A bright old bus battle begins at EDI

Tuesday 2nd January 2024

For many years Transport for Edinburgh has enjoyed a monopoly on the lucrative travel market between Edinburgh Airport and the city centre.

That’s not to say passengers haven’t been well served. Lothian Buses regularly upgrades its Airlink 100 branded frequent bus route by investing in impressive new buses creating a high profile presence both at the airport and along this busy corridor while Edinburgh Trams runs every seven minutes between the airport and city centre, and from last year, out to Leith and Newhaven in the east.

However this monopoly ended yesterday when Britain’s largest independently owned bus company, Greenock based McGills, began a competing bus route using the Bright Bus brand it inherited when purchasing First Bus’s East Scotland bus business in 2022.

Bright Bus had been First’s foray into the lucrative Edinburgh city sightseeing market in 2019 which Lothian had hitherto also dominated and its no coincidence that competition began…

… after Lothian introduced competing bus routes with First Bus west of Edinburgh to Livingston and the surrounding hinterland under the Lothian Country brand as well as new Green Arrow branded routes which soon ended.

There’s not much scope for McGill’s Bright Bus to offer significant differentiation in this latest competitive bus battle. Lothian’s Airlink 100 already operates 24/7 with a 10 minute frequency between 04:00 and 01:00 then every 20 minutes through the night. Bright Bus runs less often at every 15 minutes during the day although steps up to every 10 minutes between the busy 04:00 and 06:00 period as well as reducing to half hourly between 21:00 and 24:00 before taking a break until 03:30.

Whereas Airlink 100 is limited stop (albeit 12 stops) and in my experience does well for commuters travelling to and from the city centre along the A8 from the stops it observes, Bright Bus is even more limited with just eight – five in the city centre (Haymarket and east) as well as Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Zoo and the Airport.

Furthermore, Bright Bus terminates at Waterloo Place (where its city tours depart) whereas Airlink 100 starts and ends at South St David Street just north of Princes Street…

… but interestingly this gives the newcomer a prime pick up/set down bus stop almost immediately outside Waverley station – one of the busiest stops in the city centre.

Until recent times Airlink 100 and sightseeing tours all departed on the now pedestrianised Waverley Bridge which was always handy for Waverley station.

But it’s on fares where things look set to really hot up. Bright Bus is charging just £4 single and £6.50 return undercutting Airlink 100’s £5.50 single and £8.00 return and pitched at almost half Edinburgh Trams’ £7.50 single but £9.50 return.

It’s always seemed a bit unfair a £2 flat fare applies for any journey on both Lothian Buses and Edinburgh Trams offering great value except when you travel to and from the airport where it nearly trebles on the bus (to £5.50) and almost quadruples on the tram to (£7.50).

There’s no doubt the tram is popular with passengers despite this pricing policy. You only have to watch passengers pour out of the Airport Terminal Building and walk straight towards the tram’s platforms to see its draw.

I think there’s a perception it must be the quickest way into the city.

It isn’t. It takes just over half an hour, slightly longer than the bus takes.

In recent times Airlink 100 has used stance A at the Airport, closest to the tram stop, to where you’re directed (for buses and the tram) as you leave ‘Arrivals’ in the Terminal Building.

It therefore enjoys ‘pole position’ …

… although bizarrely it’s the only departure stop with no shelter for waiting passengers but I assume the logic is there’ll always be a bus waiting. It does feel a bit exposed for passengers buying tickets from the ‘pavement conductor’.

Lothian’s two other airport routes (Skylink 200 and 400 to North and South Edinburgh) depart from stances B and C while the new Bright Bus Airport Express has been allocated to stance E further back along the outside of the Terminal Building, after the longer distance Citylink coach departures from stance D (where Airlink 100 used to both arrive and depart and where there’s a direction sign pointing towards stance A).

It acutally confused me as I thought the arrow was pointing onwards to the left around the bend, but stance A is actually behind where I was standing taking the above photograph. It’s even more confusing as buses set down just after stance E (round that bend)…

… so you might find an Airlink 100 bus parked there, as I did, behind the Bright Bus.

If you know where stance E is, it’s easy to reach by turning right as you come out of ‘Arrivals’, ignoring the signs telling you to turn left, but initially, ‘turn up’ type passengers from the airport may be hard to woe because of this.

There’s a timetable leaflet display immediately as you come through the Arrivals exit and I’m sure the Airport will soon arrange to display the attractive brightly orange coloured leaflet McGills has produced to promote its Airport Express as well as its two Bright Bus Edinburgh Tours, in addition to the Lothian literature you can see in the above photograph.

I also understand the Airport will be installing departure information about the new service on the shelter at stance E – hopefully this week – which currently only shows branding for the Dundee service which, of course, is also part of the McGills family.

Information displays around the departure area also need to be updated by the Airport.

Yesterday morning there was a helpful Bright Bus ambassador on hand – you couldn’t miss him in his bright orange uniform – to reassure and encourage passengers, which he was doing very well.

McGills are also in the City Council’s hands for displaying departure information at bus stops along the route which I’m sure will be updated soon, as the city generally has a good track record of displaying information about all routes irrespective of operator, especially on bus stop plates. Hopefully this being a competitive service to its owned company’s operation won’t delay the displays unnecessarily.

The eight buses allocated to run the new Airport Express are single deck Enviro 300s which McGills inherited with the First Bus East Scotland purchase in 2022.

There’s an additional luggage rack immediately behind the driver and although over ten years old, the interiors are smart and comfortable with appropriate orange branding and displays.

And yesterday there was a basket of freebie, on brand, orange coloured snacks in the traditional luggage pen for passengers to help themselves from, which was a nice touch.

I caught the 10:30 departure from the Airport yesterday morning to give the new service a try out. The bus was on the stance as the previous 10:15 departure pulled away. We left spot on time with five on board, picking four more up at the Edinburgh Zoo stop and two more at Murrayfield Stadium on a good run into the city centre with one alighting at Shandwick Place and all the rest at Waverley station which we reached at 10:55.

Not bad, especially as it included a swiftly executed driver changeover at the first stop within the Airport confines after leaving the Terminal Building – I understand the Airport won’t allow changeovers at the terminus itself, which is a shame.

But despite this, the journey was still at least five minutes quicker than the tram and almost half the price. And that will be the newcomer’s main selling point.

Edinburgh Airport is a huge market offering significant potential and the McGills team know what they’re doing.

Eleven passengers on a mid morning city bound journey on day one – in a slow-to-wake-up city from the night before’s celebrations – is very impressive and definitely bodes well for the future.

Like the city’s huge Sightseeing Tour market, I reckon this new competitive situation is sustainable for both operators, and if I’m right, everyone will benefit.

Where next for Bright Bus? Glasgow AIrport already has an Airport Express. With a single fare costing an exorbitant £10.

Now that’s something to think about. Although I understand the Airport imposes departure charges, even for buses.

Roger French

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