First lifts lid on Scottish bus business: Under attack from all sides

FirstGroup wants to cut loss-making bus operations in South East Scotland but can only do so with the approval of the Competition and Markets Authoritt

Andrew Forster

16 October 2015

FirstGroup and Lothian compete on the cross-Edinburgh 44 route in 2011. First withdrew from the route in 2012

Bus operating territories – South East Scotland - 2008

Bus operating territories – Glasgow and surroundings 2008

Bus operating territories – South East Scotland - 2015 The changing bus market of South East Scotland, showing, in particular, the decline of FirstGroup’s operations. Source: FirstGroup

Bus operating territories – Glasgow and surroundings 2015

The Scottish Government’s policy of keeping down the cost of rail travel is encouraging mode switch from bus to train, says FirstGroup

Mine was perhaps a mis-spent youth. Growing up in Edinburgh during the early 1980s, Saturday meant trainspotting at Waverley and, if we ever tired of that, there were always the buses at St Andrew Square! At the time, the bus market was dominated by two operators – the maroon and white of municipally-owned Lothian Regional Transport, which served city routes, and the green and cream of Eastern Scottish, a subsidiary of the state-owned Scottish Bus Group, which operated to outlying...