ONE BUS, TWO GUVNORS
4 November 2023
ABOVE: Stagecoach East Scotland 62001 (YX69 NUH) is an ADL Enviro200AV, capable of driving autonomously. It is seen arriving at Edinburgh Park, being driven in conventional mode, at the end of a run from Ferrytoll Park & Ride on route AB1. All photos in this article were taken on Friday 8th September 2023.
My regular reader has probably worked out by now that I spent some time in southern Scotland in September (the fact that four of my last six articles have been set there is a bit of a clue)! And I couldn't go to southern Scotland without checking out the UK's "first autonomous bus service" (that is, a bus that can drive itself)!
The problem for me with a UK first in the bus industry is that every other bus enthusiast has already been there, and those with the means to do so have already written about it. Buses magazine published an article about this in its July edition, and respected commentator Roger French was even quicker off the mark, riding the route on the first day and publishing his review the very next morning!
So can my experience, four months into the operation, and written up two months later, bring anything new to the party? Well I don't know, but I'm still attending the party, even if I've arrived so late that most of the other guests have gone home, and the hosts have tidied up and gone to bed!
Anyway, the CAVForth trial began in May this year, when new route AB1 ran for the first time. The route starts from Edinburgh Park station. Edinburgh Park is an out-of-town business park in South Gyle, about five miles south-west of Edinburgh city centre. It's an attractive spot, in what its website describes as a "tranquil setting [that] is home to a rich and diverse range of plants and wildlife ... [with] tree-lined boulevards and beautifully landscaped surroundings".
ABOVE: Edinburgh Park, photographed from an Edinburgh tram
It has to be said that the Edinburgh Park website isn't the most comprehensive I have ever seen, and the information on how to reach the area by bus could do with an update:
ABOVE: A screenshot, taken in November 2023, of the Edinburgh Park "how to get here by bus" page. Note the link (dead) to a July 2015 Local Transport Map. Many of the other links are also dead. Update needed?
I have come into Edinburgh Park by tram. The stretch of the tram route between Edinburgh Airport and the City Centre opened in 2014. The adjacent Edinburgh Park railway station opened in 2003. There's a modern out-of-town shopping complex adjacent, and a sense of newness around.
ABOVE: Edinburgh Trams 251 is the first (numerically) of a fleet of 27 CAF Urbos 3 trams. It is leaving Edinburgh Park for the City Centre and Newhaven. This is the rear of the tram, which may be why there is an "Airport" destination board visible. Let's hope no-one thinks this is the destination - the tram has come FROM the Airport!
My first challenge is to find the bus. There are two bus stops on the south side of the station, on Hermiston Gait, but there's no mention of the AB1 here (nor any obvious area maps). A quick inspection of a Google map on my phone confirms that I need to be on the northern side of the station.
But how to get across? There's no bridge over the railway (except inside the station ticket gateline). I eventually find a subway, a couple of hundred yards away from the tram platforms, and not particularly enticing. But it's the only way through.
Over to the northern side of the railway line and I've found the appropriate bus stop on Station Park, right outside the station entrance. It's not exactly shouting about the services one can catch from here, though.
ABOVE: The unremarkable bus stop outside Edinburgh Park station. This stop is marked "To City", but the AB1 will not be heading that way. A Scotrail train can be seen on the left.
But, to the left of the stop, someone has tied a publicity banner to the fence:
I have arrived at about 1450, and the next bus is due at 1500. It's not a long wait, therefore, before it comes into view.
And here's the first noteworthy thing about this very special bus - it looks completely 'normal'. Apart from the "Autonomous Bus" branding, it is, to the untrained eye, no different from any other bus.
ABOVE: Another view of Stagecoach East Scotland 62001 (YX69 NUH), an ADL Enviro200AV, arriving at Edinburgh Park station
The bus is an ADL Enviro200AV (I assume the AV stands for "Autonomous Vehicle"), one of four in use on the route. The styling is clearly to the modern MMC design, but, as a 69-reg, that's to be expected. (Incidentally, a 69-reg - 2019 - suggests that these buses have been around on test, behind the scenes, for some time.) This is a full 11.8 metre-long version, with 37 seats.
I'm already aware that the AB1, which is operated by Stagecoach East Scotland, carries a crew of two - a "Safety Driver" and a "Captain". The Captain's role includes fares collection, so I'm not surprised when she greets me as I board with advice to "take a seat". She's along a moment later to sell me my ticket from her hand-held device, just as London bus conductors did towards the end of crew operation there.
There are only three of us for this trip, so fares and tickets are all sold or checked before the bus leaves. Before we go, the Captain asks us to do up the seat-belts that are fitted, and we're on our way.
The Captain is a very friendly lady. She's happy to chat about this experiment, and I learn a lot from her. I'm only sorry that, whilst she is eager to answer questions, I really can't think of anything to ask her. Opportunity lost.
We set off in 'conventional' mode, with the Safety Driver in the cab driving the bus, just as on any other route.
This is an Express service to the Ferrytoll Park & Ride, just south of Inverkeithing, about 14 miles away. There's only one intermediate stop, in Queensferry (and no-one joins us there).
I'm informed that there will be a loud bleep when the bus switches into self-driving mode, and, as soon as we cross onto the M8 motorway, I hear the bleep. The bus is driving itself!
ABOVE: Most of the route of the AB1 is on motorway, as seen here
The secret of the way this bus works is in the gubbins (technical term) that have been built into the vehicle. The route has been pre-programmed, there are cameras and sensors all round, some powered by radar and lidar. I hadn't heard of lidar before, but it's Light Detection and Ranging - a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable distances) to the Earth.
It's strange to watch the 'driver', given that he's not actually driving at the moment. He folds his arms at one point, but I suspect that's just for show! He then rests his arm on the 'cash tray'. It strikes me that this isn't a particularly unusual spectacle on buses, but at least in this instance I'm not expecting him to have both hands on the wheel!
ABOVE: More typical driving conditions for the AB1
After a few miles of the M8, the bus moves onto the M9. This involves pulling off into the left-hand lane and following the road round to the right, merging with another traffic flow coming in from our left. All done autonomously and effortlessly.
ABOVE: Traffic getting heavy now. The Captain has joined the Safety Driver now
Traffic on this run is heavy. The technology is coping well, though. My impression is that the bus accelerates and brakes in more jerkily than I'm accustomed to, but it changes lanes safely, and without issue (apparently the buses aren't so good with bollards). I'm told that the bus speed is limited to 50mph, but that's never going to be tested in these conditions!
Although I have concerns about the idea of self-driving vehicles in residential areas, there's nothing wrong with such vehicles on motorways, where there is less likely to be an unexpected hazard manifesting, such as a pedestrian wandering into the road.
Having said that, there is one moment when a car pulls sharply in front of us from the adjacent lane. But the bus reacts just as any manually-driven vehicle would. This incident makes me wonder, given the 'normal' exterior appearance of the bus, as to whether the car driver has realised that this bus is driving itself. Would they have been more careful if they realised that it was?
After a couple of miles of the M9, we pull over onto the M90. This is a more complicated manoeuvre, as the road branches off to the left and steers sharply in a full circle, also climbing, to cross over the road we have just left. Again, we then have to cope with traffic joining from the left. All this is done with aplomb.
There's one other feature of the AB1 worth mentioning - it's tourism value. We're about to cross one of the Forth Bridges - three stunning pieces of architecture spanning the Firth of Forth between Queensferry, on the south side, and North Queensferry / Ferrytoll on the northern bank, and all staggering feats of engineering from different eras.
The furthest west / inland is the newest bridge - the Queensferry Crossing, opened in 2017. The Forth Road Bridge, opened in 1964, is the middle bridge, and that's the one we're heading for.
ABOVE: The newer Queensferry Crossing is prominent on the right, with the Forth Road Bridge on the extreme right
But of course, the bridge that everyone talks about is the Forth Railway Bridge, officially just the Forth Bridge. Completed in 1890, it was designed by English engineers Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker. It's a cantilever bridge, where a cantilever beam supports a light central girder. It's also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it's easy to see why.
ABOVE: The Forth Bridge (the railway bridge and the original) viewed from the 1964 Forth Road Bridge
A bit more autonomous manoeuvring brings us onto the 1964 Forth Road Bridge. It's about 1.25 miles across the Firth of Forth at this point, so takes a few minutes. The bridge is now only open to buses, pedestrians and cyclists, with all other traffic directed to the new Queensferry Bridge. I can't help reflecting that, if a further bridge is built one day, it will be the Fourth Forth Bridge!
ABOVE: Looking westwards to the Queensferry Bridge from the Forth Road Bridge
There's a bleep as we cross the bridge, signifying that the driver is taking charge of the vehicle again for the last leg of the journey to the Ferrytoll Park & Ride facility. We arrive about eight minutes late, at 1533; the traffic on the way having caused havoc with the timetable.
The Captain and the Safety Driver swap roles here. The idea of this, and indeed of having two staff at all, is to stop the driver becoming complacent while the bus is driving itself. They must stay alert regardless; they will need to intervene if the bus encounters a situation that the technology can't cope with (like the aforementioned bollards, it seems). Spending some time out of the cab reportedly helps break the relative monotony.
But no intervention has been necessary today, and it's been a very nice ride.
I'm told by my friendly Captain that the planned second phase of the trial (which is scheduled to run for two years) will see the bus running autonomously for the whole route. Then a third phase will see the service extended the short distance from Ferrytoll to Inverkeithing Town Centre.
I get a friendly goodbye wave from both crew members of my bus as they set off, about five minutes late, with the 1535 service back to Edinburgh Park. Sadly, there are no passengers for them to take on this trip.
I have seen other articles question the value of the route in terms of generating customers. Whilst it provides a Park-and-Ride facility, it stops at one end of Edinburgh Park and may not be very convenient for all of the facilities there, so the market may be limited. And, despite its green credentials, an aerial view of Edinburgh Park shows plenty of parking spaces across the site.
There are direct services to Edinburgh city centre from Ferrytoll, so no-one who wants the city centre is going to go via the AB1 to Edinburgh Park. The shopping complex at Edinburgh Park (on the south side of the railway tracks) also has more than adequate parking as far as I can see, so who's going to park elsewhere and take a bus - and go through that dark subway?
ABOVE: Sister vehicle 62003 (YX69 NUP) is parked at Ferrytoll Park & Ride, which sits in the shadow of the approaches to the Forth Bridge; a Scotrail class 158 passes overhead
I guess that the route has been chosen because of the complex and challenging road conditions through which it passes. It will, especially once the subsequent phases are introduced, be a thorough test bed of the technology, and I'm sure a great deal has been learnt already from these first few months.
And it's a substantial trial - the AB1 runs every half-hour, seven days a week, from 0730 (0900 weekends) until about 1800.
I've been impressed, actually, by how comfortable I felt on the bus, and I will go and have another ride when I'm next in the area.
But I can't see autonomous buses as the future, however successful this, and other experiments, prove to be. As long as a driver is needed in the cab, to intervene if the traffic conditions dictate it, my view is that they may as well be driving in the conventional way. And the presence of a second crew member will never make economic sense - remember what happened to the platform staff on the New Routemasters in London. And, in an industry where margins are critically tight, economics will always win over eventually.
Before I go, let's acknowledge the project's sponsors. And what a lot of them there are, as is witnessed by another banner at Edinburgh Park:
ABOVE: CAVForth is a joint project of Fusion Processing, Stagecoach, Alexander Dennis, Transport Scotland, Edinburgh Napier University and Bristol Robotics Lab, with part funding from the UK Government’s Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles. Here are all the logos! The logos are all along the side of the buses as well.
Our route in today's article:
