Tayway is a bus (and previously rail) service between Dundee and Arbroath in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. The service started in November 1980 and was operated jointly by

Tayside Regional Council Tayside ( gd, Taobh Tatha) was one of the nine regions used for local government in Scotland from 15 May 1975 to 31 March 1996. The region was named for the River Tay. It was created by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, following rec ...

, Northern Scottish and British Rail. It included an integrated timetable and fare system, meaning that tickets could be used on all three operators. The brand is now used for Stagecoach Strathtay's route 73.

Original service

A partnership was formed in 1980 between

, Northern Scottish and British Rail whereby fares would be standardised and details of all services would be published in a shared timetable. The buses and trains operating on the route were given ''Tayway'' branding, including British Rail's fleet of 5 s and Tayside Regional Council's fleet of 26

Daimler Fleetline The Daimler Fleetline (known as the Leyland Fleetline from circa 1975) is a rear-engined double-decker bus chassis which was built between 1960 and 1983. It was the second of three bus models to have a marque name as well as an alphanumeric ...

s. The arrangement came to an end in 1986 due to

bus deregulation in the United Kingdom Bus deregulation in Great Britain was the abolition of Road Service Licensing outside of Greater London for bus services. This began in 1980 with the abolition of Road Service Licensing for long-distance bus services and was extended into local ...

and the bus services were taken over by Strathtay Scottish, who used a fleet of

AEC Routemaster The AEC Routemaster is a front-engined double-decker bus that was designed by London Transport and built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) and Park Royal Vehicles. The first prototype was completed in September 1954 and the last one ...

s on the route.

Current use

Strathtay Scottish were bought by Stagecoach Group in 2005, who continued to use the ''Tayway'' brand for their route 73 between

Ninewells Hospital Ninewells Hospital is a large teaching hospital, based on the western edge of Dundee, Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland ...

, Dundee, Broughty Ferry, Monifieth, Carnoustie, and Arbroath. The 73 service runs every 10 minutes on weekdays, every 15 minutes on Saturdays, and every 30 minutes on Sundays. The route was notable for being the only bus route in the UK (outside of London) to retain bus conductors, known locally as clippies. Conductors were found on most bus services in the area until the 1980s, when most buses became pay-on-entry, minimising the need for a second staff member on board. Conductors speed up journey times, minimising dwell time at bus stops en-route as the driver does not need to issue fares. However, conductor-operation on the route was stopped in March 2020 as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, and it was later announced that conductors would not return to the route. In November 2014, Stagecoach announced a three-month trial of two

New Routemaster The New Routemaster, originally referred to as the New Bus for London and colloquially as the Borismaster or Boris Bus, is a low-floor diesel double-decker bus operated in London, England. Designed by Heatherwick Studio and manufactured by W ...

buses. The trial was unsuccessful, with buses frequently breaking down, causing substantial delays. The route is now operated with 18

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

double-decker buses built by

Alexander Dennis Alexander Dennis is a British bus manufacturing company based in Larbert, Scotland. The largest bus and coach manufacturer in the United Kingdom with a 50% market share in 2019, it has manufacturing plants and partnerships in Canada, China, E ...

in Falkirk and

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

in Sweden.

References

{{Reflist Transport in Dundee Transport in Angus, Scotland Bus routes in Scotland British Rail brands Tayside Stagecoach Group