100 British Bus Routes: Route 22
Gyle Centre to Granton Harbour
17 December 2023
ABOVE: Lothian Buses 434 (SA15 VTN), a Volvo B5TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 3, passes along Stevenson Drive in Balgreen, on cross-Edinburgh bus route 22 from the Gyle Centre to Granton Harbour. All pictures in this article were taken on Wednesday 13th September 2023.
Runs: Daily
Operator: Lothian Buses
Weekday daytime frequency: Every 20 minutes
Estimated Vehicle Requirement: Six buses
Off-peak journey time: 50-51 minutes
Estimated route length: 8-10 miles
Operator: Lothian Buses
Weekday daytime frequency: Every 20 minutes
Estimated Vehicle Requirement: Six buses
Off-peak journey time: 50-51 minutes
Estimated route length: 8-10 miles
Part of my reason for featuring this particular service across Edinburgh as my choice for route 22 relates to what it was, rather than what it is now.
This is a service that I was fairly familiar with in the early 2000s, when I used to pay regular visits to the Scottish Executive. The Executive has a huge building in Leith, where the corridors of offices seem to go on for miles.
I used to catch the 22 from Edinburgh Waverley station, at a time when it ran every four minutes, and I would wonder why it was one of the few routes across Edinburgh that, despite its high frequency, only merited a single-decker bus. It was later promoted to double-decker, so clearly there wasn't a physical restriction.
Then, in summer 2022, the whole eastern side of the 22, from Edinburgh city centre, through Leith and past the wonderfully-named Foot of the Walk (apparently built on the line of defences built by General Leslie against Oliver Cromwell's army) to Ocean Terminal, was dropped, as Lothian Buses made some "tough choices" and dropped the eastern end of the route.
ABOVE: The route of the 22 is marked in red, whilst its former route to Ocean Terminal is represented by the dotted line
Nowadays the 22 is a different beast, having subsequently been diverted in / extended from the City Centre to run to Granton Harbour, of which more later. It now runs every 20 minutes, but does at least have double-decker buses allocated.
The western end of the route is unchanged. But that makes no odds to me as it's the end that I never knew anyway...
So I'm at the Gyle Centre bus station; a simple semi-circle with four pick up points. The Gyle Centre is an out-of-town shopping centre, near Gogar on the western side of Edinburgh. The bus station may be right in front of the entrance to the centre, but one cannot ignore the vast car parks alongside.
ABOVE: The entrance to the Gyle Centre, as seen from the bus station
ABOVE: Lothian Buses 499 (SF17 VOP), a Volvo B5TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 3, is in a special livery for Skylink route 400 (Edinburgh Airport to Fort Kinnaird), It calls into the Gyle Centre on its way to the latter point. Behind it is Lothian 50 (BT64 LJK), a Volvo 7900H which has just brought me to Gyle from Portobello on route 12 - a story for another day... Note that the kerb at the stop is flat. Why is that a problem? See below.
The bus is on the stand in good time for my late-morning departure. Like most on this route, it's a Volvo B5TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 3. Whilst smart and modern, it does, like most Lothian Buses, have TWO information / advertising screens at the front of the upper deck, which really reduce forward vision if you are not in the front seat. (See my pictures elsewhere of the effects of ONE such screen in Brighton).
ABOVE: A Volvo B5TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 stands at the Gyle Centre, between journeys on route 22.
As we begin, we pick up a customer in a wheelchair. It's a little tricky because there's effectively no kerb between the pavement and the road, so the ramp stretches down into the road at a steeper than ideal angle. This also means a steeper-than-normal step onto the bus for everyone else, of course.
I'm met by one of the large ticket machines that Lothian uses (a Wayfarer 6, apparently - it just seems to be a more substantial structure than other machines are). Fortunately, contactless pay-as-you-go means a quick boarding process, and a flat fare of £2.00 means no need to tap-off either. (By the way, the £2.00 fare is not part of the £2.00 fare cap, which does not apply in Scotland - that's just a coincidence.)
The first part of the journey is through the Edinburgh Park commercial area, with wide roads enabling bus lanes to be provided. They're not necessary at this time of day but are probably invaluable in peak times.
ABOVE: Lothian Buses 435 (SA15 VTO), another Volvo B5TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 3, passes along South Gyle Broadway
We pass through the suburb of Broomhouse, and then into Saughton.
ABOVE: A Lothian Buses Volvo 7900H passes along Stenhouse Drive in Saughton, on route 1 from Seafield to Clermiston. Before you get too concerned about the lack of barriers between the road and the tracks on the left, I will advise that these are tram, rather than railway, tracks! So, not only will there not be any trains passing at high speeds, but there's actually a tram crossing built in, just behind the blue sign ahead.
This is residential territory, and the 22 is surely a key link from this area into Edinburgh city centre. Even my off-peak journey is reasonably busy in this area.
After passing through Stenhouse, we come to Balgreen, which Wikipedia suggests is best-known for its primary school - and, presumably, the Library at one end of the school building.
ABOVE: Balgreen Primary School and Library
We pass Murrayfield Stadium, the home of Scottish Rugby Union (there's a lovely Q&A about Murrayfield on Google - Question, where's the best place to park at Murrayfield? Answer - forget it - take the bus).
We're now close to the City Centre, which we approach via the Western Approach Road. This is a by-pass / underpass into the West End of the city. We pass under two road bridges, including the one below, where a fairly innocent-looking underpass hides a complex road junction above, where Gardner's Crescent branches off from Morrison Street at a Y-junction on one side of the underpass, whilst immediately to the other side there's a separate T-junction.
ABOVE: This part of Edinburgh city centre is on two different levels! The road tunnel passes under Morrison Road, above, which has a Y-junction immediately to the right and a T-junction to the left. The modern building beyond the tunnel, on the right, is the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.
But the Western Approach Road is a nice short-cut that brings us swiftly to Lothian Road, which runs down one side of the Princes Street Gardens - the grounds of Edinburgh Castle.
Lothian is, quite simply, the name of this region of the Scottish Lowlands. Wikipedia tells us that, in the seventh century, Lothian came under the control of the Anglian (ie, English) kingdom of Bernicia. However, the Angles' grip on Lothian was quickly weakened following the Battle of Nechtansmere, in which they were defeated by the Picts. Lothian was annexed to the Kingdom of Scotland around the 10th century.
Lothian Buses 1106 (SJ19 OYG) is a Volvo B8L ADL Enviro400XLB, one of the large-capacity six-wheelers that can be found in Edinburgh. This one is in Lothian Street, and is about to turn into Princes Street in the city centre, working a service on route 11 (Hyvots Bank to Western Harbour). Heading the other way is Lothian 93 (SJ70 HPF), a Volvo B8RLE MCV eVoRa, working route 30 (Queen Margaret Hospital to Clovenstone). On the corner is St. John's Scottish Episcopal Church.
We turn onto Princes Street, perhaps the best-known street in Edinburgh? Our stay is brief, though, and we're almost immediately turning off again, onto South Charlotte Street, where we find the birthplace of Alexander Graham Bell. He brought us the telephone, and his friends subsequently gave him a bell (ahem).
We run along the southern side of Charlotte Square (all sides of the square are two-way) and then turn back towards Princes Street, before taking a near-270 degree turn into Queensferry Street.
ABOVE: On Queensferry Street looking south-east, we have another view of the St. John's Scottish Episcopal Church. Behind is the tower of the Parish Church of St Cuthbert, and behind that, Edinburgh Castle itself. This picture was taken later in the day on a return service towards Gyle. To reach Lothian Road, to the right of the castle, we need to take a very sharp left and navigate the southern side of Charlotte Square, before joining Princes Street and approaching Lothian Street from the opposite side.
The former routing of the 22 took it right down Princes Street and onwards towards Leith and Ocean Terminal, a couple of miles to the north-east of the city centre. Now we are heading north-west out of town.
ABOVE: Just across the Water of Leith, a river that starts in the Pentland Hills to the south-west of Edinburgh and ends at the Firth of Forth in Leith, is the Rhema Christian Centre Church. This is the Dean Bridge on Queensferry Road.
Queensferry Street morphs into Queensferry Road. As the name suggests, this runs out to Queensferry itself, about eight miles out of town and the location of the Forth Crossings. There are three of these crossings and I can't help wondering what name will be chosen if they decide to build another one.
We're running along tree-lined roads where the houses are indented into crescents, removed from the main road. This looks like what estate agents would call a "sought after" part of town - indeed, there's a property in one of these crescents - a two-bedroom flat - on the market for £585,000 as I write this.
ABOVE: Some older vehicles are also used on the 22, such as 359 (SN11 EBJ), a Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 2, seen on Queensferry Road, having just turned out of Orchard Brae
We turn onto Orchard Brae, a north-westerly road that will take us all the way to Granton. The territory changes subtly - still tree-lined roads but now without the crescents hidden behind them; the houses definitely look more affordable.
There's a major hospital at Craigleith - the Western General. The site looks vast.
ABOVE: The longer-distance services of Lothian Buses are run under the banner of East Coast Buses. East Coast 1056 (SJ18 NFG), a Volvo B5TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 starts from within the grounds of the Western General Hospital and is heading for Pencaitland. Behind it is Lothian 688 (SJ71 HLE), a Volvo B5TL ADL Enviro400 MMC, on route 37, heading for Easter Bush.
We pass Crewe Toll. This area takes its name from the Toll House that once stood at the junction of Ferry Road, Crewe Road North and Crewe Road South. We should be moving across from Crewe Road South onto Crewe Road North, but we're not because the latter is closed for roadworks, so we're taking a short diversion. Although it has been a busy run, I'm now the last passenger on the bus.
We have reached Granton - this area forms part of the waterfront along the Firth of Forth, and is part of Edinburgh's large-scale waterfront regeneration programme, and the clues are everywhere. We're heading along Waterfront Broadway, and will turn into Waterfront Avenue. Behind us after we turn will be Waterfront Park. The only thing is - the waterfront isn't visible from here and is a third-of-a-mile away...
ABOVE: This is Station Square, on Waterfront Broadway in Granton, a newly-refurbished community space. If I have understood correctly, this is the original Granton station, which was the terminus of the Edinburgh, Leith and Newhaven Railway. The railway closed in 1925.
The regenration of the area means lots of new flats and offices are springing up all over the place. The building that carries the address "Number One Waterfront Avenue" is now the headquarters of Scottish Gas.
ABOVE: This reminds me of one of those computer-generated images of a new building. It probably looks like an image because of the distinct lack of traffic in view. But this is the real thing - the Scottish Gas HQ building!
ABOVE: Lothian 429 (SA15 VTG) is about to pass the Scottish Gas HQ, on the last lap of its journey to Granton Harbour.
It's all very modern round here, and relatively unspoiled. But, for the final part of the journey, the territory changes once more. Granton Harbour itself was, historically, an industrial area (presumably making the most of the trading opportunities offered when the harbour was expanded in the 19th Century). The area around here is distinctly industrial - although maybe on a smaller scale nowadays - more akin to a trading estate.
And in the middle of this, on Oxcraig Street, is the current terminus of the 22, alongside the back of a warehouse. Feels a bit of an inauspicious terminus for what was once a significant route, but that's just how it is at the moment.
It won't always be like this. All around, flats are being built. Many of the roads to the water's edge are cordoned off due to the scale of construction work underway. In a couple of years' time, I suspect this will be a vibrant and sought-after residential area.
And then the 22 will come into its own again.
ABOVE: Journey's End... At Granton Harbour, Lothian 435 (SA 15 VTO), another Volvo B5TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 3, takes a break prior to the return trip to the Gyle Centre
As the route that I once knew better than any other in Scotland, this had to be included in my selection; even if the part I knew no longer runs! But this is a fascinating run across the city of Edinburgh into areas I had not previously explored. From the south-western suburbs to the redeveloping southern banks of the Firth of Forth, with a fleeting glimpse of the city centre in between. What's not to like?