonly use GPS or G ...
, and sounds an alarm and displays warning messages if the bus is running early. This was as a result of the company being fined £10,500 by the Traffic Commissioner for Scotland, having been found to be running buses early. After a customer complaint,
Vehicle and Operator Services Agency Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) was an executive agency granted trading fund status in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Transport of the United Kingdom Government. It was announced on 20 June 2013 that VOSA would ...
monitored services 4, 16, 27 and 45 in February 2010, and found that of 303 instances, 44 buses were running early, despite starting the route on time, while 20 were running late. The company's defence was that they had built in some running time to cope with the delays due to tram works, but in some places, these works had ended early. The Commissioner accepted this defence, and chose not to take action against the company's operating licence (which authorises a maximum of 700 vehicles). Instead the Commissioner imposed a fine set much lower than the legal maximum (calculated as £550 * 700 vehicles = £385,000) The company also supplies data to the Transport for Edinburgh open data service, which supplies vehicle location data to sites such as
bustimes.org Bustimes.org is a transportation information website created to take advantage of Bus Services Act 2017 requirements for bus operators by the Department for Transport that bus timetables, fares and vehicle locations could be provided in an open ...
.


In media

Lothian Buses' Seafield depot was used as a location for the ''
CBeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 years and under. Its sister channel CBBC is aimed at older childr ...
'' children's programme '' Me Too!'' under the name of ''Riversea Buses''. The company's staff also feature in the programme, aired between 2006 and 2007. Of Lothian Buses' participation in the series, the company's then
chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
Neil Renilson said "It's a good opportunity to keep public transport in the eye of the next generation of customers."


References


External links

*
East Coast Buses website

Lothian Country website
{{Transport in Edinburgh Bus operators in Scotland City Sightseeing Companies owned by municipalities of Scotland Transport companies established in 1919 Transport in East Lothian Transport in Edinburgh Transport in Midlothian Transport in West Lothian 1919 establishments in Scotland