Stagecoach East Scotland is an operating region of Stagecoach UK Bus, with its regional base in Cowdenbeath, Fife and including the legal companies Bluebird Buses Ltd, Fife Scottish Buses Ltd and AA Buses Ltd.

Operation

Stagecoach East Scotland operates under five different brands:

• Stagecoach in Perth is used for services in and around Perth.
• Stagecoach Bluebird is used for services in the north east of Scotland covering Aberdeenshire, Moray, Angus and Aberdeen city services.
• Stagecoach in Inverness is used for services in and around the city of Inverness.
• Stagecoach in Fife is used for services throughout the ancient kingdom of Fife and beyond to Dundee and Edinburgh.
• Yellow Taxibus is a brand used for demand responsive services between Dunfermline and Edinburgh using modified MPVs.

Stagecoach in Perth, Stagecoach in Inverness and Stagecoach Bluebird are trading names of Bluebird Buses Ltd, Aberdeen. Stagecoach in Fife is a trading name of Fife Scottish Omnibuses Ltd, Cowdenbeath, while Yellow Taxibus is the trading name of AA Buses Ltd, Dunfermline.

Main depots are located in Aberdeen, Elgin, Inverness, Macduff, Perth, Peterhead, Stonehaven, Tain, Methil, Kirkcaldy, St Andrews, Glenrothes, Dunfermline and Cowdenbeath. Various rural outstations also exist throughout the Bluebird operating area, mainly due to the rural nature of many of the company's services.

History

Stagecoach began long distance express coach services in 1981 from its base in Perth, expanding into local bus operation when it bought McLennan Of Spittalfield in 1985. Deregulation of the British bus industry in 1986 gave Stagecoach the opportunity to expand in its home town, thus fierce competition with the dominant operator Strathtay Scottish began, which eventaully saw Stagecoach's then Perth Panther subsidiary emerge as the largest provider of bus services in the Perth area.

While competing with Strathtay in Perth, Stagecoach purchased Inverness Traction from its receivers for £60,000 in November 1989. Inverness Traction, which had failed twice in its competition with Highland Scottish in Inverness, would soon emerge as the dominant operator in the area after a period of competition that resulted in Highland selling some 30 vehicles to Stagecoach together with its Tain depot, and the remainder of its Inverness and Easter Ross operations.

On the break up and privatisation of the Scottish Bus Group, Stagecoach was successful in acquiring two of the subsidiaries, namely Northern Scottish Omnibuses Ltd (in March 1991) and Fife Scottish Omnibuses Ltd (in July 1991). Northern Scottish was quickly renaimed Bluebird Buses Ltd. Both companies' operations remain largely unchanged from the time they joined the Stagecoach Group.

In August 2003 the UK's first entirely commercial demand responsive bus service was launched by Stagecoach East Scotland in Fife. Trading as Yellow Taxibus and using the AA Buses Ltd legal name (transferred from Stagecoach West Scotland were it was purchased with the AA Buses operation in Ayrshire) the operation combines the benefits of a fixed bus route with the flexibility of pre-booked taxi pick-ups. Yellow Taxibus operate a fleet of eight-seater spacious, upmarket Mercedes Vito vehicles on a high-frequency service between Dunfermline and Edinburgh seven days a week.

In addition to bus operation, Stagecoach East Scotland also operate Fife Ferrytoll, a park and ride facility, in partnership with Fife Council.

Bluebird Buses holds the Royal Warrant from Queen Elizabeth II for services provided to the Royal Household at Balmoral.

External links

• Stagecoach East Scotland website (http://www.stagecoachbus.com/regional/east_scotland.html)
• Scotsman report on Yellow Taxibus launch (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/pages/news/2003/08/SETD031.aspx)
• Fife Ferrytoll website (http://www.ferrytoll.org/)