Scottish Bus Group

Scottish Bus Group
Eastern Scottish Eastern Coach Works bodied Leyland Fleetline in September 1979
ParentScottish Transport Group
Founded1961
Ceased operation1991
Service areaScotland
Service typeBus operator
Fleet4,700 (January 1969)
Coaches showing the unified "Midland Scottish" (blue), "Northern Scottish" (yellow) and "Eastern Scottish" (green) livery and branding styles introduced in the late 1970s.

The Scottish Bus Group (SBG) was a state-owned group of bus operators covering the whole of mainland Scotland.

The origin of the grouping was the operators owned by and including the Scottish Motor Traction company, which were transferred to Scottish Omnibuses after nationalisation in 1948 under control of the British Transport Commission. Highland Omnibuses was added to the group in 1952.

A new holding company, Scottish Omnibuses Group (Holdings) was formed in 1961, and this was renamed Scottish Bus Group[1] in 1963. Meanwhile, the group had come under control of the Transport Holding Company in 1962 when the British Transport Commission was wound up. It went on to become part of the Scottish Transport Group on 1 January 1969 along with David MacBrayne. At the time it operated 4,700 buses.[2]

Member companies

In 1970, SBG took over all the routes of David MacBrayne.[10]

In 1985, SBG was restructured as follows in preparation for deregulation:[11][12]

In May 1988, it was decided to privatise the operating companies with this occurring in 1990/91.[19] Central Scottish and Kelvin Scottish were merged as Kelvin Central Buses,[20] while Clydeside Scottish was merged into Western Scottish so as to provide a healthier prospect for potential buyers, both companies ended up being sold as separate entities.[21][22]

SBG Engineering had been formed to operate the central repair workshops inherited from six of the original seven operating subsidiaries (Alexander (Northern) not having had a separate engineering works). The company undertook heavy overhauls, refurbishment and accident repairs on behalf of the operating subsidiaries, and also offered these services commercially to other operators. Latterly it also owned a small fleet of rental buses. The Larbert works was transferred to Midland Scottish in 1988[23] and the rest of the company was dissolved in March 1990 as a prelude to privatisation. Edinburgh and Motherwell works were closed, while Inverness, Kilmarnock and Kirkcaldy works were transferred to Highland Scottish, Western Scottish and Fife Scottish respectively[24]

The holding company, Scottish Bus Group Limited, was dissolved in 2006.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Companies House extract company no SC13181 Scottish Bus Group Limited
  2. ^ Scottish Transport Group Commercial Motor 3 January 1969
  3. ^ Companies House extract company no SC331915 Central SMT Company Limited
  4. ^ a b Companies House extract company no SC15912 Highland Scottish Omnibuses Limited formerly Highland Omnibuses Limited
  5. ^ a b Companies House extract company no SC26792 Eastern Scottish Omnibuses Limited formerly Scottish Omnibuses Limited
  6. ^ a b Companies House extract company no SC26126 Fife Scottish Omnibuses Limited formerly W Alexander & Sons (Fife) Limited
  7. ^ a b Companies House extract company no SC16923 Midland Bluebird Limited formerly Midland Scottish Omnibuses Limited formerly W Alexander & Sons (Midland) Limited
  8. ^ a b Companies House extract company no SC19039 Bluebird Buses Limited formerly Bluebird Northern Limited formerly Northern Scottish Omnibuses Limited formerly W Alexander & Sons (Northern) Limited
  9. ^ a b Companies House extract company no 131237 Western Buses Limited formerly Western Scottish Buses Limited formerly Western Scottish Limited formerly Western SMT Company Limited
  10. ^ SBG absorbs McBrayne Commercial Motor 5 June 1970
  11. ^ SBG dereg plans Commercial Motor 15 September 1984
  12. ^ Coach and Bus News Commercial Motor 3 November 1984
  13. ^ Companies House extract company no SC14210 KCB Limited formerly Kelvin Central Buses Limited formerly Central Scottish Omnibuses Limited formerly Central SMT Company Limited
  14. ^ Companies House extract company no SC91904 Schoolbus Limited formerly Stagecoach Western Scottish Limited formerly Western Engineering Limited formerly Clydesdale Scottish Omnibuses Limited
  15. ^ Companies House extract company no SC91921 Kelvin Scottish Omnibuses Limited
  16. ^ Companies House extract company no SC91923 First Scotland East Limited formerly First Edinburgh Limited formerly Lowland Omnibuses Limited formerly Lowland Scottish Omnibuses Limited
  17. ^ Companies House extract company no SC91931 Scottish Citylink Coaches Limited
  18. ^ Companies House extract company no SC91932 Strathtay Scottish Omnibuses Limited
  19. ^ SBGs split decision Commercial Motor 2 June 1988
  20. ^ Companies House extract company no SC127012 First Glasgow (No 2) Limited formerly Kelvin Central Buses Limited
  21. ^ All clear for SBG sale Commercial Motor 3 August 1989
  22. ^ SBG sale rules prepared Commercial Motor 8 February 1990
  23. ^ SBG's bus repair unit transferred Commercial Motor 22 September 1988
  24. ^ Workshop shutdown Commercial Motor 25 January 1990