Borders Buses operates both local and regional bus services in the

City of Edinburgh The City of Edinburgh Council is the local government authority for the city of Edinburgh, capital of Scotland. With a population of in mid-2019, it is the second most populous local authority area in Scotland. In its current form, the counci ...

East Lothian East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the histo ...

Midlothian Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh, ...

and

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...

, Scotland, as well as Cumbria and Northumberland, England. It is a subsidiary of

West Coast Motors West Coast Motors (legally incorporated as Craig of Campbeltown Limited) is a bus, coach and ferry operator, based in Campbeltown, Scotland. The company also operates under the name ''Borders Buses'' and ''Glasgow Citybus''. History The foundi ...

History

The company, formerly known as Perryman's Buses, began in 1972, operating as a taxi service in the village of

Burnmouth Burnmouth is a small fishing village located adjacent to the A1 road on the east coast of Scotland. It is the first village in Scotland on the A1, after crossing the border with England. Burnmouth is located in the Parish of Ayton, in the S ...

. Following expansion over the next four decades, Perryman's moved to larger premises at Ramparts Business Park, Berwick-upon-Tweed in 2002. Following the closure of

Munro's of Jedburgh Munro's of Jedburgh was a bus company, which operated local and regional bus services in the City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and Scottish Borders, Scotland, as well as Northumberland and Tyne and Wear, England. The company was closed ...

in July 2013, Perryman's was awarded a contract from Scottish Borders Council, valued at £10.4 million, to operate a number of routes in Northumberland,

, and

. This expansion saw the opening of a second depot, in the village of

St Boswells St Boswells ( sco, Bosels / Bosells; gd, Cille Bhoisil ) is a large village on the south side of the River Tweed in the Scottish Borders, about southeast of Newtown St Boswells on the A68 road. It lies within the boundaries of the historic ...

, and created a total of 27 jobs. The new operation required additional vehicles, with a total of twelve high-specification Optare Versa single-deck vehicles delivered in September 2013 – the company's largest ever vehicle order at the time. In February 2016, Perryman's Buses was purchased by

. The sale included 45 vehicles, as well as depots at Berwick-upon-Tweed and St Boswells. Later in the same year, the company took over several services from

First Scotland East First South East & Central Scotland, formerly known as First Scotland East, was an operator of both local and regional bus services in Clackmannanshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Lothian, Falkirk, Fife, Midlothian, North Lanarkshire, Scottish B ...

. The remainder of First's operations in the Scottish Borders, including depots at Galashiels, Hawick, Kelso and Peebles were sold to West Coast Motors in March 2017 – with a subsequent rebrand to Borders Buses in July 2017. Further expansion in the Scottish Borders over the next few years saw the company acquire routes from BARC Coach Hire in January 2018, as well as Buskers in September 2019. The company has recently seen significant investment in vehicles, as well as real-time service information, and ticketing systems. In April 2019, three bike-friendly Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 MMC vehicles were introduced on to route X62 – representing an investment of about £750,000. The launch of these new vehicles coincided with the launch of full contactless payment acceptance across the Borders Buses network. Subsequently, ten bike-friendly

Alexander Dennis Enviro 200 MMC The Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMC (sold as the Alexander Dennis Enviro200) is a single-decker city bus produced by Alexander Dennis since 2014, as the successor to the Enviro200 midibus and Enviro300 full-size bus. The first Enviro200 MMCs e ...

vehicles were delivered towards the end of 2019, with a further ten being delivered in February 2020, at a cost of £3.25 million. These vehicles currently operate on routes 253, X62 and X95, and feature free WiFi, audio-visual next stop announcements, leather seats, tables and charging points. In March 2020, it was announced that Borders Buses was granted a five-year contract, valued at £4 million, to commercially operate the remaining Scottish Borders Council core bus network – including the operation of routes 51, 52, 60, 67 and 68. As well as this, the company will work in partnership with Scottish Borders Council to improve bus stops, the provision of real-time information and bus priority measures.

Fleet and operations

Depots

, the company operates from three depots: Berwick-upon-Tweed, Galashiels and

Vehicles

The fleet consists mainly of diesel-powered single and double-deck buses manufactured by Alexander Dennis and Optare.

Branding

In July 2017, following the sale of Perryman's Buses to West Coast Motors, the business was rebranded as Borders Buses. This saw the introduction of a new cream and red corporate livery, featuring a blue stripe along the length of the vehicle, as well as a new logo. Some vehicles operating on key routes have received route-specific branding, based on the corporate livery. Prior to rebranding, vehicles wore the Perryman's Buses livery, which consisted of a white base with a red and blue stripe along the length of the vehicle.

History

Fleet and operations

Depots

Vehicles

Branding

References

External links