Scottish Buses During Deregulation

Rare and unpublished images from this iconic period in Scotland's transport history.

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On 26 October 1986 Britain’s bus services were deregulated. This applied to all services operated in England, Scotland and Wales, but did not apply in Northern Ireland or London. In the run-up to deregulation the Scottish Bus Group was restructured from seven companies (Central, Eastern, Fife, Midland, Northern, Highland and Western Scottish) into eleven companies along with Scottish Citylink Coaches. The new companies (Clydeside, Kelvin, Strathtay and Lowland Scottish) all developed bright new liveries to set them apart from their former owners. Competition for passengers was fierce with existing operators suddenly facing new rival operators; congestion and bitter battles took place across the country.

In order to survive companies had to work hard to win new passengers as well as keep their existing passengers. New liveries, marketing campaigns and new vehicles both big and small arrived. Most companies dabbled with minibuses – some even went back to crew operation, and large fleets of London Routemaster buses took to the streets of Glasgow.

In this book Kenny Barclay, a lifelong transport enthusiast, shares some of his photographs of the vehicles to be seen on the roads of Scotland leading up to and after Deregulation Day, showing the fast pace of the changes that took place during this time.