Stagecoach West Scotland is an operating region of Stagecoach UK Bus, comprising solely of Western Buses Ltd, based in Ayr, Scotland.

Operation

Stagecoach West Scotland operates in west central and south west Scotland, in an area bounded by Greenock to the north, Glasgow to the east, Carlisle to the south and the Isle of Arran to the west. Frequent express services also serve Edinburgh from Glasgow.

Stagecoach West Scotland operates under four different brands:

• Stagecoach Western is the prevalent brand and is used for the vast majority of bus operations throughout the West Scotland region. Stagecoach Western branded vehicles are the only buses in the operating region to wear the Stagecoach corporate livery of red, blue, orange and white.
• Stagecoach A1 Service is used for the trunk service between Ardrossan and Kilmarnock that came with the purchase of the A1 Service business, though this trading name occassionally overlaps the Stagecoach Western brand in the area previously served by the independent A1 Service. Vehicles under this brand wear a simple blue and white livery.
• Magicbus is a low cost, "no-frills" brand used on several high frequency Glasgow city services in competition with First, which replaced the previously used Stagecoach Glasgow brand. Buses wear a deep blue livery with large yellow lettering.
• M8 Motorvator is a distinctive brand used for fast, frequent express coach services between Glasgow and Edinburgh - a route that faces ferocious competition from Scottish Citylink. Vehicles wear a red and off-white colour scheme.

All are trading names of Western Buses Ltd. In addition, vehicles operating on the former AA Buses services in the Irvine area wear the historical AA green and cream livery, though to date there has never been a Stagecoach AA Buses brand. Buses wearing this livery carry simplistic 'Stagecoach' branding.

Stagecoach West Scotland has faced sustained competition from the First Group between Ardrossan and Kilmarnock since Stagecoach launched its network of Glasgow city services in the heart of First's Glasgow operating territory. While minor competition existed for several years from T & E Docherty around Irvine, Stagecoach has since purchased the routes and vehicles used by that operator. Minor competition exists from Shuttle Buses between Irvine and West Kilbride (including local operation around Ardrossan and Saltcoats) and McGill's Bus Service between Largs and Greenock.

The company has depots in Brodick, Ardrossan, Kilmarnock, Ayr, Cumnock, Glasgow, Girvan, Stranraer, Dumfries and Whithorn.

History

Stagecoach arrived in the west of Scotland when it purchased Western Scottish Omnibuses Ltd of Kilmarnock for £6m in July 1994. Western Scottish was, at that time, owned by its management and employees, who had purchased the company from the state-owned Scottish Bus Group in October 1991 on the break up and privatisation of that concern.

Stagecoach wasted no time in expanding its operations in the west of Scotland, and in October 1994 purchased the small Arran Transport business based in Brodick, on the Isle Of Arran. In January 1995 Western took over the operations of A1 Service of Ardrossan, bringing with it some 80 vehicles and operations in the towns of Ardrossan, Saltcoats, Stevenston and Kilwinning, together with the very busy and frequent Ardrossan to Kilmarnock service. Though for a time the former A1 Service operations were under the separate legal entity of Stagecoach (A1 Service) Ltd, that company has since been absorbed by Western Buses.

Clyde Coast Coaches of Ardrossan, a previous competitor to Western Scottish in services around Kilmarnock, sold its bus operations to Western in 1995, adding services from Saltcoats to Largs and Beith to the Western portfolio.

The last 'big' purchase Stagecoach Western has made to date was that of AA Buses - the bus operations of Dodd's Of Troon, in summer 1997. At the same time the bus operations of Shuttle Buses of Kilwinning were also absorbed (note Shuttle Buses have since restarted local bus operation, though mainly restricted to tendered services). This would add local bus operation around Irvine, Stewarton and Troon, and would consolidate the Stagecoach Western operation, securing it as the dominant operator in north Ayrshire, a role Western Scottish never succeeded in filling.

Stagecoach operated in Glasgow as Magicbus in the late 1980s using old London Routemaster buses, though it sold the operation to Kelvin Central Buses in the early 1990s. After a stillborn attempt in 1995 (Stagecoach settled for a 20% stake in competitor Strathclyde Buses instead), the present Stagecoach Glasgow operations were launched in 1997 offering fast, direct and frequent services from Glasgow city centre to Easterhouse , Castlemilk, Pollok, Darnley , East Kilbride and Cumbernauld. Though services to Pollok, Darnley and East Kilbride have since been withdrawn, the remaining operations were rebranded as the "no-frills" Magicbus. Vehicles in this operation wear a deep blue livery with bright yellow lettering, complete with slogans "It's magic!" and "It goes roon the toon!" (sic), the latter imitating the Glasgow dialect.

In July 2004, Stagecoach announced the acquisition of the M8 Motorvator Glasgow to Edinburgh express service from Lanarkshire firm, Longs Coaches. This pitched Stagecoach in fierce and direct competition from Scottish Citylink, a company Stagecoach ironically operated vehicles for under a franchise agreement. Both companies offer fast, frequent and affordable express services along the M8 motorway corridor between the two Scottish cities.

External Links

• Stagecoach West Scotland site
• Scotsman newspaper report on "coach war" with Citylink.