M110RMS is an East Lancs MaxCi bodied Scania N113CRL in Glasgow. |
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| Parent | Arriva |
| Founded | 1997 |
| Headquarters | Inchinnan, Scotland, UK |
| Service area | Renfrewshire & Glasgow |
| Service type | Bus |
| Hubs | Johnstone, Inchinnan |
| Operator | Arriva Group |
| Web site | www.arrivabus.co.uk |
Arriva Scotland West Ltd is a bus operating subsidiary of Arriva based in Inchinnan, near Paisley, Scotland, trading simply as Arriva. It is currently the group's sole operation in Scotland. It was formed in 1997 as a rebranding of the former Clydeside 2000 company. In December 2011 it was announced that Arriva had agreed to sell the company to independent operator McGill's Bus Services.
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Arriva Scotland West, the biggest bus operator in the Paisley area, operate over 16 million passenger journeys a year, and approximately 200 vehicles from two depots at Inchinnan and Johnstone in an area bounded by Largs to the west and south, Duntocher to the north, and Glasgow to the east. It is the dominant bus operator throughout Renfrewshire, including the towns of Paisley, Barrhead , Johnstone , Renfrew and Erskine. In addition, the company operates the Glasgow Flyer service between Glasgow International Airport and Glasgow City Centre. Arriva also operate two other bus links to the airport, from Paisley town centre and from Clydebank (both branded as Arriva).
The Arriva brand first appeared in west central Scotland in 1997 when the Cowie Group re-branded following its acquisition of British Bus Holdings plc. Prior to that the company was known as Clydeside Buses Ltd, trading as Clydeside.
Clydeside was created as Clydeside Scottish in 1985 from the northern operations of Western SMT to prepare the state-owned parent company, the Scottish Bus Group, for deregulation of the bus industry and eventual privatisation. At the time, Clydeside's operating area was much larger, covering Inverclyde (including the towns of Gourock and Greenock), the Isle of Bute and much of the south side of Glasgow. Clydeside was re-merged with Western Scottish (Western SMT's successor company) in 1989 in an attempt to make it more financially viable. However, on the privatisation of Western Scottish the Clydeside operations were sold to management and employees as Clydeside 2000 plc. Luton & District also took a 23% stake in the new company. Clydeside began rationalising some of its operations, and depots at Largs, Paisley and Thornliebank were closed, the latter as a result of a reduction in operations within Glasgow.[1]
British Bus purchased the company in 1994, having just completed the take over of shareholder Luton & District, and the new parent company began investing heavily in the ageing fleet. A more vibrant red, white and yellow livery was introduced, and new "Flagship" routes were created to raise quality levels.[1]
The main competitor in Greenock, Ashton Coaches, was purchased along with 62 buses in July 1997. The Greenock operations were re-branded GMS Greenock Motor Services, using Ashton's white, green and gold livery, in order to more effectively combat the plethora of small operators in the town.[2] Long established independent operator McGill's Bus Services of Barrhead was also purchased in the same month, and initially continued to operate under its own identity.[2] A stake was also taken in Dart Buses of Paisley, another competitor, though this operator would soon go out of business.
In 1997 the main operations became Arriva Scotland West Ltd, trading as Arriva Serving Scotland - that description suggesting a much larger area than actually covered - and the corporate livery of aquamarine and cream introduced. The company flirted with operations outside its operating area, successfully securing tenders to operate services in Cumbernauld (where a depot was established for a short time) and south east Glasgow, though these were short-lived.
Further rationalisation took place in 2002, with the Inverclyde operations being sold to local management. Confusingly, the new operation was created as McGill's Bus Services - the company name and operating licence having been purchased with McGill's of Barrhead - based in Port Glasgow, and employing a livery of blue, white and gold in the same styles as both Arriva and the GMS division, depending on what type of vehicle it was applied to. At the same time, the Barrhead depot, originally belonging to the initial McGill's Bus Service, was closed and operations concentrated on the two remaining depots.
Recently, as with Arriva's other operations throughout the United Kingdom, the regional 'descriptor' of "Serving Scotland" has been dropped, and the company simply trades as Arriva.
In 2007, BAA awarded the new Glasgow Flyer 500 service to Arriva, which al bought several specially liveried Volvo B7RLE/Wright Eclipse for the service. As a result the 905 Airlink service, jointly operated with Fairline Coaches under contract to Scottish Citylink, has ended; however Fairline have since started an independent service numbered 905.
In August 2010 the company, along with First Glasgow, were banned by the area Traffic Commissioner from registering any new services into Glasgow city centre for six months after being found guilty of breaching regulations by picking up and dropping off passengers at locations other than their designated bus stops. One other operator was also banned.[3]
It was announced in December 2011 that a deal has been completed which will see McGill's Bus Services take over all of Arriva's operations effective immediately.[4]
Location: Inchinnan (Greenock Road)
Location: Johnstone (Cochranemill Road)
| Number | Start | End | Weekday and Saturday Frequency | Sunday Frequency | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7/7E | Linwood | Glasgow | Every 20 minutes | Every 60 minutes. Operates as 7E | |
| 17 | Spateston | Glasgow | Every 20 minutes | Every 60 minutes | |
| 17A | Kilbirnie | Glasgow | One journey(Peak Hours) | No Service | |
| 20 | Gallowhill | Johnstone | Every 30 minutes | No Service | |
| 22 | Erskine | Nethercraigs | Every 10 minutes | Every 30 minutes | |
| 22C | Duntocher | Nethercraigs | Every 60 minutes | No Service | |
| 23/23A | Erskine | Glasgow | Every 9 minutes | Every 15 minutes | |
| X23 | Erskine | Glasgow | 0635, 0735, 0755 from Erskine and 1705, 1722, 1745 from Glasgow | No Service | |
| 26/26E | Nethercraigs | Braehead/Glasgow | Every 10/20 minutes | Every 30/60 minutes. Operates as 26E | |
| X26 | Nethercraigs | Glasgow | Peak Hours Mon - Fri | No Service | |
| 30 | Johnstone via Johnstone Castle | Johnstone via Cochrane Castle | Every 30 minutes | No Service | |
| 36/36E | Kilbarchan | Glasgow | Every 10 minutes | Every 60 minutes to/from Kilbarchan. 36E every 60 minutes to/from Johnstone via Elderslie | |
| 38/38E | Spateston/Paisley | Glasgow | Every 10 minutes from Paisley-Glasgow/Every 20 minutes to Spateston | Every 60 minutes. Operates as 38E | |
| 60 | Foxbar/RAH | RAH and Paisley/Shortroods | Every 15 minutes | Every 30 minutes | |
| 61/61A | Foxbar | Paisley and Gallowhill/Hillington Industrial Estate(61A) | Every 6 minutes | Every 15 minutes | |
| X61 | Foxbar | Glasgow | Peak Hours Monday - Friday | No Service | |
| 64 | Paisley | Ferguslie Park | Every 15 minutes | No Service | |
| 66 | Dykebar | Glasgow Airport | Every 10 minutes | Every 30 minutes | |
| 101 | Auchenback/Paisley | Braehead | Every 10 minutes | Every 12 minutes between Braehead and Paisley. Every 30 minutes between Barrhead and Paisley | |
| 101 | Barrhead | Glasgow | Every 30 minutes | Every 60 minutes to Glasgow. Every 30 minutes to Silverburn | |
| 300 | Paisley | Clydebank | Replaced by 22C | Every 60 minutes early morning and evening and all day Sunday. | |
| - | 800 | Glasgow Airport | Largs | Every 60 minutes | No Service |
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