Fife Scottish

Infobox Company
company_name = Stagecoach in Fife
company_
company_type = Public
foundation = 1991, formerly Fife Scottish
location = Cowdenbeath, Fife
area_served = St Andrews, Dunfermline, Cowdenbeath, Methil, Glenrothes and Kirkcaldy
homepage = [http://www.stagecoachbus.com/fife/ www.stagecoachbus.com]
footnotes = Subsidiary of Stagecoach East Scotland. Brand name for services in the Fife area of Scotland.

Fife Scottish Omnibuses Ltd, in Scotland, was formed as a bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group formed in June 1985 from Walter Alexander & Sons (Fife) Ltd and is now part of the Stagecoach Group, trading as Stageoach in Fife.

Operation

From its head office, initially in Kirkcaldy, Fife, but later moved to Cowdenbeath, Fife Scottish operated throughout the ancient Kingdom of Fife and beyond to Dundee and Edinburgh. A network of express services also reach as far west as Glasgow.

Fife is the largest operator in the region and is responsible for urban, rural and interurban services in the towns of St Andrews, Dunfermline, Cowdenbeath, Methil, Glenrothes, Leven and Kirkcaldy.

The Depots are situated in:


Kirkcaldy - Closed 2004

St Andrews

Dunfermline
Cowdenbeath

Glenrothes
Newburgh - Closed under SBG ownership, used now as an Outstation
Aberhill (Leven)

Current News

During the 1980s, Fife Scottish provided coaches for Scottish Citylink work, mainly from Fife to other destinations in Scotland. Since privatisation, however, Fife Scottish has built up its own substantial network of express services under the Stagecoach Express banner.

Stagecoach in Fife recently invested £4.5 million in upgrading the Express Network as "Express City Connect" for all "X**" Services to/from Edinburgh and "Experience City Connect" for the 53/55 Dunfermline/Dalgety Bay services.

The "X**" Services received 20 brand new Plaxton Profile, Volvo B7R Coaches with full Leather Trim and Wi-Fi Internet Access.

The 53 and 55 received 9 Scania Omnilink Tri-Axle Single Deckers again with full Leather trim and Wi-Fi Internet Access.

The current Express City Connect (Stagecoach Express) Routes are:

X54 - Dundee to Edinburgh via Glenrothes and Dunfermline
X57 - Lochgelly to Edinburgh (Peak Journeys Only)
X58 - Leven/Kirkcaldy to Edinburgh
X59 - St Andrews to Edinburgh via Glenrothes
X60 - St Andrews to Edinburgh via Leven
X61 - Glenrothes to Edinburgh (Peak Journeys Only)

X24 - St Andrews to Glasgow via Glenrothes and Dunfermline
X26 - St Andrews to Glasgow via Leven and Kirkcaldy
X27 - Kirkcaldy to Glasgow via Dunfermline

The current Experience City Connect Services are:

53 - Dalgety Bay - Edinburgh
55 - Dunfermline - Edinburgh

In March 2008, it was announced that Stagecoach Fife had bought Rennies of Dunfermline for and undisclosed sum. The Rennies fleet was 60 vehicles, and included 18 double deckers, all leased from Stagecoach in Fife.

History

Walter Alexander & Sons (Fife) Ltd, which can be traced back to 1923, was renamed Fife Scottish Omnibuses Ltd through reorganisation of the Scottish Bus Group in preparation for deregulation of the bus industry in 1986, and eventual privatisation. Of the seven original SBG subsidiaries, Alexanders (Fife) was the only company to survive the reorganisation intact; it lost none of its operating area to any of the new companies formed and nor did it gain. The only impact of the shake-up was the legal name change.

On its creation, the company kept the vibrant red and cream livery adopted by Alexander's Fife operations. The SBG corporate 'Fife Scottish' fleet name style was adopted, however, in an unusually large size, and larger areas of cream were the only visible differences. Some vehicles sported "Best Bus In The Kingdom" slogans as part of SBG's marketing drive, rather than "Best Bus In Town" or "Best Bus Around"; playing on Fife's proud history of once being a separate kingdom.

With the arrival of deregulation came the arrival of competition. Fife had previously enjoyed being the sole operator throughout much of the region and its response to the new operators showed the company's intention to remain so. Despite the cities of Edinburgh and Dundee being on the edges of its operating area, Fife concentrated on protecting its home market rather than expanding into the cities to compete against the dominant operators there. Rennie's of Dunfermline were the first challengers to Fife in and around that town, but by far the largest and most sustained competition came from local coach firm Moffat & Williamson. Moffat's built up a substantial network of services throughout much of Fife, mirroring the larger operator's network. A "bus war" broke out across the region, and vehicles from both operators could be seen nose to tail on services such as that between Dundee and St Andrews. Fife's passenger base seemed loyal, however, and Rennies would soon withdraw from Dunfermline and Moffats would scale back its operations, though retaining pockets of strong competition in the industrialised towns in the south of the region.

Despite the competition, Fife remained the most profitable of the SBG subsidiaries and was seen by potential buyers as the 'jewel in the crown' of the state-owned bus group. In July 1991, Fife Scottish was purchased by Stagecoach for £9.1m. The red and cream livery was replaced by the Stagecoach corporate look of red, blue and orange stripes on a white background. Stagecoach took a much more severe line with Moffat & Williamson, a strategy that drew criticism in the media for being predatory and uncompetitive. However, it was a strategy that worked. Moffat & Williamson would withdraw the majority of its competing services and Fife Scottish would once again become the sole operator in much of the kingdom, a position it enjoys today.

Now part of Stagecoach East Scotland, the company now trades as 'Stagecoach in Fife'.

External links

* [http://www.stagecoachbus.com/fife/ Stagecoach in Fife website]
* [http://www.fifescottish.com/ history of fife scottish]