The Scottish Bus Group (SBG) was a

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

-owned group of bus operators covering the whole of mainland

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The origin of the grouping was the operators owned by and including the

Scottish Motor Traction Scottish Motor Traction (SMT) was founded in Edinburgh in 1905 by William Johnston Thomson. It operated buses in much of central Scotland. Aside from its traditional bus operations, it operated an air taxi service with a De Havilland Fox Moth be ...

company, which were transferred to Scottish Omnibuses after

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

in 1948 under control of the

British Transport Commission The British Transport Commission (BTC) was created by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government as a part of its nationalisation programme, to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport in Great Britain (Northern Ireland had the se ...

. Highland Omnibuses was added to the group in 1952. A new holding company, Scottish Omnibuses Group (Holdings) was formed in 1961, and this was renamed Scottish Bus GroupCompanies House extract company no SC13181
Scottish Bus Group Limited in 1963. Meanwhile, the group had come under control of the

Transport Holding Company The Transport Holding Company (THC) was a British Government-owned company created by the Transport Act 1962 to administer a range of state-owned transport, travel and engineering companies that were previously managed by the British Transport C ...

in 1962 when the British Transport Commission was wound up. It went on to become part of the

Scottish Transport Group The Scottish Bus Group (SBG) was a state-owned group of bus operators covering the whole of mainland Scotland. The origin of the grouping was the operators owned by and including the Scottish Motor Traction company, which were transferred to ...

on 1 January 1969 along with

David MacBrayne David MacBrayne is a limited company owned by the Scottish Government. Formed in 1851 as the private shipping company David Hutcheson & Co. with three partners, David Hutcheson, Alexander Hutcheson and David MacBrayne, it passed in 1878 to David ...

. At the time it operated 4,700 buses.

Member companies

*Central S.M.T. Company Ltd.(branded as

Central Scottish Central Scottish Omnibuses Ltd was a bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group formed in June 1985 from Central SMT, and operated until July 1989 when it was merged with Kelvin Scottish to form Kelvin Central Buses. Operation Fr ...

from 1978) *Highland Omnibuses Ltd.Companies House extract company no SC15912
Highland Scottish Omnibuses Limited formerly Highland Omnibuses Limited(branded as

Highland Scottish Highland Scottish Omnibuses Ltd was formed as a bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group in June 1985 from Highland Omnibuses Ltd, and operated until October 1995 when the company was split into two - Highland Bus & Coach and ...

from 1978) * Scottish Omnibuses Ltd.Companies House extract company no SC26792
Eastern Scottish Omnibuses Limited formerly Scottish Omnibuses Limited (branded as

Eastern Scottish Eastern Scottish Omnibuses Ltd. was a bus and coach operator based in Edinburgh, Scotland and a subsidiary of the Scottish Bus Group (formerly SMT Group). Eastern Scottish was formed in June 1985 from the main part of Scottish Omnibuses Ltd., ...

from 1964) * W. Alexander & Sons (Fife) Ltd. (Fife)Companies House extract company no SC26126
Fife Scottish Omnibuses Limited formerly W Alexander & Sons (Fife) Limited (branded as

Fife Scottish Fife Scottish Omnibuses Ltd, is a bus operating company part of Stagecoach East Scotland based in Dunfermline, Scotland. History ''Stagecoach Fife'' can be traced back to 1909 and after buyout and mergers become part of Walter Alexander & Sons ...

from 1978) * W. Alexander & Sons (Midland) Ltd.Companies House extract company no SC16923
Midland Bluebird Limited formerly Midland Scottish Omnibuses Limited formerly W Alexander & Sons (Midland) Limited (branded as

Midland Scottish Midland Scottish Omnibuses Ltd was a bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group formed in June 1985 from part of W. Alexander & Sons (Midland) Ltd, and operated until 1991 when it was renamed Midland Bluebird Ltd. Operation F ...

from 1978) * W. Alexander & Sons (Northern) Ltd.Companies House extract company no SC19039
Bluebird Buses Limited formerly Bluebird Northern Limited formerly Northern Scottish Omnibuses Limited formerly W Alexander & Sons (Northern) Limited (branded as

Northern Scottish Stagecoach Bluebird (also known by its legal operating name Bluebird Buses Ltd, and formerly Northern Scottish Omnibuses Ltd) is a Scottish bus company which operates bus services in the areas of Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray. It is a ...

from 1978) * Western S.M.T. Company Ltd.Companies House extract company no 131237
Western Buses Limited formerly Western Scottish Buses Limited formerly Western Scottish Limited formerly Western SMT Company Limited (branded as

Western Scottish Western Scottish Omnibuses Ltd, in Scotland, was a bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group formed in June 1985 from Western SMT Company Ltd and operated until 1997, when it became Western Buses Ltd. This successor company is no ...

from 1978) In 1970, SBG took over all the routes of

. In 1985, SBG was restructured as follows in preparation for

deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...

and

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 (Midland) Ltd and Central SMT, initial ...

were merged as

Kelvin Central Buses Kelvin Central Buses was a bus operator in Scotland. Formed as a subsidiary of the Scottish Bus Group in July 1989 from the merger of Kelvin Scottish and Central Scottish, it was sold in a management buyout and in July 1998 became part of First ...

, while

Clydeside Scottish Clydeside Scottish Omnibuses Ltd was a bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group formed in June 1985 from Western SMT Company Ltd. The company operated until May 1989, when it was remerged with Western Scottish, the successor co ...

was merged into

so as to provide a healthier prospect for potential buyers, both companies ended up being sold as separate entities. SBG Engineering had been formed to operate the central repair workshops inherited from six of the original seven operating subsidiaries (Alexander (Northern) not having had a separate engineering works). The company undertook heavy overhauls, refurbishment and accident repairs on behalf of the operating subsidiaries, and also offered these services commercially to other operators. Latterly it also owned a small fleet of rental buses. The Larbert works was transferred to Midland Scottish in 1988 and the rest of the company was dissolved in March 1990 as a prelude to privatisation. Edinburgh and Motherwell works were closed, while Inverness, Kilmarnock and Kirkcaldy works were transferred to Highland Scottish, Western Scottish and Fife Scottish respectivelyWorkshop shutdown
''Commercial Motor'' 25 January 1990 The holding company, Scottish Bus Group Limited, was dissolved in 2006.

References

External links

*
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{{Authority control Defunct companies of Scotland Former bus operators in Scotland Former nationalised industries of the United Kingdom 1961 establishments in Scotland 1991 disestablishments in Scotland British companies disestablished in 1991 British companies established in 1961