Scottish Infrastructure

[Lurkst]

44 minutes ago, RH33 said:

I went up and down the A9 last week, only work being done is the reroute to inveralmond roundabout north of Perth.

Other than the extension at crubenmore and a bit at Aviemore(ish) has there been any other areas duelled since the announcement?

Noticed that recently as well. Be lucky if it's complete by 2050!

 

[Lurkst]

1 hour ago, Leith Green said:

Cant see this getting a positive reaction from groups advocating for safety of women at night....................

Concerns about this were raised on the news last night.

Also from people working in pubs and clubs who use the services to get home.

Been a while since I've had to use a nightbus but they were always a handy safety net if you missed the last train.

 

Edited July 11, 2023 by Lurkst

[flyingscot]

Was on the night bus on Saturday night. Trnsmt was on, town was busy and it was very quiet. Used to be really busy and a party bus. 

I used to use the train more than bus to get into Glasgow but switched due to the cuts that Scotrail made to frequency and late night services. 

[PossilYM]

13 hours ago, Lurkst said:

Glasgow nightbus services to cease at the end of the month 

https://www.firstbus.co.uk/greater-glasgow/news-and-service-updates/news/first-glasgow-announces-withdrawal-night-bus-services

 

You'd be left thinking the Glasgow night service had been on the go for decades reading some of the reports.

The 7 nights a week service finished many years ago.

Cut back to Friday and Saturday nights or early Saturday or Sunday on how you view after midnight.

That ceased a number of years ago.

Brought back a year ago as a trial.

Private company loses money and grant so kicks it into touch.

Even 40/50 years ago the numbers were never there.

And private bus companies don't do charity runs.

[TheScarf]

5 hours ago, RH33 said:

I went up and down the A9 last week, only work being done is the reroute to inveralmond roundabout north of Perth.

Other than the extension at crubenmore and a bit at Aviemore(ish) has there been any other areas duelled since the announcement?

No. Not even a hint of it.

[RH33]

12 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

No. Not even a hint of it.

There's going to be a lot explosives needed over slochd to make space!

[Hauzen]

9 hours ago, well fan for life said:

A few months ago I was getting a taxi from the Merchant City and there were 2 guys at the front of the queue trying to get a taxi to East Kilbride. We must have been about 8 or 9 folk back in the queue and wound up in a taxi before them. You'd have thought they were asking for a lift to the moon going by some of the reaction of the drivers when we got to the front. 

The late night public transport options to EK are terrible.. used to be a 23:30 train on a Friday night but they cut that a wee while ago, now your latest train home from Glasgow is 23:17, so the night bus was the fallback option for a late night out. 

[Lurkst]

8 hours ago, PossilYM said:

Private company loses money and grant so kicks it into touch.

Even 40/50 years ago the numbers were never there.

And private bus companies don't do charity runs.

Therein lies the problem with private companies providing public services. 

 

[PossilYM]

3 hours ago, Lurkst said:

Therein lies the problem with private companies providing public services. 

 

The public service part of it ceased to be as soon as the Tories privatised it.

I remember well the Tory Party mantra, we'll give you choice.

So a main road just over a mile of Buchanan Street Bus Station saw 3 bus routes reduced to one bus plus a shoppers bus running 4 times a day between 9am and 4pm.

That in an area that had one of the lowest car ownerships in Scotland.

[Billy Jean King]

On 11/07/2023 at 18:53, Hauzen said:

The late night public transport options to EK are terrible.. used to be a 23:30 train on a Friday night but they cut that a wee while ago, now your latest train home from Glasgow is 23:17, so the night bus was the fallback option for a late night out. 

News tonight reporting that McGills are looking into taking over the Glasgow night bus routes.

[jamamafegan]

On 11/07/2023 at 14:47, RH33 said:

There's going to be a lot explosives needed over slochd to make space!

What baffles me is why some other areas with fewer obstacles haven't been duelled yet. The Drumochter Pass to Crubenmore Lodge section for example crosses over empty, sheep-wrecked, muirburn wasteland, where - in theory - it should be relatively straight forward to add another section of road. That's a good 12 miles of road that could have been duelled by now.

[Silvio Tattiescone]

2 minutes ago, jamamafegan said:

What baffles me is why some other areas with fewer obstacles haven't been duelled yet. The Drumochter Pass to Crubenmore Lodge section for example crosses over empty, sheep-wrecked, muirburn wasteland, where - in theory - it should be relatively straight forward to add another section of road. That's a good 12 miles of road that could have been duelled by now.

That's fighting talk 

[invergowrie arab]

5 hours ago, jamamafegan said:

What baffles me is why some other areas with fewer obstacles haven't been duelled yet. The Drumochter Pass to Crubenmore Lodge section for example crosses over empty, sheep-wrecked, muirburn wasteland, where - in theory - it should be relatively straight forward to add another section of road. That's a good 12 miles of road that could have been duelled by now.

It needs at least 6 bridges and rerouting of the aquaduct that takes the Allt Cuaich into the Truim. There would need to be rock cutting at Torr na Cuile Riabhaich where it gets really hemmed in by the Truim.

It will all have to be done but nothing like as easy as ploughing through tattie fields at Bankfoot and that took long enough.

[well fan for life]

13 hours ago, Billy Jean King said:

News tonight reporting that McGills are looking into taking over the Glasgow night bus routes.

Would this not mean they'd need to make extra routes though. There aren't any McGill buses go past my house in normal hours. 

I mean it would be nice if they did. 

[HeartsOfficialMoaner]

It is too expensive to duel the A9. Best to put roundabouts on it every few miles to slow down the traffic and stop accidents. Maybe put some speed bumps on it near the roundabouts to slow the traffic down.

[Billy Jean King]

3 minutes ago, well fan for life said:

Would this not mean they'd need to make extra routes though. There aren't any McGill buses go past my house in normal hours. 

I mean it would be nice if they did. 

They didn't go into details. Implications were McGills taking over the night service First have announced they are stopping. 

[Shandon Par]

Edinburgh looks like a third world city now. If you go through London, construction work is all so tidily sectioned off with smart black screens. The aesthetic of the place is preserved.

Go through Edinburgh and giant holes are taped of with random cones and stripy tape. Huge traffic jams appear as three lanes become one without warning. A trip in from Fife can take an extra hour due to a random cone on one lane of Queensferry Road. 
 

 

[The Golden God]

I work in pubs and fairly recently switched from a place open till 3 at the weekends to a place open till 12. There was a few reasons such as not getting home till 5 in the morning is awful for you, spending 20 quid on a taxi is shite and also if you did have a drink after work you felt like a bit of an alky getting home at 6/7. The only good thing was that I’d make good money because of the longer shifts. Place I’m at now means I can get the night bus home for 3 quid, so while I do make less money I spend 6 quid getting home at the weekend rather than over 30, that’s fucked now. The last bus is half 12 which is basically impossible to get and even when it is it’s absolutely mobbed and full of steaming arseholes. 

[Todd_is_God]

On 11/07/2023 at 07:59, Leith Green said:

They seem to say there is a low uptake and its lossmaking - which may be true.

But I wonder how people who are out late / early morning get back to more outlying areas? Are there enough taxis/ubers in Glasgow?

I grew up on the outskirts of Edinburgh, and (many moons ago !) remember walking for miles as there were no taxis - the night bus back then was a lifesaver for many.

Cant see this getting a positive reaction from groups advocating for safety of women at night....................

I've made my thoughts on the public transport network in and around Glasgow pretty clear before, but this is another example of why vital public services should be nationalised.

Night buses will probably lose money, and there are many new build estates not served at all by buses that likely never will be as they won't be profitable. But the bus network overall will be. Those profitable routes should be subsidising less profitable / loss making routes.

Same goes for the rail network.

Privatisation may increase the technological advancement of certain things, but they also must be run for profit. It makes no sense for a private company to run services at a loss.

[Todd_is_God]

15 hours ago, HeartsOfficialMoaner said:

It is too expensive to duel the A9. Best to put roundabouts on it every few miles to slow down the traffic and stop accidents. Maybe put some speed bumps on it near the roundabouts to slow the traffic down.

It's the slow moving traffic that likely causes the accidents, though, as nobody wants to be stick behind it for miles on end.

If it's too expensive to dual it all, then have more dual sections for safer passing. It might also take some traffic off the A82 which is an absolute deathtrap of a road.