Clydeside Scottish

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A preserved Clydeside Scottish AEC Routemaster Clydeside Scottish RM835.JPG
A preserved Clydeside Scottish AEC Routemaster

Clydeside Scottish Omnibuses Ltd was a bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group formed in June 1985 from Western SMT Company Ltd. The company operated until May 1989, when it was remerged with Western Scottish, the successor company to Western SMT.

Western Scottish

Western Scottish Omnibuses Ltd, in Scotland, was a bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group formed in June 1985 from Western SMT Company Ltd and operated until 1997, when it became Western Buses Ltd. This successor company is now a part of Stagecoach West Scotland.

Western SMT

Western Scottish Motor Traction Co. Limited was a bus operator in south-west Scotland from 1929 to 1985.

Contents

Operation

From its head office in Paisley, Clydeside Scottish covered an operating area bounded by Largs in the south, the River Clyde to the north and the south side of Glasgow to the east. The company also operated services on the Isle of Bute. It was the largest operator in Inverclyde and Renfrewshire and had depots in Rothesay, Largs, Greenock, Johnstone, Inchinnan, Paisley and Thornliebank in the south of Glasgow. Its fleet numbered 334 buses when formed. [1]

Paisley, Renfrewshire town in the historic county of Renfrewshire in Scotland

Paisley is a town situated in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. Located on the northern edge of the Gleniffer Braes, the town borders the city of Glasgow to the east, and straddles the banks of the White Cart Water, a tributary of the River Clyde.

Largs town in North Ayrshire, Scotland

Largs is a town on the Firth of Clyde in North Ayrshire, Scotland, about 33 miles (53 km) from Glasgow. The original name means "the slopes" in Scottish Gaelic.

River Clyde river in Scotland

The River Clyde is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the eighth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the second-longest in Scotland. Traveling through the major city of Glasgow, it was an important river for shipbuilding and trade in the British Empire. To the Romans, it was Clota, and in the early medieval Cumbric language, it was known as Clud or Clut, and was central to the Kingdom of Strathclyde.

Clydeside Scottish also provided coaches for Scottish Citylink services between Gourock, Glasgow Airport, Glasgow and onward to Edinburgh. [1]

Scottish Citylink

Scottish Citylink is a long distance express coach operator in Scotland and Ireland and England. The company was formed as a subsidiary of Scottish Transport Group in March 1985. Since September 2005 it has been operated as a 65/35 joint venture between ComfortDelGro and Stagecoach.

Gourock town in Scotland

Gourock is a town falling within the Inverclyde council area and formerly forming a burgh of the county of Renfrew in the West of Scotland. It has in the past functioned as a seaside resort on the East shore of the upper Firth of Clyde. Its principal function today, however, is as a popular residential area, extending contiguously from Greenock, with a railway terminus and ferry services across the Clyde.

Edinburgh City and council area in Scotland

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian, it is located in Lothian on the Firth of Forth's southern shore.

History

Clydeside Scottish was one of the shortest lived of the "new" Scottish Bus Group subsidiaries, lasting shortly under four years as a stand-alone company. Clydeside was created in preparation for the deregulation of the British bus industry in 1986, and eventual privatisation of the state-owned Scottish Bus Group (SBG). A bright red and yellow livery was introduced for the fleet, and a fleet name displayed in a style different from the corporate SBG look. [2]

United Kingdom Country in Europe

The United Kingdom, officially the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland but more commonly known as the UK or Britain, is a sovereign country lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state‍—‌the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east, the English Channel to the south and the Celtic Sea to the south-west, giving it the 12th-longest coastline in the world. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland. With an area of 242,500 square kilometres (93,600 sq mi), the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world. It is also the 22nd-most populous country, with an estimated 66.0 million inhabitants in 2017.

On deregulation, the company launched a network of services in the city of Glasgow, competing against the city operator Strathclyde Buses. A large number of two-person operated open-platform AEC Routemaster buses were purchased from London Transport for these services, which gave the company the advantage of giving change (as opposed to the exact fare the city operator demanded) without the buses having to linger at bus stops. The Routemasters operated on services into Paisley, Renfrew and Johnstone. Strathclyde Buses retaliated against the competition, however, by introducing routes beyond the city boundary and into Clydeside's operating territory. [3]

Strathclyde Buses

Strathclyde Buses was a bus operating company in Glasgow and west-central Scotland. It commenced operations in October 1986. Prior to 1986, the council-owned buses had belonged to Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive, and therefore were owned by Strathclyde Regional Council. The new company, although still under the control of the Council, was no longer able to rely on the Council for any financial, or any other, help. In 1996 the company was taken over by FirstGroup. Its former operations are now part of First Glasgow.

AEC Routemaster British double-decker bus

The AEC Routemaster is a front-engined double-decker bus that was designed by London Transport and built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) and Park Royal Vehicles. The first prototype was completed in September 1954 and the last one was delivered in 1968. The layout of the vehicle was conventional for the time, with a half-cab, front-mounted engine and open rear platform, although the coach version was fitted with rear platform doors. Forward entrance vehicles with platform doors were also produced as was a unique front-entrance prototype with the engine mounted transversely at the rear.

London Regional Transport (LRT) was the organisation responsible for the public transport network in Greater London, England between 1984 and 2000. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operational brand of the organisation was London Transport.

A number of innovative marketing initiatives were introduced including ticketing, advertising, staff motivation and production of a story book "Rodney The Routemaster comes to Town" aimed at children.

While competing with the much larger Strathclyde Buses, Clydeside suffered an explosion of new operators in Paisley and in particular, Greenock. Clydeside found it increasingly difficult to compete against so many operators with much smaller operating costs. In May 1989 it was merged with Western Scottish. [4] The Clydeside name was retained by Western as a trading name, but its red and yellow livery was replaced by Western black, white and red. [5]

Successor companies

The former Clydeside operations, with the exception of those on Bute, passed to a new company, Clydeside 2000 plc, on the privatisation of Western Scottish in October 1991. Clydeside's new management and employees took a 76% stake in the new company, with Luton & District purchasing the remainder. The company scaled down its Glasgow operations, and the depots at Largs, Thornliebank and Paisley closed in the following three years. [6]

Clydeside 2000 was taken over by British Bus in November 1994 (Luton & District had become part of British Bus a few months earlier); British Bus was subsequently acquired by the Cowie Group, later to become Arriva. Clydeside was renamed Arriva Scotland West, trading at the time as Arriva serving Scotland. Arriva expanded its Scottish operations with the purchase of McGill's Bus Service of Barrhead and Ashton Coaches of Greenock, although the Greenock operations of Arriva Scotland West were later demerged and sold to local management as McGill's Bus Services. [7]

In December 2011 it was announced that Arriva had agreed a deal to sell its remaining Scottish operations to McGill's. [8] The sale was completed in March 2012. [9]

See also

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Dart Buses

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References

  1. 1 2 Jenkinson, Keith A. (1991). Best Bus; The final years of the Scottish Bus Group. Autobus Review Publications. p. 9. ISBN   0-907834-25-6.
  2. ↑ Jenkinson p.12
  3. ↑ Jenkinson p.188-22
  4. ↑ Watson, George (21 April 2011). Clydeside Scottish: We Tried to Run a Bus Company But ... Routemaster Operators & Owners Association. p. 148. ISBN   978-1906311018.
  5. ↑ Jenkinson p44
  6. ↑ Brown, Stewart J (November 1995). Buses in Britain 2: The Mid Nineties. Capital Transport. p. 13. ISBN   1-85414-181-3.
  7. ↑ Millar, Alan (May 2011). "McGill's: Growing fast by quality". Buses (624): 36–39.
  8. ↑ "Bus firm McGill's to take over rivals Arriva". BBC News . 13 December 2011.
  9. ↑ Millar, Alan (July 2012). "OFT clears Felix takeover, explains McGill's referral". Buses (688): 11.
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