Lothian Buses Limited Volvo BZL/MCV
New order
Lothian Buses have begun to receive their next batch of electric Volvo deckers. This is 747e (SF25YJR) and like their earlier sisters they have the silly golden fronts. I’m still not sold on this design although if it had the ‘fleet of the future’ livery with the swoops it may look better. But taste is subjective as they say.
Interestingly delivery of these buses has led to a bit of a political spat in Scotland. Following the issues surrounding Alexander Dennis, the Scottish Labour Party leader was at pains to point out that the Labour Mayor of Greater Manchester had ordered plenty of buses from ADL for the creation of Bee Network. Where as the Scottish Government’s own Zero Emissions Bus Scheme has seen most buses ordered outside ADL. To be fair, the Scottish Government’s scheme was more a subsidy to make up the extra cost of purchasing electric over diesel buses, so the bus companies were free to buy from who they wanted today in and whereas the Mayor bought them directly.
However it was the highlighted that Lothian Buses, majority owned by The City of Edinburgh Council which is Labour-run, was ordering electric buses from overseas, built in Sweden and Egypt. So it seemed a tad hypocritical. But again to be fair, all Lothian was doing was selecting its preferred manufacturer and it wasn’t Lothian’s fault that this bus was assembled where it was
Lothian Buses Limited Volvo BZL/MCV
New order
Lothian Buses have begun to receive their next batch of electric Volvo deckers. This is 747e (SF25YJR) and like their earlier sisters they have the silly golden fronts. I’m still not sold on this design although if it had the ‘fleet of the future’ livery with the swoops it may look better. But taste is subjective as they say.
Interestingly delivery of these buses has led to a bit of a political spat in Scotland. Following the issues surrounding Alexander Dennis, the Scottish Labour Party leader was at pains to point out that the Labour Mayor of Greater Manchester had ordered plenty of buses from ADL for the creation of Bee Network. Where as the Scottish Government’s own Zero Emissions Bus Scheme has seen most buses ordered outside ADL. To be fair, the Scottish Government’s scheme was more a subsidy to make up the extra cost of purchasing electric over diesel buses, so the bus companies were free to buy from who they wanted today in and whereas the Mayor bought them directly.
However it was the highlighted that Lothian Buses, majority owned by The City of Edinburgh Council which is Labour-run, was ordering electric buses from overseas, built in Sweden and Egypt. So it seemed a tad hypocritical. But again to be fair, all Lothian was doing was selecting its preferred manufacturer and it wasn’t Lothian’s fault that this bus was assembled where it was