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Dear Councillor Jenkinson,

Congratulations on your new appointment as Transport Convener. We are sure you will be aware that this can be a challenging role, and we thought that some of our observations may prove helpful.

At Full Council in September 2022, our deputation acknowledged how Edinburgh’s bus network is successful, but often taken for granted. In the 1980s and 1990s, there was a successful partnership between the Council and bus operators. At that time, Lothian Buses operated a successful service, grew passenger numbers and returned a dividend to its share-owning Councils.

In parallel, the City of Edinburgh Council used its extensive powers as highway authority to assist and where appropriate prioritise bus operations.

Latterly, Edinburgh Council lost sight of this but while Scott Arthur was Transport Convener, a lot of ground was regained. We hope you will progress with his legacy.

Continue reading “An open letter to Edinburgh’s next Transport Convener”

The City of Edinburgh Council is consulting on guidance for Developer Contributions to infrastructure under the ‘City Plan 2030’. (Here, until 17 September: https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/sfc/developer-contributions-sup-guidance/ )

Developer Contributions are funds secured from developers to pay for facilities needed because of the development; such as improved transport, school buildings etc. They can cover the cost of new services needed to serve the development.

EBUG also sent written comments to the Council. The main points are:

EBUG has commented previously on Developer Contributions:
https://edinburghbususers.group/missed-opportunity-to-improve-city-buses
https://edinburghbususers.group/cammo-meadows-planning-for-public-transport

In summary, we believe that in recent years, the City of Edinburgh Council has missed opportunities to use the planning process to improve bus services, via Section 75 and direct developer action.

Continue reading “Developer Contributions to infrastructure under the City Plan 2030”

Continue reading “No. 15 – Edinburgh Bus Users’ Group: Members’ Bulletin July 2024”

This article first appeared in ‘Passenger Transport’ issue 315, and is reproduced here with the editor’s kind permission.

Out now: Issue 315 of Passenger Transport

Professor David Begg has warned his home city to respond to an increase in bus journey times by extending bus lane hours and vociferous campaigning

David Begg (right) with Edinburgh Bus Users Group chair Harald Tobermann and his dog Buster

It’s a warning that could be applied to cities across the United Kingdom, but on this occasion Professor David Begg was talking about his home city of Edinburgh: future-proof your bus network against further increases in journey times or risk decline.

Begg, former chair of the Commission for Integrated Transport, spoke at a meeting of the Edinburgh Bus Users Group in the Scottish capital last week.

While hailing Edinburgh’s transport system as “one of the best in the UK”, the former Edinburgh councillor urged the group to mobilise bus users and hold politicians to account on bus speeds. He also called on the city’s council-owned bus operator, Lothian Buses, to be more forceful in speaking up for bus users.

Continue reading “Begg – Edinburgh must future-proof its buses”

Continue reading “EBUG Annual General Meeting; agenda and Committee’s report”

On 24 April, Edinburgh Live, followed by other media outlets, reported that the owners of the Edinburgh bus station site are seeking to redevelop it, without a bus station.

The City of Edinburgh Council’s bus station lease expires in 2027, so there are three years to resolve the problem, or Edinburgh will be left without a bus station.

The response of residents seems to be almost universal dismay. Many weren’t aware that the site is leased, not owned, by the Council. At the foot of this article is an appendix setting out its history.

Continue reading “Edinburgh Bus Station; 1957 – ?”

Our Annual General Meeting is on Thursday 6 June 2024, at 18:00 in the Augustine United Church, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh.

Our Guest Speaker will be Professor David Begg. He is the former political transport lead at Lothian Region and the City of Edinburgh councils, chaired the Government’s Commission for Integrated Transport, was on the board of the Strategic Rail Authority and First Group Ltd. He publishes the Transport Times.

Continue reading “EBUG Annual General Meeting 2024”

Welcome to the latest EBUG Bulletin.

• • The new on-street Real-Time Information screens are still displaying timetable, not real-time, timings for Lothian Buses. An update is expected at the Council’s Transport and Environment Committee on 7 March.
  • In January we took part in a ‘stakeholder discussion’ about Elm Row. This was productive and we are now looking forward to significant improvements to the bus stops there.

Continue reading “No. 14 – Edinburgh Bus Users’ Group: Members’ Bulletin February 2024”

Click on these links to see slides and a recording of the recent and utterly excellent webinar Secrets of a Successful Bus Operation organised and published by the Foundation for Integrated Transport.  A brilliant exposition of how to do buses!

With Roger French, who was Managing Director Brighton & Hove Buses in some of its most successful years.

Roger says reliability should be a given, and identifies five other key areas:

• • Frequency, reliability, consistency
  • Price, value, simplicity
  • Legendary customer service
  • Information, promotion, publicity
  • Regular investment in new buses

Continue reading “‘Secrets of a Successful Bus Operation’ : recommended viewing”

The Scottish Government has ‘paused’ the Bus Partnership Fund. The Fund is ‘a long-term investment of over £500m to deliver targeted bus priority measures…to reduce the negative impacts of congestion on bus services and address the decline in bus patronage’ https://www.transport.gov.scot/public-transport/buses/bus-partnership-fund/

When it was launched in 2019, it was the biggest investment in buses for years. Edinburgh and surrounding Councils planned to use it to finance major bus priority programmes, including on nine of Edinburgh’s busiest road corridors.

Continue reading “Bad budget for buses”