Scottish Bus Group Explained

Scottish Bus Group
Parent:	Scottish Transport Group
Founded:	1961
Ceased:	1991
Service Area:	Scotland
Service Type:	Bus operator
Fleet:	4,700 (January 1969)

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

Central S.M.T. Company Ltd.^[3] (branded as Central Scottish from 1978)
Highland Omnibuses Ltd.^[4] (branded as Highland Scottish from 1978)
Scottish Omnibuses Ltd.^[5] (branded as Eastern Scottish from 1964)
W. Alexander & Sons (Fife) Ltd. (Fife)^[6] (branded as Fife Scottish from 1978)
W. Alexander & Sons (Midland) Ltd.^[7] (branded as Midland Scottish from 1978)
W. Alexander & Sons (Northern) Ltd.^[8] (branded as Northern Scottish from 1978)
Western S.M.T. Company Ltd.^[9] (branded as Western Scottish from 1978)

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]

External links

- Flickr gallery

Notes and References

http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/SC013181 Companies House extract company no SC13181
http://archive.commercialmotor.com/article/3rd-january-1969/27/scottish-transport-group Scottish Transport Group
http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/SC331915 Companies House extract company no SC331915
http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/SC015912 Companies House extract company no SC15912
http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/SC026792 Companies House extract company no SC26792
http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/SC026126 Companies House extract company no SC26126
http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/SC016923 Companies House extract company no SC16923
http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/SC019039 Companies House extract company no SC19039
http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/00131237 Companies House extract company no 131237
http://archive.commercialmotor.com/article/5th-june-1970/43/sbg-absorbs-macbrayne SBG absorbs McBrayne
http://archive.commercialmotor.com/article/15th-september-1984/20/sbg-dereg-plans SBG dereg plans
http://archive.commercialmotor.com/article/3rd-november-1984/21/coach-and-bus-news Coach and Bus News
http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/SC014210 Companies House extract company no SC14210
http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/SC091904 Companies House extract company no SC91904
http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/SC091921 Companies House extract company no SC91921
http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/SC091923 Companies House extract company no SC91923
http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/SC091931 Companies House extract company no SC91931
http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/SC091932 Companies House extract company no SC91932
http://archive.commercialmotor.com/article/2nd-june-1988/20/sbgs-split-decision SBGs split decision
http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/SC127012 Companies House extract company no SC127012
http://archive.commercialmotor.com/article/3rd-august-1989/18/all-clear-for-sbg-sale All clear for SBG sale
http://archive.commercialmotor.com/article/8th-february-1990/29/sbg-sale-rules-prepared SBG sale rules prepared
http://archive.commercialmotor.com/article/22nd-september-1988/12/sbgs-bus-repair-unit-transferred SBG's bus repair unit transferred
http://archive.commercialmotor.com/article/25th-january-1990/21/workshop-shutdown Workshop shutdown