A look behind the scenes of the Lothian Buses Depot on Annandale Street during it's 2011 doors open day based in Leith, Edinburgh. Every year in September, Edinburgh's famous bus company invites the public to it's central depot on the 28th September. Annually it attracts 4,000 visitors which continues to grow year by year. In more recent times, the open day has featured a hybrid bus race which has been a big hit with crowds. For kids, there is a selection of activities which includes face painting and a bouncy castle. Another popular feature of the event is the bus wash where members of the public can board a bus before it gets a clean up. Throughout the day, there are depot tours and visitors can board open top double-decker buses. Lothian Buses is the largest provider of bus services in Edinburgh, Scotland. The company is owned by the City of Edinburgh Council with a share of 91% while the 9% of the company is owned by East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian councils. The company's history began when the Edinburgh Street Tramways Company of 1871 was formed which involved the tramway companies of Leith, Musselburgh and Edinburgh North. In 1919, the Edinburgh Corporation Tramways Department took over operation of the tramways. In 1919, the first motor buses had arrived where abandonment of the trams took place between 1950 and 1956. At this point, the operations became what is known as the Edinburgh Corporation Transport Department. Later on in 1975 after the local government reorganisation the ownership of Edinburgh Corporation Transport passed to the Lothian Regional Council. This operation was renamed Lothian Regional Transport. A little more recently in 2013, the Edinburgh Council announced the creation of Transport for Edinburgh to cover both buses and the new tram system. Some classic buses featured in this video: Leyland Titan PD2 Guy Arab Leyland Atlantean Leyland Olympian Volvo Olympian Dennis Trident Plaxton President Alexander ALX400 Wright Eclipse Gemini Dennis Dart Plaxton Pointer Alexander Y Type Coach Leyland National Mk 2 Urban Eclipse Single Decker Bedford OB Duple Vista Coach AEC Regent Utility Double Decker Bus A madder and white colour scheme was first used from 1919 before a Harlequin colour scheme was introduced from 1999 to signify low floor buses that were able to carry wheelchairs. By 2010, all buses were painted in that colour scheme. There were two styles used; the first included small diamonds while the later variations included larger diamonds. By 2010, the entire fleet was low floor so there was no need for the harlequin livery so buses began to be painted wein rot and white with gold. Various routes feature different branding. For example from October 2005, route 3 featured a club class playing cards theme with yellow strips. One of my most eye catching colour schemes which unfortunately not longer remains in the fleet today was service 15 painted in a tomato soup shade of red. A connect theme was used on the 22 buses featuring pink roofs. A service I used very frequently is the 26 and it featured an excellent playing cards heart theme from 2004. The 26 bus passes Edinburgh Zoo so a number of the fleet have names which includes Chimpanzee Bus, Great EscAPE, Tiger Bus, Zebra Bus etc. Lothian Buses's luxury vehicles are featured on the airlink express route 100. These buses feature dedicated luggage area with CCTV security, leather seating, next stop info and free Wi-fi. Some of the latest buses even feature a female voice reminding passengers what the next stop is. I produced this video while popping down to the depot out of curiosity. Seeing all of the various buses from the past and present was an excellent experience and I would highly recommend it. See if you can spot the new 113 and 43 services which are now part of the fleet list of routes.