Ayrshire Bus Owners (A1 Service) - Competition

Competition

During its existence as an independent concern, A1 Service experienced little to no competition on any of its services. A1 had a good working relationship with the neighbouring co-operative bus companies, AA Motor Services and Clyde Coast Services, and there was no competition between the three operators. Prior to bus deregulation in 1986, A1 Service did regularly spar with the dominant operator in the region, Western SMT (later Western Scottish). Western had a depot in Ardrossan and also offered a service from Ardrossan to Kilmarnock, though not nearly as frequent as that of A1 Service. Traffic Commissioners court battles took place between A1 Service and Western over the right to serve any new developments, particularly the Chapelhill housing estate in the north of Ardrossan. However, after deregulation any real threat from Western did not materialise and the company scaled down its presence in north Ayrshire.

The 1980 Transport Act freed longer-distance coach services from regulation and a new operator, Bennett's of Kilwinning, pioneered express services between Ardrossan to Glasgow. A1 Service introduced a competing service. Ironically, Bennett's was to be one of the first Stagecoach acquisitions, and A1 Service found itself competing with the fledgling Perth-based operator. Stagecoach withdrew from the service, allowing Henry Crawford Coaches of Neilston to take over, and A1 itself later withdrew from the route.

In the early 1990s locally-based Valley Bus Company introduced a local circular service in competition with A1 in Saltcoats. A1 retaliated by introducing a parallel minibus service while its existing local services continued to run unaffected. After a few the new operator withdrew its service.

Since becoming part of the Stagecoach Group, A1 has faced more sustained and prolonged competition from First Glasgow. With the introduction of Stagecoach services within the city of Glasgow in 1997, First responded by introducing a service between Ardrossan and Kilmarnock. The service ran to the same route and timetable as the Stagecoach route. For a few months after the competing route's launch both operators ran their services free of charge. First and Stagecoach continued to compete on the trunk route until the withdrawal of First on 8 October 2005.