Tag: First Bus

First West Lothian team up with Edinburgh Trams to offer better connectivity for passengers

  • First West Lothian team up with Edinburgh Trams to offer a through ticket on all services to link up with the tram at Ingliston Park & Ride, Gyle Centre and Edinburgh Park Station
  • £4.50 ticket offers a value for money through journey connection via bus and tram with Edinburgh City Centre.
  • Advice to all passengers is to check latest Scottish Government advice on essential travel guidelines in the area in advance of all journeys.

Local bus operator First West Lothian has teamed up with the Edinburgh Trams to provide customers with another direct link to Edinburgh City Centre via the new bus and tram through ticket.

Available exclusively on the award-winning First Bus App, the all new £4.50 Bus/Tram through ticket is available across all services on the West Lothian network meaning customers now have a convenient connection between their local bus service and the tram into the city centre.

Service 20 in particular offers passengers a drop off at the park and ride directly for quick and convenient access to the tram.

Alternatively, customers can still purchase the First day ticket for just £4.00 for the region (L&M) which gives access to all First West Lothian services including connections to Edinburgh City centre by bus alone. For example, with the day ticket customers can connect onto the X25, X24 and X38 straight into town.

First West Lothian Commercial Director Graeme Macfarlan said: “We want to make it as easy as possible for people who need to make essential journeys to get around and get to their destinations safely during these unprecedented times.

“We were asked to consider the introduction of a through bus and tram ticket that offered the same benefits as those offered by the previous operator, and so, in responding to the needs of our customers, we are delighted to be introducing a through ticket to replicate that offering.

“The hope is now that the customers utilise this offer and support these services once they are able to do so as Coronavirus lockdown restrictions ease again.”

Lea Harrison, Managing Director of Edinburgh Trams said: “We are delighted to be partnering with First West Lothian to allow their customers to seamlessly connect to the city centre by tram.

“We offer fast and frequent services which an easy interchange with First services at Ingliston Park & Ride, Gyle Centre and Edinburgh Park Station for Hermiston Gait.

“We encourage all customers to check our website for the latest timetables and travel advice.”

Transport and Environment Convener Councillor Lesley Macinnes said: “This new ticket will give passengers even more options for seamless, reliable travel by public transport between Edinburgh and West Lothian.

“Of course, people should only be making essential journeys by any mode of transport at the moment. But this joint offer from First West Lothian and Edinburgh Trams will be beneficial for communities served by both in the future.”

Lothian MSP, Miles Briggs said: “This is an excellent initiative from First West Lothian and Edinburgh Trams to improve connectivity between Edinburgh and West Lothian.

“Having an affordable multi-purpose ticket is a good way to make best use of the trams and make transport easier between West Lothian, Edinburgh city centre and the airport.

“I would like to see a paper ticket made available for those who don’t have a smartphone to buy a ticket on the First Bus app.”

Find out more here: www.firstscotlandeast.com/tram 

From Monday, Lothian will no longer operate Services 20 and 63

After going to tender earlier this year, the City of Edinburgh Council awarded the contract for services 20 and 63 to a new operator, First Bus, who was expected to take over the running of these services in April 2020.

However, due to the Covid-19 crisis, Lothian agreed to continue the contract on a temporary basis until such time as a handover could be made possible.

As of August 31, the new operator will take over provision of these services.

Timetable information for both services can be found here or at the links below:

Service 20 – https://bit.ly/3go2aVf
Service 63 – https://bit.ly/34vtjmV

Customers with questions or queries can contact our social media team on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram or our customer service team by emailing mail@lothianbuses.co.uk.

Both teams are here to help.

Children called on to get creative for bus design art competition

With the school holidays upon us, Scotland’s biggest bus operator is running a competition to give kids in Edinburgh the opportunity to see their artwork ‘wrapped’ on the side of a local bus.

First Scotland East is calling on local children to get involved in the bus company’s exciting Scotland-wide art competition, which will see the winning design placed on the side of a bus for thousands to see. The Scotland winner will also win a tour of Britain’s biggest bus depot in Edinburgh and will be presented with a video of their artwork being painted onto the side of the bus.

Winners from each region will be selected, too, and the lucky winner in Edinburgh will receive an exclusive goodie bag and a school visit from First Bus when the children are back in after the summer holidays.

The competition is running as part of Children’s Art Week, which this year, celebrates the theme of Connecting Across Generations. All kids need to enter is a sheet of plain paper, some bold colours to work with and their creative imagination.  Creative ideas can be submitted using any colour, pattern or drawing.

First Bus has already received some great entries, with some illustrations championing the relationship the city has with its NHS workers.

Andrew Jarvis, Managing Director of First Bus in Scotland, said: “This is an exciting opportunity for local kids to celebrate their creative side during lockdown.

We’re looking forward to seeing the winning design bring a splash of colour and imagination to one of our buses in Edinburgh, which we hope will bring a smile to the faces of key workers and local communities along our routes.

“We wanted to give something back to the city that we proudly serve every day and we can’t wait to look through all the entries.”

Those entering the bus designing competition are encouraged to include their name and age and should submit entries to the First Scotland East Facebook page, @FirstScotlandEast.

The deadline for submissions is 6th August 2020.

The competition is running in conjunction with First Bus’s Education Pack – an online educational resource created at the start of lockdown to provide primary aged children with a fun filled set of activities focused around buses.

The educational pack is available to download for free, from the following website link: www.firstscotlandeast.com/kidspack

New bus app for wheelchair users praised by disability charity

Disability Equality Scotland has praised national bus operator First Bus for fast-tracking technology which will enable wheelchair users in Edinburgh to track accessible spaces on their local bus services in ‘real-time’.

The mobile app update, available now, enables customers across the city to view available wheelchair spaces across its fleet. This important innovation makes bus travel easier by tracking wheelchair capacity through an icon that moves across a virtual map.

The update forms part of a fast-tracked investment in the app which has seen First become the first UK bus operator to not only allow bus passengers to live track the location of their next bus, but also show its capacity in ‘real time’.

Emma Scott, Operations Manager at Disability Equality Scotland explained why this is such a welcome improvement for wheelchair users in the area: “We welcome the fast-tracking of the app which will give wheelchair users more confidence to use public transport during these uncertain times.

“By giving wheelchair users this information in an inclusive and accessible way, it allows them to make decisions about whether to wait or find an alternative route.” 

Andrew Jarvis, Managing Director of First Bus in Scotland   said “We are really proud to have been able to fast-track our recent app updates to ensure safe, informed travel during these difficult times.

“Our buses provide an essential service for our customers and we are doing all we can to support them. The app update is aligned with our longstanding pledge to improve the bus experience for our disabled passengers.”

To find out more about what First Bus is doing to support customers during Covid-19, visit https://www.firstgroup.com/help-and-support/coronavirus-information

If  customers are exempt from Government face covering guidelines, First Bus have journey assistance cards available to download from https://www.firstgroup.com/help-and-support/extra-help-travel.

First Bus announces app update to live-track bus capacity

First Bus, one of the UK’s largest operators, is launching an update to its mobile app that will enable customers across Edinburgh to live track not only the location of their next bus but also its available capacity, as the operator continues to develop ways to help customers social distance on board its fleet.

First Bus will be the first major bus operator to roll out live capacity tracking. This reduces uncertainty for customers and allows them to make informed decisions about their essential journeys.

Going live this week, the app update will show customers a bus icon on a map depicting the live location and available capacity of each vehicle in the vicinity. This new functionality will provide customers with the information they need as the bus approaches.

The innovation has been made possible by First Bus’s new passenger counting functionality, announced at the end of May. Data from this system feeds directly to the First Bus app in real time.

With social distancing guidance being observed at the same time as lockdown restrictions are being relaxed, this additional capacity will allow customers to travel in comfort and safety. To further support social distancing, and in addition to passenger counting, seats on each bus are now clearly marked indicating where customers should sit.

First Bus continues to encourage cashless payments, and use of the App to purchase mTickets, to reduce the need for contact between customers and drivers.

Andrew Jarvis, Managing Director of First Bus in Scotland, said “We are really proud to have been able to fast-track this technology to ensure safe, informed travel during these difficult times.

“Our buses provide an essential service for our customers and we are doing all we can to support them.”

This latest update from First Bus forms part of its ongoing work to improve the customer experience.

First Bus launches educational pack to help Edinburgh kids carry on learning

Scotland’s biggest bus operator has created and launched a new online educational resource to support the home-schooling efforts of parents and teachers in Edinburgh during the Coronavirus lockdown.

Local bus operator First Scotland East has teamed up with teachers from across the country to develop a resource pack for schools, with the aim of providing primary aged children with a fun filled set of activities focused around buses.

With the Coronavirus outbreak delivering a trying time for thousands of people, the team at First Scotland East wanted to give something back and support the communities they proudly serve every day with their local bus services across Edinburgh.

The pack, which is based on the curriculum for excellence criteria, aims to educate kids on the benefits of using public transport, through a series of engaging, educational tasks.

Each page has been created specifically around the core educational framework of the curriculum for excellence; literacy, numeracy, creativity and problem solving.  Each activity is coded to enable teachers to track and monitor how children are getting on with each sheet.

Designed to suit the abilities of children from P1 right through to P7, the pack contains a series of activities to appeal to each age and stage, as well as tapping into children’s love of all things bus.

From creating posters on the environmental benefits of using the bus, to writing about a favourite bus journey, a word search, a ‘build a bus’ challenge, an acrostic poem and the opportunity to design a bus, the pack has been created with fun as well as education at front of mind.

Andrew Jarvis, Managing Director of First Bus in Scotland, (above) said: “With much of the UK effectively ordered to stay at home for at least the next few weeks, we wanted to support the thousands of schools, teachers and families who are home-schooling and keeping children entertained during this unprecedented time.

“Just a few weeks ago, it was almost inconceivable that these restrictions would be in place, which only underlines what a challenging, dynamic and rapidly evolving situation the UK faces and one which First Bus is monitoring and responding to day-by-day, hour-by-hour.

“Rest assured everything is being done to keep key workers mobile as the nation comes together to limit the spread of coronavirus. I hope our activity packs will provide another means of helping to keep younger children occupied and is just a small gesture from everyone at First Scotland East to bring some light relief to families during this difficult period.”

The educational pack is available to download for free, from the website link: www.firstscotlandeast.com/kidspack

They have already been well received by a number of teachers, parents, children and schools around the country.

In the near future, the packs will be available to download from all First Bus UK regional websites.