Scottish Buses During Deregulation

On 26 October 1986 Britain's bus services were deregulated. In the run-up to deregulation the Scottish Bus Group was restructured from seven companies into eleven companies along with Scottish Citylink Coaches. The new companies all developed bright new liveries to set them apart from their former owners. Competition for passengers was fierce with existing operators suddenly facing new rival operators; congestion and bitter battles took place across the country. In order to survive companies had to work hard to win new passengers as well as keep their existing passengers. New liveries, marketing campaigns and new vehicles both big and small arrived. Most companies dabbled with minibuses - some even went back to crew operation, and large fleets of London Routemaster buses took to the streets of Glasgow. In this book Kenny Barclay shares some of his photographs of the vehicles to be seen on the roads of Scotland leading up to and after Deregulation Day.