Western Buses Limited (T/A Stagecoach South Scotland) Alexander Dennis Enviro 400MMC
Stagecoach to close its Cumbernauld Depot in further contraction of its former Western Buses business.
Stagecoach has announced that it is to close its Cumbernauld depot and cancel its X25/X25A. It states that the services are no longer profitable and together with this and the loss of Megabus work, the depot is no longer viable. So the sad decision has been taken to close the depot.
The X25 was the only remaining service from the time that the original Stagecoach Glasgow operation was launched. Stagecoach launched into Glasgow big time in 1997, competing with what was Firstbus owned Strathclyde Buses (T/A Greater Glasgow), GCT (which traded as just that) and Kelvin Central Buses (which traded as Kelvin). One of the services launched was the X25 between Glasgow and Cumbernauld.
Initially, and what a lot of people don’t realise, was it was actually run by Fife Scottish as a short-working of its Fife Express network, which ran through Cumbernauld on its way to Glasgow. However as Stagecoach Glasgow grew, it moved to sit under that. It was primarily run by coaches and was instrumental in forcing First to improve the quality of vehicles on its competing services, Some journeys were extended to Glasgow University at peak hours to cater for students and an X25A variant,which went a slightly different way in Cumbernauld, was launched to extend competition.
But after that, the service saw very little change, As other Stagecoach services in a Glasgow fell by the wayside, the X25/25A continued. When Stagecoach rebranded it’s Glasgow business as Magic Bus, it saw double-deckers on it. However for a short while it even ran tri-axle Olympian double-deckers on it. It transferred two of the original three Megadeckers Stagecoach had bought in 1988 from down south, painted them in Stagecoach Express colours and ran them. Ironically, the original and third of these three buses had begun its life in Glasgow. And if that seems weird, for a short while First used it’s tri-axle Volvo B7Ls/East Lancs Nordics to compete, until it realised these buses really didn’t like the route.
The fleet was housed at a depot in Blochairn, just off the M8 motorway near Provanmill Gasworks in Glasgow. It was a converted Territorial Army base but in 2014, the fleet moved to a former First depot in Cumbernauld itself that Stagecoach has acquired.
Stagecoach only started using the depot in 2014, initially to house the buses needed to cover the 2014 Commonwealth Games and later to house its Stagecoach Glasgow business. Also moved in was Stagecoach’s Citylink and Megabus routes run from Glasgow, the remaining Stagecoach Glasgow routes being the X19 Easterhouse - Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and the fore mentioned X25 between Cumbernauld - Glasgow Buchanan Street. Also moved there recently was the X74 service between Glasgow and Dumfries.
However that is to end. What seems to be the straw that broke the camel’s back was the ending of Megabus work to London from Scotland. It cannot be a coincidence that literally a few weeks after it ending this happens. The X25/X25A is to be cancelled and First has agreed to take it on, consolidating its grip on Cumbernauld. From what I understand from those in the know online, the operations of the X19, X74 and the Citylink work will move to a standalone Stagecoach unit based at Craig of Campbeltown’s depot in Glasgow, where its Glasgow Citybus is run from, Its unclear whether all or some of the staff will move there but sadly Stagecoach hasn’t ruled out compulsory redundancies.
It hasn’t been confirmed whether Stagecoach will pass any vehicles currently used on the X25 to First such as 10520 (SN16OWG). It seems unlikely. But it brings further change to Glasgow’s Bus Services.
Western Buses Limited (T/A Stagecoach South Scotland) Alexander Dennis Enviro 400MMC
Stagecoach to close its Cumbernauld Depot in further contraction of its former Western Buses business.
Stagecoach has announced that it is to close its Cumbernauld depot and cancel its X25/X25A. It states that the services are no longer profitable and together with this and the loss of Megabus work, the depot is no longer viable. So the sad decision has been taken to close the depot.
The X25 was the only remaining service from the time that the original Stagecoach Glasgow operation was launched. Stagecoach launched into Glasgow big time in 1997, competing with what was Firstbus owned Strathclyde Buses (T/A Greater Glasgow), GCT (which traded as just that) and Kelvin Central Buses (which traded as Kelvin). One of the services launched was the X25 between Glasgow and Cumbernauld.
Initially, and what a lot of people don’t realise, was it was actually run by Fife Scottish as a short-working of its Fife Express network, which ran through Cumbernauld on its way to Glasgow. However as Stagecoach Glasgow grew, it moved to sit under that. It was primarily run by coaches and was instrumental in forcing First to improve the quality of vehicles on its competing services, Some journeys were extended to Glasgow University at peak hours to cater for students and an X25A variant,which went a slightly different way in Cumbernauld, was launched to extend competition.
But after that, the service saw very little change, As other Stagecoach services in a Glasgow fell by the wayside, the X25/25A continued. When Stagecoach rebranded it’s Glasgow business as Magic Bus, it saw double-deckers on it. However for a short while it even ran tri-axle Olympian double-deckers on it. It transferred two of the original three Megadeckers Stagecoach had bought in 1988 from down south, painted them in Stagecoach Express colours and ran them. Ironically, the original and third of these three buses had begun its life in Glasgow. And if that seems weird, for a short while First used it’s tri-axle Volvo B7Ls/East Lancs Nordics to compete, until it realised these buses really didn’t like the route.
The fleet was housed at a depot in Blochairn, just off the M8 motorway near Provanmill Gasworks in Glasgow. It was a converted Territorial Army base but in 2014, the fleet moved to a former First depot in Cumbernauld itself that Stagecoach has acquired.
Stagecoach only started using the depot in 2014, initially to house the buses needed to cover the 2014 Commonwealth Games and later to house its Stagecoach Glasgow business. Also moved in was Stagecoach’s Citylink and Megabus routes run from Glasgow, the remaining Stagecoach Glasgow routes being the X19 Easterhouse - Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and the fore mentioned X25 between Cumbernauld - Glasgow Buchanan Street. Also moved there recently was the X74 service between Glasgow and Dumfries.
However that is to end. What seems to be the straw that broke the camel’s back was the ending of Megabus work to London from Scotland. It cannot be a coincidence that literally a few weeks after it ending this happens. The X25/X25A is to be cancelled and First has agreed to take it on, consolidating its grip on Cumbernauld. From what I understand from those in the know online, the operations of the X19, X74 and the Citylink work will move to a standalone Stagecoach unit based at Craig of Campbeltown’s depot in Glasgow, where its Glasgow Citybus is run from, Its unclear whether all or some of the staff will move there but sadly Stagecoach hasn’t ruled out compulsory redundancies.
It hasn’t been confirmed whether Stagecoach will pass any vehicles currently used on the X25 to First such as 10520 (SN16OWG). It seems unlikely. But it brings further change to Glasgow’s Bus Services.