Eastern Scottish

Eastern Scottish Omnibuses Ltd, in Scotland, was a subsidiary of the Scottish Bus Group formed in June 1985 from the Scottish Motor Traction Co Ltd (SMT). It operated until 1999, when it became First Edinburgh.

Operation

From its head office in New Street, Edinburgh, Eastern Scottish had an operating area throughout the Lothians in the east of Scotland, bounded by the Firth of Forth to the north and east, Bathgate in the west and Gorebridge in the south.

Eastern operated urban, interurban and rural services in and around Bathgate, Livingston, Dalkeith and Musselburgh, and services within the city of Edinburgh. Depots were also located in these towns.

Eastern also provided coaches for Scottish Citylink express work from Edinburgh to Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness, London and other points in Scotland and England.

History

The Scottish Motor Traction Company Ltd (trading as 'SMT') was formed in 1905, and expanded quickly through a series of takeovers to become the principal bus operator in south east Scotland, and the parent company of the SMT Group, whose subsidiaries operated elsewhere in Scotland. In 1949, SMT was nationalised and renamed Scottish Omnibuses Ltd, although the SMT name remained in use until the early 1960s, after which 'Scottish' and then 'Eastern Scottish' were used. At the time of nationalisation, the detached operations around Dundee were transferred to sister company W Alexander & Sons Ltd. Following the loss of the Dundee area, principal depots were at:

*Edinburgh (depot code A)
*Bathgate (B)
*Galashiels (D)
*Kelso (E)
*Linlithgow (F)
*Dalkeith (G)
*Airdrie (Clarkston garage) (H)
*Broxburn (I)
*Berwick-upon-Tweed (J)
*Peebles (K)
*Hawick (L)
*Musselburgh (W)

In 1958 Lowland Motorways of Glasgow was taken over, creating serious overcrowding at Airdrie depot, and a few years later a garage was opened at Baillieston (code C) to relieve the pressure. Further depots inherited from acquired firms were Victoria garage, Airdrie (code V) from Baxter's Bus Service in 1962, and Dunbar (code S) from Stark's Motor Service in 1964. A new garage at Livingston (code N) opened in the late 1970s to replace Broxburn. Airdrie Victoria closed at about the same time. In addition to these main depots, there were a number of sub-depots, which did not have their own allocation. These included Melrose (closed 1963), Selkirk (closed 1971), North Berwick (inherited from Stark's) and Jedburgh.

When the Baxter's business was acquired, adverse public reaction to the repainting of buses into Scottish Omnibuses livery led to a decision to retain the Baxter's identity and blue livery for buses based at Victoria depot and used on town services around Airdrie and Coatbridge. The Stark's livery, a lighter shade of green than that used by Scottish Omnibuses, was retained for buses at Dunbar and North Berwick. Both local identities disappeared in the late 1970s.

Deregulation

In preparation for deregulation in 1986 and eventual privatisation the Scottish Bus Group was reorganised. Scottish Omnibuses' southern operations in the Scottish Borders and at Dunbar/North Berwick were ceded to a new company, Lowland Scottish, while the northern operations were renamed Eastern Scottish Omnibuses Ltd. Eastern retained the traditional green and cream livery for its fleet. At the same time, the Scottish Omnibuses depot and operations in and around Airdrie in Lanarkshire were ceded to Central Scottish, while the depot at Baillieston was closed and its vehicles and operations passed briefly to Midland Scottish, pending further reorganisation to create Kelvin Scottish. Linlithgow depot passed to Midland Scottish.

Upon deregulation, Eastern faced little to no competition outside of Edinburgh, despite a highly urbanised operating area. Within Edinburgh, Eastern found itself sparring with the larger, dominant city operator, Lothian Regional Transport, for a larger share of the city traffic. In late 1986 Eastern introduced ten new routes within Edinburgh. These were numbered C1-C10. Route C5 used Dodge minibuses, whilst most of the other routes used secondhand ex-South Yorkshire Transport Volvo Ailsa double deckers with Irish-built Van Hool-McArdle bodywork. Most these routes lasted for a very short period only.

Lothian retaliated by extending services beyond the city boundary and deeper into Eastern's operating area. Together with the loyalty of the passengers to the uniform, resplendent fleet of the 'corporation', Lothian's competitive tactics ensured that Eastern made no significant inroads to its market share. Despite competition between the two operators, bitter 'bus wars' that broke out in other cities and towns across Scotland were avoided, and Eastern did not persevere with loss-making operations.

Privatisation

Eastern was one of the most profitable subsidiaries of the Scottish Bus Group, with an operating profit of £1.07m in 1989. In September 1990 the company was sold to its management and employees for £9.5m, making it the most expensive subsidiary in the sell-off. The company began trading as SMT once again, with a modern, stylised take on the traditional diamond logo. Investment in new vehicles and the introduction of "quality corridors", branded as 'Diamond Service', followed.

In October 1994 the GRT Group, which later became First Group, bought the company for £10.3m. In 1999, the company, now trading as First SMT, was broken up and merged into neighbouring First Group subsidiaries Midland Bluebird Ltd (formerly Midland Scottish) and Lowland Buses (formerly Lowland Scottish) to form First Edinburgh, trading simply as First. Eastern Scottish Omnibuses Ltd ceased trading as an independent concern.

External links

* [http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/scotland/sescot/home/ First Edinburgh website]