Happy New Year 2024, All, with Lothian Country's 584 - SJ67 MGV | operating service 72 to Kirkliston

🎆 Although late, Happy New Year 2024 🎆

Looking back on last year's quarrels in regards to the West Lothian bus industry, 2023 was certainly a roller coaster.

The first half of the year there was much anguish. Lothian Country were still operating their minimalist service from the change on November 20th 2022 and McGill's saw a massive influx in journey cancellations. Getting around West Lothian wasn't the easiest due to the very poor reliability of local services.

Further adding to the poor unreliable nature of services, it was announced in April that from May 6th 2023 that McGill's would greatly reduce their service operations across the area. This meant that most areas would not have a bus service after 8pm and the Sunday service was completely axed.

The second half of 2023, there was hope. Early September it was announced that Lothian Country would be introducing two brand new services, these being the 72 (between Livingston the Centre and Kirkliston) and the X40 (between St John's Hospital and Edinburgh Royal Infirmary). These would commence service on the 15th of October.

However, it wouldn't be 2023 if there wasn't drawbacks. October 2023 saw E&M Horsburgh (and the first phase of McGill's Eastern Scottish's withdrawal from West Lothian) completely withdraw all their public services in the area. McGill's Eastern Scottish withdrew themselves in two stages. The first phase was withdrawing their two Edinburgh services, the X22 (between Livingston the Centre and Edinburgh) and the X24 (between St John's Hospital and Edinburgh). These were withdrawn on October 16th. However, since McGill's Eastern Scottish did not operate on a Sunday, the last day for these services was October 14th. The first phase also included McGill's Sunday council contracted service 31 (between Livingston the Centre and Bathgate Railway Station) which its last day of operation being October 8th.

However, yet again, there was hope. Lothian Country announced in October that they would be introducing two brand new services and extend their existing 72 to Fauldhouse and alter the route from St John's Hospital to serve Pumpherston and Uphall Station. The two new services were the 73 (between Blackburn and Livingston the Centre via Bathgate) and the 74 (between Fauldhouse and Livingston the Centre via West Calder). These were due to commence on December 3rd (the newly extended 72 and new 74) and the 73, which doesn't operate on a Sunday, on December 4th.

However, yet again, it wouldn't be 2023 without finishing with further anguish. December 4th saw the final withdrawal of McGill's Eastern Scottish remaining West Lothian services 21 (between Blackridge and Livingston the Centre), 23 (between Shotts or Whitburn and Broxburn), 25 (between Armadale and Livingston the Centre) and finally the 26 (between Bathgate and Livingston North Railway Station). Some have saw this as a massive relief and are glad they are gone due to their poor reliability and operation times.

In conclusion, 2023 has been a massive roller coaster and has saw a lot of changes in the West Lothian area with Lothian Country winning the fabled "bus wars" in the area, becoming West Lothian's main operator.

Lets all raise a glass to 2024, which I wish for you all to have a prosperous and joyous year to come.

Lothian Country's 584 (SJ67 MGV), a Volvo B5LH Wright Eclipse Gemini 3, navigating the Pumpherston Turning Circle on the service 72 to Kirkliston via Uphall Station, Uphall, Broxburn and Winchburgh.

584 was new to Lothian Buses in October 2017 to their Longstone depot, along with 571 - 583 and 585 - 589 in the Skylink livery. They were new as part of the introduction of the new, at the time, Skylink 300, which also saw both Skylink services 200 (introduced earlier on in the year) and to increase the capacity of the Skylink services.

Prior to this, 186 - 190 were branded in Skylink livery for use on the service 200 and had luggage racks fitted. Now, in November 2022, 186 - 190 had since been repainted from Skylink livery into Lothian Buses livery and have been at Lothian Country since 2021; Feburary (186 & 187), March (188 & 190) and April 2021 (189).

A lot of changes happened to these vehicles over the course of 2018 & 2019:

571 - 574 were repainted into plain white in August of 2018 with Lothian Country logos for use in West Lothian for their, new at the time, services 275, X27 & X28.

After this, 571 - 574 were transferred back to Lothian Buses not long after and were used on various Longstone routes, such as the 35 (Heriot-Watt University - Ocean Terminal) and the 3 (Clovenstone - Mayfield).

571 - 574 were transferred back to Lothian Country with 575 - 576 joining them in the Lothian Country livery in March 2019, followed by 577 & 578 in September 2019. March 2019 was also when they started operating Lothian Country routes out of the newly acquired Livingston depot. They also had their driver protection shields removed too.

Late June 2019 saw 584 receive the bright and vibrant Lothian Buses Pride livery. This was to show their support for the LGBTQ+ community. A quote from Brett Heriot of Edinburgh Pride said:
"We are delighted to develop our partnership with Lothian, in this year where prides around the world mark the 50th Anniversary of the stonewall uprising the global starting point for the pride movement and in Lothians Centenary year its a potent marker of how far we have come on the journey to equality for all irrespective of colour, creed, gender or sexuality. The new Pride bus will be a shining beacon in the city and will showcase Lothians inclusive working environment and the welcoming service it provides for all citizens of the capital city."

(Quote taken from the 20th of June 2019 article from Lothian Buses website. To view the full article, please refer to this link: www.lothianbuses.com/news/2019/06/were-proud-to-support-p... )

Lothian Country routes used to be operated out of Longstone, apart from the 43 (and X43) which was operated out of Central and the service was registered to Lothian Buses. The 43 moved over to Livingston in April 2020 during the Coronavirus epidemic then 928 - 936 in September 2020.

579 - 590 were repainted into Lothian Buses livery in July 2019 due to the Airlink B5TL's 496 - 510 being transferred from Central to Longstone. They lost their Airlink branding and were given Skylink logos. 496 - 510 were replaced by Enviro400 XLB's 1126 - 1140.

The livery of 496 - 510 is a little different to what 571 - 590 carried when they were new, 496 - 510 have a slightly lighter shade of blue and were grey instead of white.

April 2020 saw the drafting of 579 - 590 in from Longstone to Livingston, due to the Coronavirus pandemic. This was because no Lothian Country buses had driver protection shields. This also resulted in the moving of 571 - 578 getting transferred into storage at Seafield. This was untill they had their driver protection shields fitted. 571 - 578 came back into service at Livingston early August 2020.

579 - 590 moved back to Longstone in September 2020 once all the Lothian Country buses returned.

In September of 2022, we saw 579 - 590 all make their way to the Marine depot and Seafield to be debranded and prepared for repaint. They were all sent away throughout the duration of October 2022 for paint.

Throughout November 2022, we saw the repaint process of 571 - 578.

They have all been repainted into the new Lothian Country livery. 579 - 590 were also transfered to Livingston.

September 2023 it was announced that Lothian Country would be starting 2 new services from October 15th in partnership with West Lothian Council and Winchburgh housing association.

This saw Lothian Country introduce the brand new 72 service which operates between Kirkliston and Livingston, the Centre, via Winchburgh, Broxburn, Uphall, Uphall Golf Course, Knightsridge Fastlink, Ladywell Fastlink, St John's Hospital and Howden.

Additional, this saw Lothian Country take over the X40 service from Horsburgh and has been rerouted to serve Mid Calder, East Calder, Calderwood and Westside Plaza. The new X40 operates between Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and St John's Hospital via Ferniehill, Gilmerton, Edinburgh City Bypass, Clovenstone, Westside Plaza, A71, Hermiston Park & Ride, Hermiston, Dalmahoy, Wilkieston, Calderwood, East Calder (Main Street), Mid Calder (Ochiltree Crescent), Livingston Road (A899) and Livingston the Centre.

Late October 2023 Lothian Country announced that they would be introducing 2 new services on Sunday, December 3rd 2023, and extend the service 72. This is due to McGill's Eastern Scottish's announcement that they would be ceasing all West Lothian services by December 4th. This started with the withdrawal of the services X22 and X24 from October 16th and services 21, 23, 25 and 26 from December 4th. Since McGill's did not operate any Sunday services, bar the 31 which the sunday service was withdrawn October 15th, the last day for services operating was October 13th (X22 and X24) then December 2nd (21, 23, 25 and 26).

The new 73 operates between Livingston and Blackburn, with some journeys operating to J4M8, via Alderstone Road, St John's Hospital, Deans South, Tesco Distribution Centre (A89) and Bathgate.

The new 74 operates between Livingston and Fauldhouse via Dedridge West, Bellsquary, Polbeth, West Calder, Addiewell, Stoneyburn, Bents and Longridge.

The extended 72 operates between Fauldhouse and Kirkliston via Longridge, Whitburn, East Whitburn, Blackburn, Seafield, Eliburn, Alderstone Road, Livingston the Centre, Howden, St John's Hospital, Houstoun Industrial Estate, Pumpherston, Uphall Station, Uphall, Broxburn and Winchburgh.

This photo was taken on Friday, 5th of January 2024 at Pumpherston Turning Circle.

Registration: SJ67 MGV
Fleet No.: 584
Company (Current): Lothian Country
Companies (Previous): Lothian Buses (Skylink), Lothian Buses (City)
Chassis: Volvo B5LH
Engine: D5L
Transmission: Volvo I-shift
Body: Eclipse Gemini 3
Manufacturer: Wright Bus
New: September 2017

Route Operating: 72
Direction: Kirkliston.

Thank you very much for reading, have a wonderful weekend Folks! 😀

Taken on: January 5, 2024

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