Lowland Scottish
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lowland Scottish Omnibuses Ltd, in Scotland, was a bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group formed in June 1985 from the Scottish Motor Traction Co Ltd (SMT) and operated until 1999 when it was merged with neighbouring First Group subsidiaries to become part of First Edinburgh.
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[edit] Operation
From its head office in Galashiels, Lowland Scottish had an operating area throughout the Scottish Borders in south east Scotland and across the border into Northumberland in north east England; bounded by Edinburgh to the north, Peebles to the east and Berwick-upon-Tweed in the south.
Lowland was responsible for urban, interurban and rural services in and around Galashiels, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Dunbar, Hawick, Jedburgh, Kelso and North Berwick, with depots located in these towns. Services also extended to Edinburgh and Carlisle, the latter through the Borders Rail Link bus service.
[edit] History
Lowland Scottish was a brand new company created through reorganisation of the Scottish Bus Group in preparation for deregulation of the bus industry in 1986, and eventual privatisation. It inherited the southern operations of SMT (Eastern Scottish), which basically included all operations south of Edinburgh and across the border with England into Berwick-upon-Tweed. A similar, but more vivid livery than the green and cream SMT colours was introduced, using a brighter green and a more striking yellow, though applied in the simple design as its predecessor.
Upon deregulation, Lowland initially faced no competition at all, thanks largely to a sparsely populated operating area. Town services within Berwick-upon-Tweed continued to be shared with recently-privatised Northumbria Motor Services, with Lowland and Northumbria having adjacent depot buildings fronting a shared bus station. This working relationship had been built up between both companies predecessors, Scottish Omnibuses (SMT/Eastern Scottish) and United Automobile.
On deregulation, the relationship between Lowland and Northumbria in Berwick-upon-Tweed broke down, and fierce competition ensued between the two operators on the town's routes. The 'bus war', however, was to end with Lowland pulling out of Berwick altogether. Ironically, Arriva, Northumbria's successor, was to withdraw from Berwick ten years later, leaving the town routes to small independent operator Perrymans.
Lowland became the first of the Scottish Bus Group subsidiaries to be privatised when, in August 1990 the company's management and employees bought the company for £3.1m, through their holding company Reiver Ventures Ltd. Lowland Scottish was a profitable unit within the Scottish Bus Group thanks largely to its near monopoly of the Borders market, though the operating area did not give much scope for expansion. Nonetheless, in 1991 the bus and coach business of Ian Glass Coaches was acquired, with a depot in Haddington. The depot in Dunbar closed shortly afterwards, as the East Lothian area operations were concentrated on Haddington. Smaller takeovers were of Shanks ('Border Travel') of Galashiels in 1992 and Grieve's Taxis of Hawick in 1993.
Lowland quickly dropped the "Scottish" from its legal company name to simply become Lowland Omnibuses Ltd after privatisation. In November 1994, GRT Holdings Ltd (which later became First Group) bought Reiver Ventures for £2.4m. GRT had bought neighbouring Eastern Scottish (now trading as SMT once more) the previous month, and with its ownership of Midland Bluebird (the old Midland Scottish), GRT now operated from Oban in the west coast through to Stirling in the central belt, Edinburgh in the east and down to the border with England. Reorganisation of the three companies quickly followed, effectively breaking SMT in two and merging the parts with Midland and Lowland. As a result, Lowland inherited SMT's Dalkeith and Musselburgh depots in 1996.
When the 'First' corporate style was introduced, the trading names First Lowland and First SMT were used for operations, the latter being restricted to the former SMT operations around Edinburgh. A final round of reorganisation in 1999 saw Lowland Omnibuses vanish as it was absorbed into Midland Bluebird Ltd and a new company, First Edinburgh Ltd.
[edit] Successor Companies
Today the enlarged company trades simply as 'First', operating across a swathe of central, eastern and borders Scotland. Together with First Glasgow, the First Group now operate buses throughout most of southern Scotland, covering Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, Dunbartonshire, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Clackmannanshire, Stirlingshire, Lothians, Edinburgh and the Scottish Borders. However, the company's presence in the Borders has declined drastically due to the withdrawal of commercial town services and the loss of rural tendered services to independent operators. The depots at Berwick-upon-Tweed, Hawick, Jedburgh, Kelso and Peebles have all been closed, leaving just Galashiels as an operating base in the Borders. Haddington depot in East Lothian also closed, although the sub depot at North Berwick survives, and today has its own vehicle allocation.
First sought to increase their market share of Edinburgh city services in 2001, cutting fares and increasing traffic on certain routes. This sparked a very bitter 'bus war' between First and Edinburgh city operator Lothian Buses, with fares being cut, extra vehicles being drafted in, timetables altered and routes being diverted. Lothian complained to the Office of Fair Trading, claiming First was engaging in anti-competitive behaviour in an effort to become the dominant operator in Edinburgh. However, the OfT ruled that First Edinburgh's conduct represented legitimate competition; that it did not intend to 'drive Lothian off the streets', and that its fares were low enough in comparison to its costs. Regardless of this decision, the First network in Edinburgh was curtailed, ending the bus war and leaving Lothian as the dominant city operator.
From October 2004, First Group began operating the ScotRail rail franchise, ensuring First as the dominant public transport provider in Scotland and strengthening its presence in the central belt.
