Central Scottish
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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.
[edit] Operation
From its head office in Traction House, Motherwell, Central Scottish had an operating area covering the whole of Lanarkshire, bounded by Glasgow to the west, Airdrie to the north, Strathaven to the south and Shotts to the east.
Central was the largest operator in central Scotland and was responsible for local and interurban services in the towns of East Kilbride, Airdrie, Motherwell, Wishaw and Hamilton. Depots were also located in these towns.
Central Scottish also provided coaches for Scottish Citylink work, mainly from Glasgow and central Scotland to other points in Scotland.
[edit] History
Though its predecessor company Central SMT can be traced back to 1926, Central Scottish was formed to prepare the Scottish Bus Group for deregulation of the British bus industry in 1986, and the eventual break up and privatisation of the group. The Dunbartonshire and north Glasgow operations of the old Central SMT were carved out to form a new company, Kelvin Scottish, in 1985, leaving Central the Lanarkshire operations. At this time, however, the Monklands operations of Eastern Scottish were added to the Central portfolio.
On deregulation Central, together with fellow SBG subsidiaries Clydeside Scottish and Kelvin Scottish, launched a network of services in the city of Glasgow in direct competition with the city operator, Strathclyde Buses. A high profile, high frequency cross city service, together with a number of minibus services were started, though Strathclyde Buses retaliated by extending their own network deep into Lanarkshire. Whereas Strathclyde Buses services into East Kilbride and beyond proved popular at Central's expense, Central's city services failed to gain popularity and often ran empty.
In the face of growing competition, it was announced that Central Scottish would be remerged with Kelvin Scottish in an attempt to make the larger company more attractive to potential buyers. The planned merger was deeply unpopular with Central staff, however, as flexible rostering agreements, fully in place with Kelvin, were not yet up and running at Central. A disastrous strike resulted in early 1989, and the company's network was paralysed for weeks on end. While Central's buses remained in their depots, a number of operators stepped in and took over the company's route network. By summer 1989, the dispute had ended, and in a vain attempt to win back customers, Central embarked on a major rebranding exercise. The Central Scottish trading name and the deep red and cream livery the vehicles wore gave way to a number of new local identities. Vehicles in Airdrie received a dark blue and grey colour scheme branded as Monklands Bus, East Kilbride vehicles gained a dark green and cream livery with EK Chieftain fleetnames, leaving vehicles in the remaining depots gaining a more vibrant red and cream livery, branded as Lanarkshire Bus. The Central Scottish identity was buried with the strike action, and the company was renamed Kelvin Central Buses Ltd in preparation for the merger.
In July 1989, the merger between the two companies was fully enacted, and Central Scottish ceased trading as an independent concern.
