What’s on in July

Where can we take you this month?

It’s July and the school holidays are here. Before the Festival starts, here’s five things in the City for you to do with your family, all of them just a family day ticket away.

Our family dayticket allows your family (up to 2 adults and up to 3 children) all day travel on our Lothian day service. Jump on as many buses as you can and explore!

1. See BRICKLIVE Ocean at Edinburgh Zoo

Visit the Zoo between 6 July – 17 September and you can see over 30 life sized LEGO® brick sculptures of your favourite marine animals including a killer whale, a hammerhead share, an octopus and an giant squid!

As a bonus to all our customers, you can get £1 off all adults tickets throughout July with a one of our bus tickets bought on the day.

Edinburgh Zoo Buses: 12, 26, 31

2. Dance at the Edinburgh Festival Carnival

Come into the City Centre on 14 July to experience the sights and sounds ot the Edinburgh Festival Carnival. There will be over 700 performers to see.
The carnival starts at 1.30 but make sure you arrive early to get a good view

ALL CITY CENTRES BUSES

3. Take a trip to the National Museum of Scotland

For days when the weather isn’t as good, everyone loves a trip to The National Museum of Scotland. They have lots of fun activities for children including the chance to race a Formula 1 Car!

National Museum Buses: 2, 23, 27, 35, 41, 42, 67, 300

4. Challenge you family to a game of ten pin bowling.

How about an afternoon ten pin bowling? It’s something the whole family can get involved in and it’s sure to make you all laugh.

World of Bowing – Corn Exchange Buses: 4, 20, 35, 44, 300
Ten Pin – Fountainpark Buses: 1, 22, 30, 34, 35, 300

5. Have a Picnic

Pack a picnic and take a trip The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, it’s the perfect spot for budding gardeners and photographers. Relax in their beautiful gardens and enjoy the peaceful surroundings.

Botanic Buses 8, 23, 27

To celebrate Reserves Day, we have today (Wednesday 26 June) revealed a new bus rear confirming our partnership with the Lowland Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Association (Lowland RFCA).

Lothian is a Reserve friendly employee and we are commited to supporting members of staff who serve within the Royal Naval Reserves, Royal Marines Reserves, Army Reserves and Royal Auxiliary Air Force, allowing them to attend their annual training camps with full paid leave.

The new rear promotes joining the Lowland Reserves and our commitment to the Armed Forces.

Tracey Bork, Lothian’s Head of People said:

We are very proud to have many employees who serve in the reserves or are ex-forces personnel.

Reserves Day is an annual opportunity for us to show our support to the veterans and cadets across the country who volunteer in the reserves, as well as the wider armed forces community and their families. This advert confirms our continuous commitment to the city’s reserve forces.

Following the unveiling of our NEW eye-catching rainbow coloured bus last night (19 June), we are delighted to announced our partnership with Pride Edinburgh.

We will be the organisation’s official transport partner, helping to promote equality and diversity in and around the capital city.

The bus, wrapped in Pride colours and logos and designed by our in-house design team, was gifted to Pride Edinburgh and will be part of the Pride Scotia March Saturday.

Look out for our drivers wearing a splash of colour along with their uniforms across the day.

It is already a huge hit with our customers and the residents of Edinburgh.

Brett Herriot from Pride Edinburgh said:

We are delighted to develop our partnership with Lothian, in this year where prides around the world mark the 50th Anniversary of the stonewall uprising the global starting point for the pride movement and in Lothians Centenary year its a potent marker of how far we have come on the journey to equality for all irrespective of colour, creed, gender or sexuality. The new Pride bus will be a shining beacon in the city and will showcase Lothians inclusive working environment and the welcoming service it provides for all citizens of the capital city.

Gaynor Marshall, Lothian’s Communications Director said:

Lothian are thrilled to be expanding our support for Pride Edinburgh as their official transport partner for this year. As one of the largest employers in Edinburgh with over 2500 people across our business, Pride Edinburgh shares our ethos of creating a culture of diversity, equality and inclusion.  We really look forward to seeing our amazing, eye-catching and vibrant bus on the streets around Edinburgh and the Lothians celebrating the diversity of our Capital City.

The Pride Scotia March kicks off from 11.30am on Saturday. More information can be found at www.prideedinburgh.org.uk/march

Tomorrow, 20 June 2019, is Clean Air Day.

Air pollution is real and harms the health of millions of people. But we can all do our bit to improve air quality and look after our own and other people’s health.

As part of our 2020 strategy, we are working hard to lower emissions and have a overall goal to meet the Scottish Government’s ambitious Climate Change targets. By 2020 we will have cut our emissions footprint by 42%, reduce particulates by 75% and operate at a minimum of Euro 5 buses.

We are committed to providing environmentally friendly transport and have made substantial investments in low emission buses. Our new Euro 6 buses see up to a 98% reduction in harmful emissions.

Did you know…

• One full double decker low emission bus can remove up to 75 – 100  cars from the road, reducing congestion and improving air quality
• The latest Euro VI buses are 95% cleaner than previous models and emit fewer emissions than the average Euro VI car, despite having 15-20 times the capacity!
• Only 4% of road transport greenhouse gas emissions come from bus and coach. 60% comes from the car.
• 5% of the UK bus fleet is zero-emission, the highest percentage of any road based mode of transport
• The Transport Scotland Green Bus Fund has part-funded the purchase of 347 Low Emission Buses in Scotland

You can help make a difference to…

• Give your car a day off – Walk, cycle or take public transport to work or school, or work from home if you can.
• Use fragrance free milder cleaning products
• Organise a walking bus to take your kids to school
• Burn only well seasoned wood or smokeless fuel at home

To add some fun to the day, we’re asking you to send us your photos on your commute tomorrow. Everyone that sends us a photo will be entered into a PRIZE DRAW to WIN a four week Ridacard.

You could be on the bus, at the bus stop or downloading your m-ticket bus ticket. The more creative the better!

What are you waiting for.

Our 2018 annual report has been published today (13 June) showing an improved company performance which has allowed us to increase the dividend to our public sector owners to £7.7m up from £6.8m last year. The report also shows a 5.1% increase in turnover from £152.9m in 2017 to £160.6m in 2018 and an investment of  £11.4m in our asset portfolio including the purchase of 91 passenger vehicles, adding around 10% to the size of our fleet.

Jim McFarlane, Chair of Lothian, said:

Lothian continues to contribute to the local and wider economy, creating new job opportunities and investing heavily in the newest technology and vehicles for the benefit of our customers.

I’m really pleased that our annual accounts released today demonstrate that we are continuing to grow our revenues, whilst also investing in the development and expansion of our business.

Our performance during 2018 and effective management of increasing cost pressures also mean that we can return a £7.7m dividend to our shareholders.

Richard Hall, Managing Director of Lothian, added:

We have continued to adapt and develop our business by reviewing new opportunities and how we evolve both our current and future public transport offerings.

Our results for the year are in line with our forecasted expectations and significantly show an overall revenue increase of 5.1% over the previous year driven by the exploitation of growth opportunities, delivering a profit before tax of £2.3m.

Lothian has faced significant operating and cost pressures driven by economic change and inflation. We anticipate that these cost pressures will not only remain but also increase in the future and we continue to work proactively to address and mitigate the impact of these in order to maintain our required investment and returns.

2018 also saw us review and implement significant changes to our bus depreciation policy driven by rapidly changing emission regulations driving fleet renewals. As a result our bus depreciation term was decreased from 15 years to 12 years.

Read the full accounts.

The Spice Girls bring their Spice World 2019 tour to BT Murrayfield this Saturday playing everyone’s 1990’s hits, Stop, 2 Become 1, Who Do You Think You Are and of course Wannabe!

If you’re heading along to the concert, we’ve got a bus to get you there from around Edinburgh, the City Centre, the Airport, West Lothian and local P&R sites.

Buses to BT Murrayfield:
–From Edinburgh City Centre – Services 1,  3, 12,  22,  25,  26,  30,  31 or 33
–From Hermiston Park & Ride –  Service 25 from Hermiston Park & Ride (A71 close to M8, A720)
–From Ingliston Park & Ride – Service X12 will be operating between Ingliston Park & Ride and BT Murrayfield from 1630 – 2000 and from BT Murrayfield back to Ingliston Park & Ride after the concert with frequent departures.
–From Edinburgh Airport – Airlink 100 will take you to BT Murrayfield and the City Centre
–From Bathgate / Broxburn / Armadale – Service X18
–From Livingston – Services X27/X28
–From Fauldhouse / West Calder and Livingston – Service X17

Travel Tips!
–Traffic will be busy, so please allow extra time for your journey.
–If you need to use more than 3 buses for your round trip, our dayticket is the best value option for you.
–You’ll find real time travel information and someone to help on our Twitter feed.
–Plan your journey and buy your bus tickets in advance on our app.
–There will be diversions in place after the game.  Please be aware of these for your onwards travel plans.
–Dance, Sing, Keep Safe and Take the Bus.

Bus tickets:
–Single tickets are £1.70 (adult) or £0.80 (child)*.
–Day tickets are £4.00 (adult) or £2.00 (child)*.
–Airlink fares – Adult single £4.50, Adult return £7.50 and Child single £2.00, Child return £3.00.
Please note- Lothian operates an exact fare system for cash fares, this means the driver cannot give you change. *additional zonal fares apply on services X17, X18 and X27/X28.