This DVD is part two of two programmes from the
cameras of independent transport videos looking at buses
operating in Scotland during 2023. The
‘Electric Special’ title refers to the growing number of ‘electric’ buses that
are entering service and are seen on this programme running alongside their
diesel cousins. In this programme we
cover St Andrews, Dundee, Perth, Stirling, Edinburgh and Livingston. We begin at St Andrews in March and see the
buses from McGill’s ‘Explore Dundee’ fleet running alongside Stagecoach East
Scotland as well as some independent operators.
It is mid-afternoon and buses operating on school contracts add to the
varied interest. Locations include City
Road, the bus station and St Marys Place.
Our next location is Dundee filmed in August. If you watched our ‘Scottish Buses 2022’ DVD
you will have seen the new BYD/ADL Enviro 400City-EV double-deckers in
service. We see them again this time
operating with some former London ADL Enviro400 double-deckers painted in the
latest, very smart, ‘Explore Dundee’ livery of two-tone green. Stagecoach is the other bus company operating
in Dundee. Most of the double-deckers
are Volvo B5LH hybrid Enviro400MMCs and these are the only ones of this type
operated by Stagecoach outside of London.
Single-deckers are mostly of the ADL200MMC type. You will also see the Ember
Yutong TCe12 battery-electric coach that runs into Glasgow from Dundee.
Our
filming locations include Crichton Street, Nethergate, Seagate and Commercial
Street, Panmure Street, Albert Square and Dock Street. Our next location during
our August visit is the city of Perth.
We journey into the city from Broxden Park & Ride onboard Stagecoach
East Scotland 74020 (LG23 FHW), a brand new battery-electric BYD D9UR/ADL
Enviro200MMC-EV single-decker. We begin
filming in South Street, then move onto Scott Street and then to the busy bus
station at Mill Street. Most of the
buses we see running through are now battery-electric. We were fortunate to film 14070 (LB72 DZJ),
the unique to Stagecoach East Scotland, BYD D8UR-DD/ADL Enviro 400City-EV
double-decker operating on route 1. Our
cameras return to Broxden P&R on board Stagecoach 74015 (LC71 KWE), a BYD
D9UR/ADL Enviro200MMC-EV single-decker.
From Perth we have a brief visit to Stirling before our arrival in
Edinburgh for our regular update of the bus scene in Scotland’s capital
city. In March our filming locations were
in George Street and Princess Street.
Our next visit to the city was in August whilst filming the new tramline
from the city to Newhaven and this can be seen on a separate DVD. Our filming locations include Ocean Drive in
Leith, Leith Walk, Elm Row, Haddington Place and York Place. We see the Lothian buses in action as well as
buses from the smart West Coast Motors fleet, branded as ‘Borders Buses’.
Our final location is Almondvale Avenue in
the West Lothian town of Livingston.
Filming in October, just a few days before McGill’s closed down their
Livingston depot and ended the ‘Eastern Scottish’ brand after just one
year. The buses and routes were taken
over from FirstGroup. We see Lothian
Buses subsidiary Lothian Country buses operating through the town. Our filming shows a good number of former ‘First
Scotland East’ Wright Streetlite single-decker buses in service in their former
livery but with McGill’s fleet numbers.
The only McGill’s buses seen in the new ‘Eastern Scottish’ livery are a
handful of former London ADL Enviro400 double-deckers. Look out for the BYD/ADL200MMC-EV
single-deckers in overall ‘wrap’ liveries for the ‘Sky Shuttle’. These buses are operated by the Dawson Group
for ‘Sky’, known for television, as a staff shuttle for its employees at their
Livingston Campus. There is plenty of
action and variety for you to enjoy on this Scottish Buses 2023 programme.