Kelvin Central Buses
Encyclopedia
Kelvin Central Buses Ltd was a bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Bus Group
formed in July 1989 from the merger of Kelvin Scottish
and Central Scottish
in preparation for privatisation, and operated until July 1998 when it became First Glasgow (No.2) Ltd.
in the west, the Campsie Fells
in the north, Shotts
to the east and Strathaven
to the south.
Kelvin Central was the largest operator in Lanarkshire
and Dunbartonshire
, and was responsible for urban, rural and interurban services in and around the towns of Dumbarton, Kirkintilloch
, Motherwell, Hamilton, Airdrie
, Cumbernauld
and much of Glasgow
.
On formation of the company, depots were located in Old Kilpatrick
, Milngavie
, Kirkintilloch, Kilsyth
, Stepps
, Cumbernauld, East Kilbride
, Airdrie, Motherwell, Wishaw
and Hamilton. However, Wishaw and East Kilbride were to close very soon after the merger, and at that time the company would largely withdraw from services around East Kilbride.
, and by the time the dispute was resolved a number of new operators had stepped in to take on the abandoned services. Whereas Kelvin had been one of the more successful of the Scottish Bus Group subsidiaries, Central was financially weakened, suffered from heavy competition and burdened with a large debt.
Despite the head office of the new company remaining at the former Central headquarters in Motherwell, Kelvin management assumed control and swiftly embarked on turning the company around. Immediately after the merger, services, vehicles and depots were rationalised and a vibrant red
and cream
livery
was introduced for the bus fleet
. It could be argued that the depot closures at East Kilbride and Wishaw were management retaliation for the strikes, as they were widely viewed at the time as the most militant
in the operation.
The company restricted itself to purchasing only used vehicles and the company readied itself for the transition to the private sector
. Upon the break-up and privatisation of the Scottish Bus Group it was rumoured that Stagecoach
was the preferred bidder for Kelvin Central until they had an opportunity to examine the company's accounts.
In 1991 the company passed to its management and employees, but due to the company's debt and continued operating losses, the purchasers did not have much money to invest.
Many of the smaller independent operators that competed heavily with Kelvin Central were successfully purchased, paving the way for Kelvin Central to become the dominant operator once again in much of Lanarkshire but also giving it a rather mixed and sometimes rather elderly fleet. Stagecoach's Magic Bus operation in Glasgow was also purchased, bringing in mainly Stagecoach-standard Volvo B10M
-55/Alexander PSs and Alexander Dash
-bodied Dennis Dart
s, and the company slowly returned to profitability, with new vehicle purchases starting again in 1993, these were mainly Volvo B10B
/Alexander Strider
s, Volvo B6
/Alexander Dashes and Volvo Olympian
/Alexander Royales. The choice of the Volvo/Alexander combination probably came from the fact that Kelvin found the PSs very good buses.
The neighbouring Glasgow city operator, Strathclyde Buses
, was itself employee-owned
. At that time, Stagecoach Western Scottish
were poised to launch a network of Glasgow city services under the Stagecoach Glasgow banner, competing directly with Strathclyde Buses and Kelvin Central. Weeks before these new services were due to commence, Stagecoach acquired a 20% stake in SB Holdings (Strathclyde Buses and Kelvin Central Buses parent group) and the "bus war" was averted. Kelvin Central purchased the vehicles intended to be used by Stagecoach Glasgow and took over the planned new services.
Further rationalisation of vehicles, depots and services took place between Strathclyde Buses and Kelvin Central, which by that time had begun trading as KCB Network.
However, while the Monopolies and Mergers Commission
cleared the Strathclyde/Kelvin Central merger, it found the Stagecoach stake in the combined company to be against the public interest. It ordered Stagecoach to divest its 20% share in the firm early in 1995.
The ownership issue was not to be resolved until June 1996, however, when FirstBus agreed to purchase SB Holdings, including the 20% Stagecoach share, for £110m.
A new all-over red livery was adopted for the combined company, and the KCB Network trading name was replaced with Kelvin, and later First Kelvin.
In 1998, Kelvin Central Buses Ltd was renamed First Glasgow (No.2) Ltd, trading as First Glasgow
.
Scottish Bus Group
The Scottish Bus Group was a state-owned Scottish holding company that included a number of bus operators covering the whole of Scotland. The group was formed in 1961 as Scottish Omnibuses Group Ltd, to take control of the British Transport Commission's bus operating subsidiaries in Scotland...
formed in July 1989 from the merger of Kelvin Scottish
Kelvin Scottish
Kelvin Scottish Omnibuses Ltd was a bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group based in Bishopbriggs, Strathclyde, Scotland. It was formed in March 1985 from parts of Walter Alexander & Sons Ltd and Central SMT, initially with six depots and a varied fleet of 381 vehicles.The company...
and Central Scottish
Central Scottish
Central Scottish Omnibuses Ltd was a bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group formed in June 1985 from Central SMT Company Ltd, and operated until July 1989 when it was merged with Kelvin Scottish to form Kelvin Central Buses.- Operation :...
in preparation for privatisation, and operated until July 1998 when it became First Glasgow (No.2) Ltd.
Operation
From its head office in Traction House, Motherwell, Kelvin Central had an operating area stretching from Loch LomondLoch Lomond
Loch Lomond is a freshwater Scottish loch, lying on the Highland Boundary Fault. It is the largest lake in Great Britain by surface area. The lake contains many islands, including Inchmurrin, the largest fresh-water island in the British Isles, although the lake itself is smaller than many Irish...
in the west, the Campsie Fells
Campsie Fells
The Campsie Fells are a range of hills in central Scotland, stretching east to west, from Denny Muir to Dumgoyne, in Stirlingshire. . The highest point in the range is Earl's Seat which is 578 m high...
in the north, Shotts
Shotts
Shotts is a small rural town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located almost halfway between Glasgow and Edinburgh . As of the 2001 census, the population was 8,235...
to the east and Strathaven
Strathaven
Strathaven is a historic market town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The town was granted a Royal Charter in 1450, making the Town of Strathaven a burgh of barony. The town's principal industry was primarily weaving in the 19th and early 20th centuries, however this declined when faced by...
to the south.
Kelvin Central was the largest operator in Lanarkshire
Lanarkshire
Lanarkshire or the County of Lanark ) is a Lieutenancy area, registration county and former local government county in the central Lowlands of Scotland...
and Dunbartonshire
Dunbartonshire
Dunbartonshire or the County of Dumbarton is a lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Until 1975 it was a county used as a primary unit of local government with its county town and administrative centre at the town...
, and was responsible for urban, rural and interurban services in and around the towns of Dumbarton, Kirkintilloch
Kirkintilloch
Kirkintilloch is a town and former burgh in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It lies on the Forth and Clyde Canal, about eight miles northeast of central Glasgow...
, Motherwell, Hamilton, Airdrie
Airdrie, North Lanarkshire
Airdrie is a town within North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It lies on a plateau roughly 400 ft above sea level, and is approximately 12 miles east of Glasgow city centre. Airdrie forms part of a conurbation with its neighbour Coatbridge, in the former district known as the Monklands. As of 2006,...
, Cumbernauld
Cumbernauld
Cumbernauld is a Scottish new town in North Lanarkshire. It was created in 1956 as a population overspill for Glasgow City. It is the eighth most populous settlement in Scotland and the largest in North Lanarkshire...
and much of Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
.
On formation of the company, depots were located in Old Kilpatrick
Old Kilpatrick
Old Kilpatrick is a village in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland.The village is on the north bank of the River Clyde immediately to the north of the Forth and Clyde Canal, three miles from Clydebank on the road to Dumbarton. The Great Western Road runs through Old Kilpatrick, and the next village to...
, Milngavie
Milngavie
Milngavie , is a town in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It is on the Allander Water, at the northwestern edge of Greater Glasgow, and about from Glasgow city centre. It neighbours Bearsden....
, Kirkintilloch, Kilsyth
Kilsyth
Kilsyth is a town of 10,100 roughly halfway between Glasgow and Stirling in North Lanarkshire, Scotland.-Location:...
, Stepps
Stepps
Stepps is a small town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, on the north-eastern outskirts of Glasgow. The town consists of Stepps Village, Cardowan, Stepps Hill and Millerston...
, Cumbernauld, East Kilbride
East Kilbride
East Kilbride is a large suburban town in the South Lanarkshire council area, in the West Central Lowlands of Scotland. Designated as Scotland's first new town in 1947, it forms part of the Greater Glasgow conurbation...
, Airdrie, Motherwell, Wishaw
Wishaw
Wishaw is a large town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is on the edge of the Clyde Valley, 15 miles south-east of Glasgow....
and Hamilton. However, Wishaw and East Kilbride were to close very soon after the merger, and at that time the company would largely withdraw from services around East Kilbride.
History
Kelvin Central Buses Ltd was formed when Central Scottish changed its legal company name in preparation for the merger with Kelvin Scottish in 1989. The new merged company would have a difficult birth. Central's network had been paralysed for weeks due to strike actionStrike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
, and by the time the dispute was resolved a number of new operators had stepped in to take on the abandoned services. Whereas Kelvin had been one of the more successful of the Scottish Bus Group subsidiaries, Central was financially weakened, suffered from heavy competition and burdened with a large debt.
Despite the head office of the new company remaining at the former Central headquarters in Motherwell, Kelvin management assumed control and swiftly embarked on turning the company around. Immediately after the merger, services, vehicles and depots were rationalised and a vibrant red
Red
Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths than this are called infrared , and cannot be seen by the naked eye...
and cream
Cream (colour)
Cream is the colour of the cream produced by cattle grazing on natural pasture with plants rich in yellow carotenoid pigments, some of which are incorporated into the cream, to give a yellow tone to white. Cream is the pastel colour of yellow, much like as pink is to red. Cream is used as a skin...
livery
Livery
A livery is a uniform, insignia or symbol adorning, in a non-military context, a person, an object or a vehicle that denotes a relationship between the wearer of the livery and an individual or corporate body. Often, elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or corporate body feature in...
was introduced for the bus fleet
Fleet vehicles
Fleet vehicles are groups of motor vehicles owned or leased by a business or government agency, rather than by an individual or family. Typical examples are vehicles operated by car rental companies, taxicab companies, public utilities, public bus companies, and police departments...
. It could be argued that the depot closures at East Kilbride and Wishaw were management retaliation for the strikes, as they were widely viewed at the time as the most militant
Militant
The word militant, which is both an adjective and a noun, usually is used to mean vigorously active, combative and aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in 'militant reformers'. It comes from the 15th century Latin "militare" meaning "to serve as a soldier"...
in the operation.
The company restricted itself to purchasing only used vehicles and the company readied itself for the transition to the private sector
Private sector
In economics, the private sector is that part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is run by private individuals or groups, usually as a means of enterprise for profit, and is not controlled by the state...
. Upon the break-up and privatisation of the Scottish Bus Group it was rumoured that Stagecoach
Stagecoach Group
Stagecoach Group plc is an international transport group operating buses, trains, trams, express coaches and ferries. The group was founded in 1980 by the current chairman, Sir Brian Souter, his sister, Ann Gloag, and her former husband Robin...
was the preferred bidder for Kelvin Central until they had an opportunity to examine the company's accounts.
In 1991 the company passed to its management and employees, but due to the company's debt and continued operating losses, the purchasers did not have much money to invest.
Many of the smaller independent operators that competed heavily with Kelvin Central were successfully purchased, paving the way for Kelvin Central to become the dominant operator once again in much of Lanarkshire but also giving it a rather mixed and sometimes rather elderly fleet. Stagecoach's Magic Bus operation in Glasgow was also purchased, bringing in mainly Stagecoach-standard Volvo B10M
Volvo B10M
The Volvo B10M is a popular mid-engined bus and coach chassis built by Volvo between 1978 and 2001. It was built as the successor of the B58 and was equipped with a 9.6-litre horizontally-mounted Volvo THD100/THD101/THD102/THD103/THD104/DH10A diesel engine mounted under the floor, near the middle...
-55/Alexander PSs and Alexander Dash
Alexander Dash
The Alexander Dash is a midibus body built by Walter Alexander Coachbuilders of Scotland during the 1990s. It was one of the variants of Alexander's AM-type body and was usually combined with the Dennis Dart and Volvo B6 step-entrance bus chassis....
-bodied Dennis Dart
Dennis Dart
The Dennis Dart is a rear-engined midibus built by Dennis in the United Kingdom. More than 11,000 were built during 18 years of production....
s, and the company slowly returned to profitability, with new vehicle purchases starting again in 1993, these were mainly Volvo B10B
Volvo B10B
The Volvo B10B was a rear-engined high-floor bus chassis manufactured by Volvo Buses from 1990 to 2002. It superseded the Volvo B10R and its successor was the Volvo B12B....
/Alexander Strider
Alexander Strider
The Alexander Strider was a single-decker bus body produced in Scotland by Walter Alexander Coachbuilders between 1993 and 1997. The body was available on Dennis Lance, Volvo B10B, Volvo B10M, Scania N113 and Scania L113 chassis....
s, Volvo B6
Volvo B6
The Volvo B6 is a midibus manufactured by Volvo between 1991 and 2000. Its low-floor variant, the Volvo B6LE, was first built in 1994.The Volvo B6/B6LE chassis was built to compete with the Dennis Dart/Dart SLF chassis. It could be fitted with Volvo TD63E/TD63ES engine...
/Alexander Dashes and Volvo Olympian
Volvo Olympian
The Volvo Olympian was a rear-engine double decker bus built by Volvo at Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotland. It was first built in 1992 and entered production in March 1993, replacing the Leyland Olympian....
/Alexander Royales. The choice of the Volvo/Alexander combination probably came from the fact that Kelvin found the PSs very good buses.
The neighbouring Glasgow city operator, Strathclyde Buses
Strathclyde Buses
Strathclyde Buses was a bus operating company in Glasgow and west-central Scotland. It commenced operations in October 1986. Prior to 1986, the council-owned buses had belonged to Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive , and therefore were owned by Strathclyde Regional Council...
, was itself employee-owned
Employee-owned corporation
An employee share ownership plan is the practice of companies giving staff members shares in their company as part of their salary....
. At that time, Stagecoach Western Scottish
Stagecoach West Scotland
Stagecoach West Scotland is an operating region of Stagecoach UK Bus, comprising Western Buses Ltd and Stagecoach Glasgow Ltd, based in Ayr, Scotland.-Operation:...
were poised to launch a network of Glasgow city services under the Stagecoach Glasgow banner, competing directly with Strathclyde Buses and Kelvin Central. Weeks before these new services were due to commence, Stagecoach acquired a 20% stake in SB Holdings (Strathclyde Buses and Kelvin Central Buses parent group) and the "bus war" was averted. Kelvin Central purchased the vehicles intended to be used by Stagecoach Glasgow and took over the planned new services.
Further rationalisation of vehicles, depots and services took place between Strathclyde Buses and Kelvin Central, which by that time had begun trading as KCB Network.
However, while the Monopolies and Mergers Commission
Competition Commission
The Competition Commission is a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom...
cleared the Strathclyde/Kelvin Central merger, it found the Stagecoach stake in the combined company to be against the public interest. It ordered Stagecoach to divest its 20% share in the firm early in 1995.
The ownership issue was not to be resolved until June 1996, however, when FirstBus agreed to purchase SB Holdings, including the 20% Stagecoach share, for £110m.
A new all-over red livery was adopted for the combined company, and the KCB Network trading name was replaced with Kelvin, and later First Kelvin.
In 1998, Kelvin Central Buses Ltd was renamed First Glasgow (No.2) Ltd, trading as First Glasgow
First Glasgow
First Glasgow is the largest bus company serving the Greater Glasgow area in, Scotland. It forms part of FirstGroup, a company operating transport services across the British Isles and in North America...
.