Kelvin Central Buses (T/A KCB Network) Volvo B10M-55/Alexander PS-Type
The Buses of Scotland - The Scottish Bus Group
Kelvin Central Buses
In March 1989, Central Scottish's legal name was changed in preparation for its July 1989 merger with Kelvin Scottish to Kelvin Central Buses (KCB) in preparation for privatisation. KCB had a difficult beginning with ongoing industrial action by staff at the former Central Scottish element of the company over new terms and conditions. The staff at Kelvin Scottish had already agreed these revised terms and so the merger was delayed until after the strike was resolved. By that time, a number of new independent operators had stepped in to take on the services not running due to strike action. Whereas Kelvin had, after earlier difficulties, evolved into one of the more successful of the new Scottish Bus Group subsidiaries, Central was financially weakened due to the industrial action, suffered from heavy competition and burdened with a large debt. Although the new company headquarters moved to the former Central Scottish headquarters at Traction House, Motherwell, it was the former Kelvin Scottish’s management team that was firmly in charge. The new management took drastic action to stem the losses which included shutting Wishaw and East Kilbride depots. East Kilbride at one stage had been Central’s most profitable garage but the company was suffering increased competition there from Strathclyde’s Buses. As part of these cuts it withdrew Central Scottish’s Harrier minibus run in parts of Glasgow such as Castlemilk and Rutherglen and most of its ‘Little Chief’ minibus routes, centred around Hamilton and East Kilbride. All these were run from East Kilbride and only gave it two depots in Lanarkshire proper, namely in Airdrie and Motherwell. It had other depots at Old Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton, Stepps on the outskirts of Glasgow, Cumbernauld, Kirkintilloch and the aforementioned ones at Motherwell and Airdrie.
It then tried to service East Kilbride remotely by linking up services to reduce costs. This led to some curious and unusual services such as Cumbernauld - East Kilbride via Glasgow city centre before KCB admitted defeat and withdrew from the Glasgow - East Kilbride corridor. KCB did retain sone services into East Kilbride run from other parts of Lanarkshire.
KCB was the largest operator in Dumbartonshire and Lanarkshire operating services in the towns of Airdrie, Cumbernauld, Dumbarton, Hamilton and Kirkintilloch, Motherwell and also ran several services within Glasgow. As part of cost savings, in 1990, KCB ceased to operate Scottish Citylink services with the profit margin deemed insufficient. As part of the sell off of the Scottish Bus Group, only one bid was lodged, a management/employee buyout with the sale effective from 18 February 1991. Apparently Stagecoach was interested as a way into Glasgow proper but after seeing the books it declined. The company was sold to an off the shelf company called Choiceframe Limited set up by the management/employees. That company was then renamed Kelvin Central Buses. Rumour has it, the employees/management paid just £1 for the business but did assume responsibility for the debts.
One factor of the company was the wide variety of liveries used. When the company was formed it inherited buses in Central Scottish’s original dark red/cream plus the buses in the more vibrant red/cream of Lanarkshire Bus, Green/cream of EK Chieftain and the blue/violet Monklands Bus identities Central had introduced towards the end of its existence, desperately trying to cling to past glories like a drowning man would cling to a life raft. It also had buses in the various versions of the two tone blue and yellow liveries of Kelvin Scottish. Clearly something had to be done to standardise the fleet and initially the thought seems to have been to standardise on the simplified Kelvin Scottish livery. This saw many buses gain a yellow front irrespective of what livery they carried. However, this gave the fleet a very untidy look, with the yellow fronts plastered on whatever livery the bus was in.
At that time, an experiment was undertaken with Leyland Leopard/Alexander Y-type 1548 which saw it painted into a new livery similar to the Kelvin Scottish simplified livery but with the pale blue substituted for Lanarkshire Bus red. Large Kelvin Central fleetnames in cream completed the effect. This at least accommodated the yellow front into the overall livery itself. Sadly, this livery wasn’t pursued but with large number of buses In Lanarkshire Bus red/cream, a decision was taken to standardise in this but with Kelvin Central Buses fleetnames in gold capital letters. Many of these buses already in Lanarkshire Bus livery then had the yellow fronts repainted back....ho hum hoots.
KCB then began to regain many of ground it had lost in the disastrous strikes under Central Scottish. Many of the smaller independent operators that competed heavily with Kelvin Central were successfully purchased, paving the way for Kelvin Central to become the dominant operator once again in much of Lanarkshire but also giving it a rather mixed and sometimes rather elderly fleet. However as a result of bad flooding that saw its Kirkintilloch Depot end up under water at one stage, that particular depot was closed and its services moved to between Cumbernauld and Stepps,
One of the more surprising purchases made by KCB was the former Stagecoach Magicbus operations in 1992. At the time, it was rumoured that Stagecoach had sold the Magicbus operations to remove any potential competition concerns over a proposed bid for Strathclyde’s Buses. However, Strathclyde’s Buses ultimately was sold to a management/employee bid. One result of that was that an agreement was reached that saw KCB withdraw from a significant number of routes in Glasgow in return for Strathclyde withdrawing from services in parts of Lanarkshire. This further consolidated both companies within each of their respective areas.
However with less competition, losses began to reduce and the company became increasingly profitable. This in turn led to its first batch of new buses, Alexander Strider Bodied Volvo B10Bs. These were followed by some Alexander Royale bodied Volvo Olympians and Alexander Dash bodied Volvo B6s. However this increasing profitability made the company attractive to the new bus groups forming at that time. Stagecoach was rumoured to be interested (again) in KCB as a way back into Glasgow but in the end, the company was acquired by SB Holdings, parent company of Strathclyde’s Buses. Consolidation followed and Airdrie and Stepps depots closed, leaving the company with depots at Cumbernauld, Old Kirkpatrick and Motherwell.
Other aspects of the increasing closeness of the fleets saw interchangeable ticketing being introduced between KCB, Strathclyde’s Buses and GCT fleets and a common coach fleet, called United, replaced KCB’s coach business which traded under the Kelvin Central Charter name and Strathclyde’s Buses coach fleet. A common fleet numbering system - based on Strathclyde’s Buses alpha-numeric codes - was introduced. On top of this, bus types were rationalised, with surplus Strathclyde Atlanteans, Olympians and MCW Metroriders replacing KCB Dominators, Fleetlines, early Ailsas and KCB’s rather eclectic minibus fleet, most of which were acquired from its purchase of the independent operators mentioned previously. This produced further cost savings.
At that time, Stagecoach Western Scottish were poised to launch a network of Glasgow city services under the Stagecoach Glasgow banner, competing directly with Strathclyde Buses and Kelvin Central. Weeks before these new services were due to commence, Stagecoach acquired a 20% stake in SB Holdings and a bus war was averted. However, ultimately the Monopolies & Mergers Commission found the Stagecoach stake in the combined company to be against the public interest and ordered Stagecoach to divest its 20% share in the firm early in 1995. One factor whilst Stagecoach had a stake was a sort of Stagecoach element in purchases. As part of the deal to acquire the 20% stake, SB Holdings agreed to buy 20 Alexander PS-type Volvo’s that Stagecoach was poised to use on its Glasgow services. Obviously impressed, KCB went on to buy over a 100-examples of the type, such as SV494 (N94OGG). A new trading name of KCB Network was introduced, but the headquarters were moved to Strathclyde’s Buses Larkfiekd Depot.
The ownership issue was not to be resolved until June 1996, when FirstBus purchased SB Holdings, including Stagecoach's 20% shareholding. Stagecoach walked away having made an impressive profit on its stake.
A new and rather dreary all-over red livery was adopted for the combined company, and the KCB Network trading name was replaced with just Kelvin, and later First Kelvin. In 1998, Kelvin Central Buses was renamed as First Glasgow (No.2) Limited although the company was later merged into a enlarged First Glasgow licence.
Very little now remains of Kelvin Central. Old Kilpatrick Depot was closed first and its operations moved to an separate KCB operation within Strathclyde’s Buses Knightswood Depot. Even that Depot is gone now, moved to the new Scotstoun Depot of First Glasgow, but the Old Kilpatrick depot buildings are still intact, albeit no longer a bus garage. Motherwell Depot, the old Traction House, was closed when First Glasgow’s new Blantyre depot opened. Traction House is now a housing estate. The last active former KCB Depot was Cumbernauld but even that was closed under First Glasgow in 2015, although the Depot was subsequently bought by Stagecoach Western as a new home for its Glasgow fleet.
Kelvin Central Buses (T/A KCB Network) Volvo B10M-55/Alexander PS-Type
The Buses of Scotland - The Scottish Bus Group
Kelvin Central Buses
In March 1989, Central Scottish's legal name was changed in preparation for its July 1989 merger with Kelvin Scottish to Kelvin Central Buses (KCB) in preparation for privatisation. KCB had a difficult beginning with ongoing industrial action by staff at the former Central Scottish element of the company over new terms and conditions. The staff at Kelvin Scottish had already agreed these revised terms and so the merger was delayed until after the strike was resolved. By that time, a number of new independent operators had stepped in to take on the services not running due to strike action. Whereas Kelvin had, after earlier difficulties, evolved into one of the more successful of the new Scottish Bus Group subsidiaries, Central was financially weakened due to the industrial action, suffered from heavy competition and burdened with a large debt. Although the new company headquarters moved to the former Central Scottish headquarters at Traction House, Motherwell, it was the former Kelvin Scottish’s management team that was firmly in charge. The new management took drastic action to stem the losses which included shutting Wishaw and East Kilbride depots. East Kilbride at one stage had been Central’s most profitable garage but the company was suffering increased competition there from Strathclyde’s Buses. As part of these cuts it withdrew Central Scottish’s Harrier minibus run in parts of Glasgow such as Castlemilk and Rutherglen and most of its ‘Little Chief’ minibus routes, centred around Hamilton and East Kilbride. All these were run from East Kilbride and only gave it two depots in Lanarkshire proper, namely in Airdrie and Motherwell. It had other depots at Old Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton, Stepps on the outskirts of Glasgow, Cumbernauld, Kirkintilloch and the aforementioned ones at Motherwell and Airdrie.
It then tried to service East Kilbride remotely by linking up services to reduce costs. This led to some curious and unusual services such as Cumbernauld - East Kilbride via Glasgow city centre before KCB admitted defeat and withdrew from the Glasgow - East Kilbride corridor. KCB did retain sone services into East Kilbride run from other parts of Lanarkshire.
KCB was the largest operator in Dumbartonshire and Lanarkshire operating services in the towns of Airdrie, Cumbernauld, Dumbarton, Hamilton and Kirkintilloch, Motherwell and also ran several services within Glasgow. As part of cost savings, in 1990, KCB ceased to operate Scottish Citylink services with the profit margin deemed insufficient. As part of the sell off of the Scottish Bus Group, only one bid was lodged, a management/employee buyout with the sale effective from 18 February 1991. Apparently Stagecoach was interested as a way into Glasgow proper but after seeing the books it declined. The company was sold to an off the shelf company called Choiceframe Limited set up by the management/employees. That company was then renamed Kelvin Central Buses. Rumour has it, the employees/management paid just £1 for the business but did assume responsibility for the debts.
One factor of the company was the wide variety of liveries used. When the company was formed it inherited buses in Central Scottish’s original dark red/cream plus the buses in the more vibrant red/cream of Lanarkshire Bus, Green/cream of EK Chieftain and the blue/violet Monklands Bus identities Central had introduced towards the end of its existence, desperately trying to cling to past glories like a drowning man would cling to a life raft. It also had buses in the various versions of the two tone blue and yellow liveries of Kelvin Scottish. Clearly something had to be done to standardise the fleet and initially the thought seems to have been to standardise on the simplified Kelvin Scottish livery. This saw many buses gain a yellow front irrespective of what livery they carried. However, this gave the fleet a very untidy look, with the yellow fronts plastered on whatever livery the bus was in.
At that time, an experiment was undertaken with Leyland Leopard/Alexander Y-type 1548 which saw it painted into a new livery similar to the Kelvin Scottish simplified livery but with the pale blue substituted for Lanarkshire Bus red. Large Kelvin Central fleetnames in cream completed the effect. This at least accommodated the yellow front into the overall livery itself. Sadly, this livery wasn’t pursued but with large number of buses In Lanarkshire Bus red/cream, a decision was taken to standardise in this but with Kelvin Central Buses fleetnames in gold capital letters. Many of these buses already in Lanarkshire Bus livery then had the yellow fronts repainted back....ho hum hoots.
KCB then began to regain many of ground it had lost in the disastrous strikes under Central Scottish. Many of the smaller independent operators that competed heavily with Kelvin Central were successfully purchased, paving the way for Kelvin Central to become the dominant operator once again in much of Lanarkshire but also giving it a rather mixed and sometimes rather elderly fleet. However as a result of bad flooding that saw its Kirkintilloch Depot end up under water at one stage, that particular depot was closed and its services moved to between Cumbernauld and Stepps,
One of the more surprising purchases made by KCB was the former Stagecoach Magicbus operations in 1992. At the time, it was rumoured that Stagecoach had sold the Magicbus operations to remove any potential competition concerns over a proposed bid for Strathclyde’s Buses. However, Strathclyde’s Buses ultimately was sold to a management/employee bid. One result of that was that an agreement was reached that saw KCB withdraw from a significant number of routes in Glasgow in return for Strathclyde withdrawing from services in parts of Lanarkshire. This further consolidated both companies within each of their respective areas.
However with less competition, losses began to reduce and the company became increasingly profitable. This in turn led to its first batch of new buses, Alexander Strider Bodied Volvo B10Bs. These were followed by some Alexander Royale bodied Volvo Olympians and Alexander Dash bodied Volvo B6s. However this increasing profitability made the company attractive to the new bus groups forming at that time. Stagecoach was rumoured to be interested (again) in KCB as a way back into Glasgow but in the end, the company was acquired by SB Holdings, parent company of Strathclyde’s Buses. Consolidation followed and Airdrie and Stepps depots closed, leaving the company with depots at Cumbernauld, Old Kirkpatrick and Motherwell.
Other aspects of the increasing closeness of the fleets saw interchangeable ticketing being introduced between KCB, Strathclyde’s Buses and GCT fleets and a common coach fleet, called United, replaced KCB’s coach business which traded under the Kelvin Central Charter name and Strathclyde’s Buses coach fleet. A common fleet numbering system - based on Strathclyde’s Buses alpha-numeric codes - was introduced. On top of this, bus types were rationalised, with surplus Strathclyde Atlanteans, Olympians and MCW Metroriders replacing KCB Dominators, Fleetlines, early Ailsas and KCB’s rather eclectic minibus fleet, most of which were acquired from its purchase of the independent operators mentioned previously. This produced further cost savings.
At that time, Stagecoach Western Scottish were poised to launch a network of Glasgow city services under the Stagecoach Glasgow banner, competing directly with Strathclyde Buses and Kelvin Central. Weeks before these new services were due to commence, Stagecoach acquired a 20% stake in SB Holdings and a bus war was averted. However, ultimately the Monopolies & Mergers Commission found the Stagecoach stake in the combined company to be against the public interest and ordered Stagecoach to divest its 20% share in the firm early in 1995. One factor whilst Stagecoach had a stake was a sort of Stagecoach element in purchases. As part of the deal to acquire the 20% stake, SB Holdings agreed to buy 20 Alexander PS-type Volvo’s that Stagecoach was poised to use on its Glasgow services. Obviously impressed, KCB went on to buy over a 100-examples of the type, such as SV494 (N94OGG). A new trading name of KCB Network was introduced, but the headquarters were moved to Strathclyde’s Buses Larkfiekd Depot.
The ownership issue was not to be resolved until June 1996, when FirstBus purchased SB Holdings, including Stagecoach's 20% shareholding. Stagecoach walked away having made an impressive profit on its stake.
A new and rather dreary all-over red livery was adopted for the combined company, and the KCB Network trading name was replaced with just Kelvin, and later First Kelvin. In 1998, Kelvin Central Buses was renamed as First Glasgow (No.2) Limited although the company was later merged into a enlarged First Glasgow licence.
Very little now remains of Kelvin Central. Old Kilpatrick Depot was closed first and its operations moved to an separate KCB operation within Strathclyde’s Buses Knightswood Depot. Even that Depot is gone now, moved to the new Scotstoun Depot of First Glasgow, but the Old Kilpatrick depot buildings are still intact, albeit no longer a bus garage. Motherwell Depot, the old Traction House, was closed when First Glasgow’s new Blantyre depot opened. Traction House is now a housing estate. The last active former KCB Depot was Cumbernauld but even that was closed under First Glasgow in 2015, although the Depot was subsequently bought by Stagecoach Western as a new home for its Glasgow fleet.