Operator is awarded a bundle of 20 contracts worth over £9m
Greenock-based McGill’s Buses will be paid £9,084,544 over three years to take over the running of 53 Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) bus services (forming a package of 20 contracts) in the Lanarkshire, Glasgow and East Dunbartonshire areas after undercutting the next cheapest bidder by £10,000.
McGills had already taken on the work at short notice after Henderson Travel, the previous operator of the services, ceased trading in October 2014. The successful contract win will allow McGills to continue providing these services.
The Scottish Herald reported that the total cost of the public subsidies needed to operate the routes will be £132,000 per annum higher than when they were run by the previous operator, Henderson Travel.
McGill’s was among five bus companies which submitted bids to SPT to take over the routes permanently. The duration of the contracts range from 17 to 41 months. Until now the firm has had no significant presence in the Lanarkshire area.
Ralph Roberts, Managing Director of McGill’s, said: “The contract win brings job security for the 100 staff who took up McGill’s offer of employment in late October, following the sudden closure of Henderson Travel.”
Mr Roberts added that the operator, which currently employs more than 700 staff at bases in Greenock, Inchinnan, Johnstone and Barrhead, would now forge ahead with plans to open its fifth depot.
A spokeswoman for SPT said: “We can confirm that McGill’s Buses has been awarded a package of 20 contracts to run local subsidised bus services at a value of just over £9m.”
