The Glasgow Flyer was a branded airport bus service in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

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 ...

. It connected

Glasgow Airport gd, Port-adhair Eadar-nàiseanta Ghlaschu , image = Glasgow Airport logo.svg , image-width = 200 , image2 = GlasgowAirportFromAir.jpg , image2-width = 250 , IATA = GLA , ICAO = EGPF , type = Public , owner = AGS Airports , hub = *eas ...

to central

, operating as a shuttle bus via the M8 motorway. In

Glasgow city centre Glasgow City Centre is the central business district of Glasgow, Scotland. Is bounded by Saltmarket, High Street and Castle Street to the east, The River Clyde to the south and the M8 motorway to its west and north. Glasgow City Centre is comp ...

it operated from the

Buchanan bus station Buchanan bus station is the main bus terminus in Glasgow, Scotland. The bus station is the terminus for journeys between the city and other towns and cities in Scotland, as well as long-distance services to other parts of the United Kingdom ...

, also calling at Glasgow's two mainline

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

termini. It was formerly operated under contract to airport operator BAA until 31 December 2010, but the ongoing contract to operate the service was given to

First Glasgow First Glasgow is the largest bus company serving the Greater Glasgow area in Scotland. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup. The company operates within the area covered by the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, a public body responsible for h ...

from 1 January 2011 and operated as a scheduled Arriva service. The Glasgow Flyer service was discontinued on 31 July 2011.

History

The original bus service to Glasgow Airport was route 905, which was operated by Fairline Coaches under contract to

Scottish Citylink Scottish Citylink is a long-distance express coach operator in Scotland and Ireland (where it operates as Irish Citylink) and England (where it operates as Stansted Citylink). The company was formed as a subsidiary of Scottish Transport Group i ...

, and ran a similar route.

Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.Glasgow Airport Link, using route number 905. In July 2008, Fairline Coaches sold its Glasgow City Centre - Glasgow Airport route 905 to First Glasgow; this service no longer runs. In late 2009, two of the vehicles used on the service were painted in Arriva's standard livery, to be used on other routes, mainly the X23 run in competition with McGill's Bus Services. In January 2010 the service ceased to be operated under contract to BAA as the tender was awarded to First Glasgow to continue the BAA branded airport express service under the new name Glasgow Shuttle. However, Arriva continued to operate the Glasgow Flyer in competition with the official provider without BAA support, albeit with a revised livery. In 2011, Arriva announced the Glasgow Flyer would terminate service on 31 July 2011, citing a lack of access to the Public Transport Zone at

Glasgow International Airport gd, Port-adhair Eadar-nàiseanta Ghlaschu , image = Glasgow Airport logo.svg , image-width = 200 , image2 = GlasgowAirportFromAir.jpg , image2-width = 250 , IATA = GLA , ICAO = EGPF , type = Public , owner = AGS Airports , hub = *easy ...

Vehicles used

Arriva invested £1.5 million on 11 new buses for the service. The vehicles are

Volvo B7RLE The Volvo B7RLE is a low-entry single-deck bus chassis manufactured by Volvo. It was superseded by the Volvo B8RLE in 2013. Specifications The Volvo B7RLE is similar to its predecessor, the B10BLE. In essence the B7RLE is the front section of t ...

Wright Eclipse The Wright Eclipse is a low-floor single-deck bus body that was built by Wrightbus between 1999 and 2019. The second-generation Eclipse 2 was launched in 2008, followed by the third-generation Eclipse 3 in 2015. The Eclipse, and its sister desi ...

s, in a lime green, black and white livery. Each vehicle emits 13% less carbon emissions than the previous buses used on the service. They were expected in service in November 2007, but the first was launched on 4 December 2007 at Glasgow Airport. Between the new buses arriving and service starting, a fleet of

Plaxton Centro The Plaxton Centro was a low entry single-decker bus bodywork designed by Bluebird Vehicles and manufactured by Plaxton.Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.Optare MetroRider The Optare MetroRider was a midibus manufactured by Optare between 1989 and 2000. History Optare based the original design on the MCW Metrorider after it bought the rights from Metro Cammell Weymann after the latter decided to cease production ...

had been painted into the Glasgow Flyer livery for staff transport duties.

Service features

The service operated at 24-hour service, 7 days a week and all year, with prices lower than the equivalent taxi fare. The service ran every 10 minutes at daytime. Each vehicle had

WiFi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wa ...

equipment fitted, offered to passengers free of charge, enabling them to access the internet as they traveled. The vehicles had leather seats, and each had a 3-tier luggage rack. Each bus also had a journey information system, which announced the bus stop the vehicle was due to arrive at shortly before it arrived. It also notified of train and subway stations, hotels and shopping streets.

Routes

500

The bus followed a different route in each direction in Glasgow City Centre, due to the one-way traffic system there. The service took approximately 20 minutes in either direction.Arriva bus timetable - Glasgow Flyer 500
Accessed 23 April 2008

Route departing city centre

, stance 46 *North Hanover Street, for Queen Street station *St Vincent Street *Waterloo Street, for

Central station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

*Direct via M8 motorway *

, stance B5

Route departing airport

*Glasgow Airport, stance B5 *Direct via M8 Motorway *Bothwell Street, for Central station *West George Street *North Hanover Street, for Queen Street station *Buchanan bus station, stance 46

References

External links

Glasgow FlyerGlasgow Flyer leafletGlasgow Flyer timetable
{{Glasgow Bus routes in Scotland Transport in Glasgow Airport bus services