Bus Fares

Yogibear

the reason First Bus match Lothian Buses is because of competition when we lived in West Lothian,Livingston the First Bus has the monopoly as Lothian Region buses don't go out there and they charge what they want,when Lothian Buses went to Livingston the fares were the same as in Edinburgh,East Lothian ,Midlothian, cheap as chips,routes [27 and 28 to Edinburgh ],Mid Calder to East Calder £1.50 1 stop 15mins walk.when the First Bus crosses the boundary into Edinburgh the fares drop to £1.40,and another thing we were speaking to a lady in London she told us they can use the train free too over 60s,we only get a discount.

The buses in Edinburgh are clean and the drivers are so good mannered in my opinion Lothian Buses,Firstbus bangers stinking of diesel and that's inside,since we came back to Edinburgh 2010 we rarely been in a Firstbus

cxx666

Yogibear wrote: »

The buses in Edinburgh are clean and the drivers are so good mannered in my opinion Lothian Buses,Firstbus bangers stinking of diesel and that's inside,since we came back to Edinburgh 2010 we rarely been in a Firstbus

First Bus in Edinburgh are shocking, how some of those buses are allowed out on the road is beyond me. I'm pretty sure that if any of Lothians were in the same condition as those they wouldn't be allowed to leave the garage till they'd had a lot of attention. I'm not joking when I say that a few weeks ago I was sat behind one which I'm positive had a drawer handle screwed onto the engine cover.

The reason they're largely old heaps is because they make no money here. There isn't really any incentive to invest in better quality vehicles so they end up being given a lot of the cast offs that other First regions have no use for any more. Thats what I've been told anyway, and if you ever look at the number plates you'll see that not only are some of them very old, but they are from other parts of Britain which would back up the theory. For example, there are a lot of coaches running around with Welsh plates on them.

I have to feel for the guys that work for them though, it can't be nice when the majority of the city know you'll be losing your job soon. Since they announced the cutbacks, it seems that even the buses themselves have given up, seen so many broken down recently.

Back to the fares though. A friend of mine was complaining about the last round of rises but strangely didn't have a comeback when I listed everything that her £1.40 or £3.50 went to pay for. Nobody really sees anything more than a bus and a driver so they don't realise just how big an operation a bus company is but I won't patronise everyone here by listing everything I told her.

First's fares are a bit OTT though in my opinion. Granted they're not owned by the council like Lothian, but had to get the bus from a garage near East Calder to Hermiston park and ride, a journey taking less than 10 mins but costing me £2 each way. Its still cheaper than a taxi, but it certainly made me wonder if Lothians passengers know what a good deal they're getting.

Yogibear

when we lived in Livingston a stinking heap of rust came along Firstbus,I pointed out to the driver his road tax was out of date and he wasn't insured he couldn't ring the depot as the bus didn't have a radio:mad: anyone got a mobile phone he piped up:rotfl: