Scottish Citylink - History

History

Scottish Citylink Coaches Ltd was formed in the reorganisation of the Scottish Bus Group in 1985 to co-ordinate and manage the long distance express services operated by the other SBG subsidiaries, particularly the Western Scottish and Eastern Scottish services from Glasgow and Edinburgh to London and the south. By combining the SBG express network, Citylink became the largest operator of long distance express services within Scotland, and from Scotland to England and Wales. With the main 'hubs' in Glasgow and Edinburgh, many services to the Highlands and Islands were in some cases vital to rural areas as the only public transport link available (which still holds true today).

One vehicle was owned to satisfy licensing conditions but this was operated as part of the Western Scottish fleet. Citylink itself did not operate any vehicles but a uniform two-tone blue and yellow livery was introduced for coaches operating Citylink services, with the subsidiary's corporate fleetname displayed on the front and rear of the vehicle, e.g. 'Western Scottish'. Previously, only cross-border services had adopted some form of corporate look in the late 1970s, with vehicles wearing a simple but striking blue and white livery with bold "Scottish" fleetnames in the SBG corporate logo style.

Subsidiary companies operated Citylink vehicles on express services originating from their operating area, and where long distance services spanned one or two operating areas, the routes were shared between the companies. The level of involvement of the subsidiary firms in providing Citylink work varied with size and geography, however. Central Scottish, Strathtay Scottish, Kelvin Scottish and Clydeside Scottish were the smaller contributors as no major city or destination lay within their main operating regions. Indeed, Clydeside marketed its own express services within its area as 'Clydeside Quicksliver' with its own distinct brand.

As the Scottish Bus Group prepared for privatisation, Citylink franchises were no longer exclusive to the SBG subsidiaries. Private companies such as Rapson's Coaches, based in Inverness, Henry Crawford Coaches in Neilston, West Coast Motors (of Campbeltown), Skye-Ways and Park's Of Hamilton were awarded Citylink contracts and provided vehicles of their own for this work. Also seen using a Citylink livery but with the distinctive 'Ulsterman' lettering, Ulsterbus provided coaches for services between Londonderry / Belfast to Brimaingham and London via towns in Dumfries and Galloway. This route was also operated by Dodds of Troon and Western Scottish.

Citylink itself was privatised in August 1990, when its management and employees (through a company called Clansman, later Saltire Holdings) purchased the firm for £265k. As the Scottish Bus Group broke up, the number of private operators working Citylink contracts increased. Park's, West Coast Motors (of Campbeltown) and Rapson's were now major contributors, while the former SBG companies now owned by Stagecoach (Fife Scottish, Western Scottish, Bluebird Buses) began operating their own Stagecoach Express network to, and throughout, their respective operating areas.

In 1993 National Express Group (NEG) purchased the firm for £5m. At that time, cross border services to England were replaced by National Express services, leaving Citylink with Scottish domestic services, and co-ordinated timetabling and ticketing was introduced between the two operators. During this period, Citylink took a stake in West Coast Motors, purchased Skye-Ways Coaches and also Highland Country Buses, which was an off-shoot of Highland Scottish.

With the break-up and privatisation of British Rail, NEG won the ScotRail franchise in 1997. As a result, the Competition Commission ordered the sale of Scottish Citylink as it believed National Express would have the monopoly of long distance bus and rail services in Scotland. Metroline, the London based subsidiary of Singapore firm ComfortDelGro Corporation, bought Citylink for £10.2 m in 1998.

In 2002, the company began trading in the Republic of Ireland, acquiring Cummer Commercials Ltd, which operated on the Dublin to Galway route (and confusingly also traded as CityLink Express). The route has since been rebranded to the yellow-blue Citylink livery (although without the "Scottish" prefix) and has expanded to provide services from Galway to Shannon.