The bus saga –

It seems clear by now, from the many responses sent back in via this website, and FaceBook,  ‘I Love Leith’ etc. that NOBODY received a leaflet about the bus route changes. A mystery.

So this is the latest message that Leith Links Community Council has sent to Lothian Buses. We are still awaiting a reply.

23 September

To: Lothian Buses

Dear Ms Marshall

Thank you for your most recent message.

I wonder if I could ask for clarification?

You say “We appreciate that some of our customers are unable to access our digital platforms and so in addition to bus stop information being refreshed to reflect the changes we reached out to approx. 22K households (in the EH6 6. EH6 7, EH6 8, EH7 6) areas with detailed information on Monday 12 September and Tuesday 13 September.”

May I ask you to clarify exactly what “reached out…to..households” means? On a first reading, we understood you to mean that you had leaflets delivered through the door of 22K households. However, this does not seem to be the case. Have we misunderstood you? Did you reach out in another way, and if so, can you explain precisely what form this took?

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We understand that the period since the Queen’s passing has, unexpectedly, been a very demanding period for Lothian Buses across the city and that it may take a while before things get back to ‘normal’, so we do not wish to be overly demanding. However, we would like to reiterate our request / invitation to meet with someone representing LB at some point soon, to discuss constructive ways in which we (i.e. the community council, as members of the local community and representing the local community) can collaborate and work with you and help to monitor the new services over the next few months, as you have stated you intend to do. You will obviously have access to passenger numbers and other objective data. And presumably, reports from drivers. We have access to ‘soft data’ in the form of the views of passengers as to how well the services are functioning, and meeting peoples’ needs, any important needs that are not being met, and so on.

Thank You

Sally Millar

Secy, Leith Links Community Council

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Leith Links Community Council received the following message from Lothian Buses, in response to our earlier email correspondence.

16.09.22

From: Gaynor Marshall, Communications Director, Lothian Buses

Thank you for your further email.  All comments and feedback are duly noted.

In terms of our communicating the change I can advise that information was published in advance of the changes on 11th September.  We appreciate that some of our customers are unable to access our digital platforms and so in addition to bus stop information being refreshed to reflect the changes we reached out to approx. 22K households (in the EH6 6. EH6 7, EH6 8, EH7 6) areas with detailed information on Monday 12 September and Tuesday 13 September.

Attached is a copy for your reference – it may be helpful for you to host it on LCC website. 

I can also confirm that all decisions were made with the information available at the time following dialogue with colleagues at CEC (TTN).  

The changes that came into place on 11th September will be monitored over the next few months with our immediate priority being stabilising the longer term commercial viability of the network and subsequent economic recovery of our business.

In terms of your further comments I refer you back to all previous communication which has provided our rationale and reasoning underpinned by commercial data and operational feasibility.    

In closing I would add that Lothian strive to deliver for customers in continuing exceptionally challenging circumstances.  We pride ourselves in being a part of the communities we serve and we will only endeavour to engage in meaningful and relevant dialogue when conducted in a professional and constructive manner.

Kind regards

Gaynor Marshall
Communications Director, Lothian Buses

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We will be responding in due course.

In the meanwhile, we would be interested –

  1. to know more about the leaflets. Please can you let us know if you got a leaflet through your door (or if you didn’t, but you think you should have, as you live along the bus routes). It would help if you added your street name and/or postcode.
  2.  to hear more about your experiences with the new bus routes. Last week was highly untypical, but starting from this week – how is it going for you, so far?

Please write a comment below or email contact@leithlinkscc.org.uk

Lothian Buses announce timetable changes as part of Trams to Newhaven project

Earlier this week we told you about the City of Edinburgh Councils Trams to Newhaven project beginning main constructions works.

Linked to these works, and the Lothian Buses response to the Covid-19 national health emergency, they are introducing a raft of timetable & route changes from Sunday 21 June 2020

Buses which serve the greater Leith area with changes to their timetable and / or routes  are:  1, 7, 34, 11, 14, 16, 21, 22, 25, 35 and 49.

Whilst some are attributed to their Covid-19 response Lothian Buses also make clear a number of changes are due to the Trams to Newhaven Project.

Information on their website says;

Lothian has announced changes to its network as work is set to begin on Leith Walk for the next stage of the Trams to Newhaven project.

The Leith Walk corridor will see significant traffic management put in place from Saturday 20 June 2020, resulting in diversions to all bus services in this area. The main daytime services affected include the 7, 11, 14, 16, 22, 25 and 49, which will follow different routes on journeys towards Leith.

Services 7, 14, 16, 22, 25 and 49 towards Leith will be diverted via London Road and Easter Road. Citybound journeys will continue to serve their normal route up Leith Walk.

Service 11 towards Ocean Terminal will be diverted via Annandale Street, Bellevue Road, McDonald Road and Broughton Road. Citybound journeys will continue to serve their normal route on Pilrig Street and Leith Walk.

 

Full information can be found on the Lothian Buses website by clicking here.

 

Coronavirus updates

As a Community Council we have taken the decision not to provide, or attempt to provide, rolling updates on the current Coronavirus situation.

As a group of volunteers we lack the time to be able to gather & share the numerous updates published each day by a variety of organisations. We are very keen to avoid circulating information that may be incomplete or no longer applicable.

Instead, we will provide very local updates as usual such as Leith Festival being postponed, or our meetings being cancelled.

But, for regular updates on the wider Coronavirus situation in our city or country we would direct you to the following sources of information, which are updated regularly;

 

You may also wish to view the following websites, although they do not have dedicated Coronarivus pages / sections, may provide useful information such as travel arrangements etc;