Lothian Buses 627, SJ21 MZO, on service 44

Lothian Buses 627 SJ21 MZO, a ZF Ecolife/ Volvo B5TL Enviro400 MMC, on service 44 to Wallyford from Balerno via Currie, Juniper Green, Kingsknowe, Slateford, Dalry, Haymarket, West End, Princes Street, Leith Street, Abbeyhill, Meadowbank, Craigentinny South, Duddingston, Portobello South, Musselburgh and Wallyford Park & Ride.

 

627 was new in early 2021 along with 601 - 626 and 628 - 698, 651 - 698 are 71 plates, to replace the vast majority of pre 2010 B9TL's. They were sold to various operators across the UK, mainly in England.

 

 

Between September of 2020 and September of 2021 we saw the majority of the Volvo B9TL's, new prior to 2010, began to be withdrawn. These were a mixture of Gemini's and Gemini 2's, which ranged from 07 plates all the way to 59 plates.

The first of the Gemini's to be withdrawn were the 07 and the early 57 plates, 831 - 840 and 851 - 873 by December 2020. 826 - 830 weren't withdrawn at this stage due to being loaned to Lothian Country, whilst Euro 6 upgrades were in progression for the ex London B9TL's and their ex Lothian B9TL's.

Then, the last two 57 plates 874 and 875, including 07 plates 826 - 830 and 08 plates 876 - 915 and 918 - 924 were withdrawn by May 2021.

Although 841 - 850 are 57 plates, they weren't withdrawn due to them being heavily refurbished in 2017 and were sent to Lothian Motorcoaches for excursions across Scotland by early 2018, they all re-entered normal service in 2019 with 841 - 843 being used as a shuttle bus for the University of Edinburgh and 844 - 850 being sent to Lothian Country and receive Lothian Country branding on the top rear window and around the front destination display to increase the capacities of both services 275 and 280. Early 2020 saw 841 - 843 get painted into Lothian Country livery. However, 841 - 843 were not able to enter service until August 2020 due to them not having driver protection shields and were all sent to the Seafield Works in Edinburgh along with 844 - 850 to get the protection shields fitted. They all re-entered service with 844 - 850 getting transferred to East Coast Buses in September 2020 to replace their old B7TL Wright Eclipse Gemini's. 841 - 843 were loaned to East Coast Buses in June 2021 to aid in the school runs which led to them being fully transferred to East Coast Buses and they still carry the Lothian Country livery to this very day.

 

Anyways, enough of the ex Lothian B9TL's, back to the B5TL's.

 

The Volvo B5TL ADL Enviro400 MMC was a brand new product offered by Alexander Dennis introduced in early 2021 with Lothian Buses being the first buyers of the product, and so far, the only buyers of the product. They were built to a cheaper specification in comparison to their previous buses. However, they still offer the same great quality with them having high back seats and USB charging points.

 

The initial 30 of the MMC's were destined for Longstone, being 601 - 630 with the next 20, 631 - 650, being destined for Marine. All of the 21 plates entered service by September 2021. Onto the 71 plates, a further 25 MMC's were destined for Longstone, these being 651 - 675, then the final 22 of the order, 676 - 698, were destined for Central. All of the 71 plates entered service by February 2022.

 

An interesting thing to note is, 601 wasn't the first MMC to enter service with Lothian Buses. Although it is the first one numerically in the fleet. This was due to 601 being used for demonstrating the new product. This lasted for a couple of months before heading to Lothian Buses (I'm not 100% certain about this though).

 

What I am about to discuss here, I want to make clear, this was NOT and was NEVER officially confirmed to be true. This was just a rumour, but I thought it would be interesting to talk about: prior to the first MMC's entering service, 602 - 620 I believe, there was a rumour spread that East Coast Buses were due to get 8 of the new buses. The order count was already confirmed to be 98, so it was believed that 691 - 698 would go to East Coast Buses and would have been acquainted the fleet numbers of 20691 - 20698.

 

 

This is a list of all the Volvo B5TL Enviro400 MMC's including the fleet number, registration number and the depot:

Fleet no - Registration - Depot

601 - SJ21 MY - Longstone

602 - SJ21 MYB - Longstone

603 - SJ21 MYC - Longstone

604 - SJ21 MYD - Longstone

605 - SJ21 MYF - Longstone

606 - SJ21 MYG - Longstone

607 - SJ21 MYH - Longstone

608 - SJ21 MYL - Longstone

609 - SJ21 MYK - Longstone

610 - SJ21 MYM - Longstone

611 - SJ21 MYN - Longstone

612 - SJ21 MYO - Longstone

613 - SJ21 MYP - Longstone

614 - SJ21 MYR - Longstone

615 - SJ21 MYT - Longstone

616 - SJ21 MYU - Longstone

617 - SJ21 MYV - Longstone

618 - SJ21 MYW - Longstone

619 - SJ21 MYY - Longstone

620 - SJ21 MYZ - Longstone

621 - SJ21 MZD - Longstone

622 - SJ21 MZE - Longstone

623 - SJ21 MZF - Longstone

624 - SJ21 MZG - Longstone

625 - SJ21 MZL - Longstone

626 - SJ21 MZN - Longstone

627 - SJ21 MZO - Longstone

628 - SJ21 MZP - Longstone

629 - SJ21 MZT - Longstone

630 - SJ21 MZU - Longstone

631 - SJ21 MZV - Marine

632 - SJ21 MZW - Marine

633 - SJ21 MZX - Marine

634 - SJ21 MZZ - Marine

635 - SJ21 NBA - Marine

636 - SJ21 NBB - Marine

637 - SJ21 NBD - Marine

638 - SJ21 NBE - Marine

639 - SJ21 NBF - Marine

640 - SJ21 NBG - Marine

641 - SJ21 NBK - Marine

642 - SJ21 NBL - Marine

643 - SJ21 NBM - Marine

644 - SJ21 NBN - Marine

645 - SJ21 NBO - Marine

646 - SJ21 NBX - Marine

647 - SJ21 NBZ - Marine

648 - SJ21 NCA - Marine

649 - SJ21 NCC - Marine

650 - SJ21 NCD - Marine

651 - SJ71 HJA - Longstone

652 - SJ71 HJC - Longstone

653 - SJ71 HJD - Longstone

654 - SJ71 HJE - Longstone

655 - SJ71 HJF - Longstone

656 - SJ71 HJG - Longstone

657 - SJ71 HJK - Longstone

658 - SJ71 HJN - Longstone

659 - SJ71 HJO - Longstone

660 - SJ71 HJU - Longstone

661 - SJ71 HJV - Longstone

662 - SJ71 HJX - Longstone

663 - SJ71 HJZ - Longstone

664 - SJ71 HKA - Longstone

665 - SJ71 HKB - Longstone

666 - SJ71 HKC - Longstone

667 - SJ71 HKD - Longstone

668 - SJ71 HKE - Longstone

669 - SJ71 HKF - Longstone

670 - SJ71 HKG - Central

671 - SJ71 HKH - Central

672 - SJ71 HKK - Central

673 - SJ71 HKL - Central

674 - SJ71 HKM - Central

675 - SJ71 HKN - Central

676 - SJ71 HKO - Central

677 - SJ71 HKP - Central

678 - SJ71 HKT - Central

679 - SJ71 HKU - Central

680 - SJ71 HKV - Central

681 - SJ71 HKW - Central

682 - SJ71 HKX - Central

683 - SJ71 HKY - Central

684 - SJ71 HKZ - Central

685 - SJ71 HLA - Central

686 - SJ71 HLC - Central

687 - SJ71 HLD - Central

688 - SJ71 HLE - Central

689 - SJ71 HLF - Central

690 - SJ71 HLG - Central

691 - SJ71 HLH - Central

692 - SJ71 HLK - Central

693 - SJ71 HLM - Central

694 - SJ71 HLO - Central

695 - SJ71 HLP - Central

696 - SJ71 HLR - Central

697 - SJ71 HLU - Central

698 - SJ71 HLV - Central

 

Update log, Jun22 - Jul22:

670 - 675 have moved from Longstone to Central.

 

Notes:

For the exeptions of 670 - 675, there have been no fleet movement as of the date this was uploaded, Wednesday 27th July 2022, so the vehicles and depots listed above haven't changed, for the exeptions of 670 - 675. Therefore, this is essentially the original depot listing for these vehicles.

 

Disclaimer - if there are any changes to depots I won't be updating this specific description, but I would update the list when I upload another photograph of an ADL Volvo B5TL Enviro400 MMC owned by Lothian Buses.

 

 

This photograph was taken at the Balerno terminus, Cockburn Crescent, on Sunday the 8th of August 2021.

 

 

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I wish for you all to take care and, most of all, stay safe out there! 😊

Done