ANOTHER MYSTERY TOUR FROM GLASGOW:
Part One: ARGh!
29 October 2023
ABOVE: McGill's J 5022 (SG71 OTH) is a Yutong E12 electric single-decker. It is in Main Road, Neilston, on the south-western fringe of Glasgow, setting out on a trip to the City Centre. All pictures in this article were taken on Thursday 7th September 2023.
It's another hot day in prospect, and I'm standing at a bus stop in Renfrew Street in Glasgow, anticipating a day of exploration around its southern suburbs. I have a plan that starts in the south-western suburbs, at Neilston, and sweeps across to the south-eastern suburbs at Overtown, near Wishaw.
The bus stop stands opposite the Pavilion Theatre, opened as a Music Hall in 1904. It's an impressive sight in the very crowded streets of this city centre.
I'm taking the McGill's service 3 to Neilston, not to be confused with the First Greater Glasgow service 3 to Govan, which also runs down this road. (I was on that one, briefly, a couple of days ago, until I realised that it went in a great big circle!)
The electric bus revolution has clearly caught on in Glasgow, and it is such a vehicle that arrives for me now. This is a Yutong E12 electric bus of about 12.2 metres in length, making it a long and impressive looking bus.
I'm not quite so sure about the interior layout to be honest. There are seats at the front, backing onto each other over the wheel, that are about one-and-a-half seats wide. They would not suit two passengers who didn't know one another, and are probably best-suited to a parent and toddler.
ABOVE: The strange 1.5-person-wide seats found on the Yutong E12 can be seen behind the driver. One person sits in the centre of the forward-facing seat.
Although this is route 3, and I verify later that the outside branding matches that, the only route-specific information on display inside the vehicle is for route 38 (Glasgow to Johnstone).
Both routes, and some others that McGill's has converted to electric operation, are branded as "Switch" - a name that unfortunately now clashes with the new name of the bus manufacturer formerly known as Optare. As Switch, the manufacturer, also builds 12-metre electric single-deckers (albeit currently seemingly targeting the Indian bus market), it's rather strange to see the name of one of Yutong's rivals appearing prominently on its buses!
There are only two of us at the first stop as the 0818 service sets out for the 64-minute journey. The driver maintains that a day ticket will be better for me than a single (seems to be a theme in this part of Scotland). Actually, as we shall see, it turns out to be right, even though this is my only intended McGill's trip today.
On what is going to be a very warm day, I have left my jacket behind at the hotel, but I could do with it now - there's a strong flow of cold air blowing through from the air-con, which makes things uncomfortable.
It's a fairly direct run out of Glasgow on this route. We're heading through the Pollokshields area, and onwards into Shawlands. For now, we're running along exactly the same roads as First's route 3, and indeed, following one for much of the way. It must be confusing for locals.
We skirt the edge of the Pollok Country Park before calling into the Silverburn Shopping centre (of which more later). There's not much happening here, which is unsurprising given that it's not even 0900. There's a nice, rural feel to some of the roads we pass down. Glasgow isn't all built-up; not by any means.
We come into Barrhead, from where we embark on a detour through the suburb of Auchinback, a tightly-built residential area, where the bus at times has a struggle to squeeze through. This is the only real break from what is otherwise a direct service - it's a 15-minute round trip from Barrhead, and buses in both directions follow the same roads around, in the same direction.
ABOVE: Oakbank Drive, Barrhead, is partway around the Auchinback round trip from the centre of Barrhead. It straddles Aurs Road, on the right.
We return to Barrhead and then complete the run into Neilston. It has become a much busier journey as we have progressed, and there's a decent crowd waiting for the return trip as well.
ABOVE: McGill's J 5048 (SA71 MZE), a Yutong E12, has just dropped me off in Main Street, Neilston. The outside branding covers route 3, so it's rather surprising that the interior branding is for route 38, as shown above!
I have almost an hour to kill here and there isn't a lot to do. The only coffee shop (conveniently right next to the bus stop) is very busy and a seat in there looks unlikely as there's the air of a 'club' and I think those sitting there are going to stay for a while.
I have a bit of a wander, but end up just sitting on a bench waiting for time to pass. I do have an important text message to send to a valued colleague who has been taken ill, so I do at least have time to sit down and compose this, in peaceful surroundings.
My plan is to catch the 1018 departure on route 395 to East Kilbride. It's a service run by an independent operator, ARG Travel.
It's a slightly confusing service at this end. Although loosely hourly, alternate buses run from Uplawmoor, three miles from Neilston. These buses follow a different routing through Neilston to those that terminate here, and pick-up points are different.
I have reassured myself that I am waiting at the right stop for the 1018 service, which starts here, as the departure is indicated in the timetable panel at the stop. I am further reassured when I spot the incoming bus turning off Main Street into High Street, via which it will turn round and come back for me.
An Optare Solo of ARG Travel turns into High Street, Neilston, on the incoming journey on route 395 from East Kilbride. It is in the colours of Strathclyde Passenger Transport (SPT), and the 395 is presumably a tendered service provided on behalf of SPT.
The scheduled departure of the 395 almost coincides with that of route 66 to Paisley, another McGill's service provided by Yutong E12s. That service is due at 1019, but it arrives first and scoops up every waiting passenger other than me. The ARG Travel Optare comes into view from Station Road on the left and turns onto Main Street.
But it's marked "Not in Service", and it drives straight past the stop. My 395 has apparently been cancelled - either officially so that the bus can return to the depot for some reason, or unofficially because the driver doesn't think it's worth looking for passengers in this area (as I said above, I was the only one left waiting when the 66 turned up). The company has a Twitter / X feed but doesn't seem to do anything with it; certainly the cancellation of a trip doesn't generate a message.
I wait for a few minutes in case a substitute vehicle is on the way, but nothing turns up. The driver definitely saw me looking interested; he could have stopped to explain if there was a problem. But he didn't.
The next one is 75 minutes away, and leaves from a different stop (no idea where).
I'm not going to wait. That's six pounds of lost revenue (based on the fare table on the very basic ARG Travel website). If this service is withdrawn through lack of patronage anytime soon, you'll know why.
But what now? I take the 1034 departure on route 3 back as far as the Silverburn Shopping Centre. That day ticket has been useful after all! It's a busy run on this bus that, like the earlier one, is branded outside for route 3 but carries route 38 panels inside!
The shopping centre has livened up now of course. Basically, I'm in Pollok. The shopping centre was even opened as the Pollok Centre, as a sign inside confirms. There are over 100 shops and restaurants here, so a tea break is easy now! There's a cinema complex, and the place even has its own mascot, designed by local children - a fox named Silvia.
ABOVE: There are three buses visible in Silverburn shopping centre's bus station. On the left is a First Greater Glasgow vehicle on the 'other' route 3 (Govan to Drumchapel via central Glasgow), and behind it is First 37536 (SF08 SNU), a Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini, on route X8, a circular from Buchanan Street to Silverburn and Pollok. The vehicle on the right is an anonymous Optare Solo.
I'm now completely off-course again, and there doesn't seem to be an easy way to reach East Kilbride, so I decide to abandon the plan and try the First Greater Glasgow service 57, which is a reasonably direct 91-minute ride across central Glasgow to Auchinairn. Buses run every 20 minutes, and the 1148 departure is almost due, and is visible on the stand.
ABOVE: First Greater Glasgow 64152 (LG22 AWO), is a BYD D9UR ADL Enviro200EV, awaiting departure from Silverburn towards Auchinairn on route 57.
First has also embraced electric vehicles in this region. It has gone down a different route, though, by purchasing BYD D9UR ADL Enviro200EVs rather than Yutong E12s.
The stand for route 57 is rather awkward and the bus has to leave the bus station entirely and drive back round in order to pick up at our stop.
As First operates a Tap-On, Tap-Off system, I don't have to declare my intended destination as I board, so I can be flexible.
This bus is busy from the off. Although Glasgow city centre is broadly north-east from here, we start off to the south-west, on a circuitous run that passes through South Nitshill and Darnley, and then to Thornliebank. These places are all just names to me, you understand - I've never heard of any of them before and I'm just mentioning them in case they are familiar to you!
It's around Thorliebank that I get a nice view across the fields of the Hutchison's Playing Fields - one end of quite a large expanse of open space described as the Auldhouse Sports Ground Park and Garden.
ABOVE: The Hutchison's Playing Fields stop, between Thornliebank and Mansewood, broadly south of Glasgow city centre. I believe that the white building in the distance is the Giffnock Soccer Centre.
A little further along the route is Pollokshaws Toll House, an innocuous-looking building in the centre of a large roundabout. It's a 19th-century building and is category B-listed in the Scottish system (special architectural or historic interest).
In close proximity is another building of significance, although it is probably not listed... This is 33 Cartcraigs Road, a residential tower block that stands 17 floors high:
ABOVE: 33 Cartcraigs Road
There's an interesting tale about the many tower blocks that used to grace the streets of Glasgow's suburbs, and it's neatly told by Liam Smillie in an article on the Glasgow World website. Nine towers once stood in Pollokshaws, but 33 Cartcraigs Road is the last one standing. Externally the block looks to be in good shape, but, given that its eight siblings have all gone, as have many others in the city, one wonders how long it will remain standing.
Curiously, the bus stop alongside this block completely ignores the tower block, the toll house and the roundabout, and goes by the fairly-anonymous name of "Harriet Place" (which is a road opposite).
The bus now turns towards the city centre, running along the roads that have already become familiar to me in my three days here (and that I have already traversed this morning on route 3), through Shawlands and Pollokshields (not to be confused with Pollokshaw), and back into the city across the King George V bridge.
ABOVE: Looking west along the Clyde from the King George V bridge in Glasgow city Centre
On this last stretch the bus has become very busy, with every seat taken and some standing passengers. It's taken about an hour to get to this point and, although it has further to go, I decide to bail out here and see what other options are available.
I leave the bus in Oswald Street, and walk forward to a stop that has 16 routes listed on it. It's not yet 1300. My plans for a southerly trip around the city are in tatters, but there must be something interesting from this stop with which to continue my mystery tour, surely?
Oh yes, indeed there is...
To be continued...