List of Lothian Buses routes

Lothian Buses is a major bus operator in Edinburgh and the surrounding area. The following is a list of routes operated by the company.

Routes

Routes correct at 14 February 2010.

Daytime services

Express/Limited stop services

Night buses

In the city centre, all services call at Princes Street (Waverley Steps) or OMNI (Leith Street), most call at both.

Route Branding

Penicuik City Link

Buses for routes 37, 47 and X47 between Edinburgh and Penicuik are branded as "Penicuik City Link", with blue uppers and roofline, and the positions of the red and madder on the skirting transposed.

Playing cards theme

Single-deck buses for service 29 are branded with extra red in the livery and the slogan "The Best Deal", while similar buses for service 49 carry a navy/blue version of this scheme and are branded with the slogan "The Leader of the Pack".

Four double decker routes using the low-floor scheme are, or have been, based on a playing card theme, with the symbol of the suit incorporating the route number;

• Route 3/3A is "Club Class - across the City and Midlothian" with extra yellow on the uppers and roofline and a black "club" symbol. (Bus 720 has been re-painted in a "3 Connect" branding and with a new Livery, like the old Madder and Cream one. (Pre 2000)
• Route 26 is "East to West Through the Heart of the City" featuring red on the roofline, gold between the decks and a large "heart" with an arrow symbol (to mid 2009)1
• Route 31 is "Ace of Spades - [...] across the city and Midlothian" with orange uppers and roofline, and a black spade symbol.
• Route 44 is "Service with a Sparkle" with black uppers and roofline and a yellow diamond symbol.

"Connect" branding

Mid 2009 saw the introduction of 'Connect' branding, with the first example being red-based "26 Connect: Clerwood, City Centre, Seton Sands / Tranent." This supersedes the earlier playing card theme. The second example applies to new, buggy friendly vehicles on route 22, with the legend "22 Connect: Gyle + Edinburgh Park, City Centre, Ocean Terminal." The base colour here is pink.23 A third example has been applied to bus 720 on route 3, with the legend "3 Connect:(the rest of the legend is still as yet unknown.) The base colour here is yellow, like the other current "Club Class" buses. 720 also has a new livery, based on the Pre 2000 Madder and Cream Livery.

Former route branding

Previously, services 22 and 30 were branded but with the 22 converted to double-deck operation on the 18th January 2009, this service lost the branding. The 30 also lost its branding, as the Dennis Darts used on it were replaced by cascaded Volvo B7RLE's from the 22 service.

Tourism

History of tour operations

Lothian had operated city tours using white liveried coaches. Later, Atlanteans 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 Atlanteans, and later Olympians, 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 also operated open top tours in Oxford (in conjunction with local operator Tappins) and Cambridge under the Classic Tour identity.

In July 2000 Lothian became one of the first operators to join the City Sightseeing franchise model, re-branding and upgrading the Classic Tour. Lothian purchased the first purpose built low-floor open top buses, in a tartan scheme with City Sightseeing fleetnames. The Classic tour was completely transformed into the City Sightseeing red scheme by May 2001. In May 2002 City Sightseeing acquired its biggest rival Guide Friday. This led to the Guide Friday Edinburgh fleet being absorbed into Lothian, leaving Lothian as the only tour operator in the city.

A special bus service has previously been run from George Street into Edinburgh Castle via The Mound. This service used at least two of the Dash bodied Darts, in a dedicated overall livery.

Edinburgh Bus Tours

Lothian operates several open top double deck tour bus services, through its Edinburgh Bus Tours subsidiary under four distinct brands: City Sightseeing, Edinburgh Tours, Mac Tours and The Majestic Tour. The City Sightseeing tour is operated by Lothian as a franchise of the City Sightseeing brand.

All tour buses operate from the east side of Waverley Bridge, opposite Waverley station (Edinburgh's main railway station). Tours can be boarded and alighted throughout the day from there and other selected locations on a hop on hop off basis.

City Sightseeing, Edinburgh Tours and Mac Tours visit the Old Town, New Town, Calton Hill, Holyrood Palace and Edinburgh Castle, albeit on slightly differing routes. The Majestic Tour operates a long loop from Holyrood and New Town, via the Botanic Gardens, to the coast at Ocean Terminal, the site of the former Royal Yacht Britannia.

The Mac Tours operation uses AEC Routemaster buses in a dark red and cream livery, with See Edinburgh By Vintage Bus branding. Edinburgh Tours and The Majestic Tour operate converted former main Lothian fleet Leyland Olympians. The Edinburgh Tour buses wear a light green and cream version of Guide Friday livery with some Guide Friday fleetnames, while The Majestic Tour wears a blue and yellow livery with some red stripes. City Sightseeing operates a mixture of converted former main fleet Olympians, 4 purpose built Plaxton President-bodied Dennis Tridents and, more recently, converted former main fleet Dennis Tridents. These wear the allover City Sightseeing red graffiti scheme, with localised branding.

Attractions accessible by bus

As well as the central area attractions, several other popular tourist attractions in the suburbs of Edinburgh and beyond are accessible by Lothian bus:

• Edinburgh Zoo: 12, 26, 31, X48
• Royal Yacht Britannia: 1, 11, 22, 34, 35, 36
• Botanic Gardens: 8, 23, 27
• Rosslyn Chapel: 15
• Lauriston Castle: 24
• Midlothian Snowsports Centre: 4, 15/15A

Mac Tours bus services

The Mac Tours business unit, in addition to open top tours, also operates two bus routes in Edinburgh. Until 2008, these were operated using a fleet of Dennis Dart Alexander Dash midibuses, a type once found in the main Lothian fleet, but they have now been replaced with Optare Solo SR buses.

Route 69 is a normal bus service, and wears the same harlequin livery as the Lothian low-floor fleet, although the 'Mac Tours' fleetname is used.

Route 61 is an express service operated for the Standard Life insurance company, who have offices in the city. These wear an allover yellow livery, with Standard Life branding.

The Mac Tours bus livery was also applied to three 1990 Mercedes Benz 709D minibuses (27-29) acquired from Western and which were also re-trimmed with original-pattern London Routemaster moquette. These buses have now been sold.

Airport services

Lothian operates standard, express and shuttle services to Edinburgh Airport located to the west of the city.

Standard buses

Lothian double deck service 35 and night bus service N22 terminate at the airport.

Although Route 35 does not call at Princes Street, it intersects with many other services of the standard bus network at these places:

• Gyle Centre (2, 12, 18, 21, 22, 24)
• Calder Road (3/3A, 25, 20, 25, 30, 32, 33, 34)
• Slateford Road (4, 44/44A)
• Lauriston Place (2, 41, 42)
• South Bridge (8, 29, 37, 47)
• Easter Road south (5, 15/15A, 19, 26)
• Leith crossroads (7, 10, 13, 14, 16, 49)
• Ocean Terminal (1, 11, 22, 34, 35, 36)

Airlink 100

The company operates a dedicated limited stop service, route 100, to the Airport from Waverley Bridge along Corstorphine Road. This service uses a dedicated fleet, special fares and its own web-site. An orange winged 'A' logo adorns the web site and the interior/exterior of the vehicles. Airlink 100 tickets can be bought from the driver, from an airport kiosk, or online (must be printed).

The Airlink 100 service calls at these stops only:

• Waverley Bridge
• West End (Shandwick Place)
• Haymarket
• Wester Coates
• Murrayfield
• Edinburgh Zoo
• Drum Brae
• Maybury
• Hilton Hotel
• Airport

The Airlink fleet currently comprises Polish built Scania OmniCity double deckers fitted with coach seating, luggage space, and some train carriage like seat and table arrangements. The buses wear a special livery of white and light/dark blue, with orange detailing, introduces with the conversion to low floor buses. The service was previously operated by Olympians in an earlier Airline blue livery.

Company practice (likely as a result of contract terms and conditions) has been to replace Airlink vehicles every four years. This allows replaced vehicles to be cascaded to the main fleet after suitable modifications to standard specification. It is likely that this cascading practice will continue even though the service uses a vehicle type that is not a current feature in the main fleet. The next replacement is due to happen in March 2010, with the current livery also being changed. New Volvo B9TL with Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodywork will replace the current Scania OmniCity double deckers.

Park & Ride

Edinburgh has a network of existing and proposed Park and Ride sites. Lothian Buses X48 Limited Stop now only operates at Peak Times. At off-peak times, service 48 will operate stopping at all stops. Lothian buses call at some of these sites:

Current

• Ingliston A8 (West) - 35, X48(Peak), 48(Outside Peak)
• Hermiston A71 (West) - 25, 34 (X25/45 Peak Times Only)
• Newcraighall A1 (East) - 30 (Stops on the main road only)
• Sheriffhall A7 (South) - X48(Peak), 48(Outside Peak), 49
• Straiton A701 (South) - 47, X47, 67
• Wallyford A199 (East) - 44, 44A

Standard fares and Ridacards apply on these services.

Contract services

Edinburgh University Shuttle Bus

Lothian currently operates a zero-fare shuttle bus service for Edinburgh University during semester time, linking the southern King's Buildings campus with the Central Campus. This service picks up and sets down within King's Buildings and on George Square, with an additional set down in Buccleuch Street.

The service is only available to students and staff. In 2006/7 this service was provided using main fleet buses of the Volvo Olympian Royale bodied type, in standard livery, with the green display blind 'Special Service'.

King's Buildings is also an alternate Monday to Saturday terminus of route 41, alternated with Craighouse every second journey.

Forth Tours

As of 2007 Mac Tours has operated a bus for Forth Tours providing departues from Waverley Bridge for their various tours and cruises of the Firth of Forth. The bus used is Alexander Royale bodied Volvo Olympian 433 (P433 KSX) and not, as shown on the Forth Tours website, a Northern Counties bodied Olympian. It carries a special yellow and blue overall livery with the destination blind panelled over.

Bus 433 has a previous nautical connection, having previously been used on the now discontinued limited stop express service X50 to the Royal Yacht at Ocean Terminal, wearing a similar dedicated all over livery.