During a recent trip to Edinburgh, Jonathan Welch caught up with new McGill’s Managing Director Alex Hornby for a chat about Eastern Scottish, Bright Bus, FlixBus and the future
Lots has been happening at the companies which make up the McGill’s Group, which over the last few years has gone from being a geographically relatively small player on a UK-wide scale to being one of the largest independent operators in the country. It has expanded from its west Scotland roots around Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock first to Dundee with its take-over of Xplore Dundee from National Express, announced at the end of 2020, and then to encompass the whole of the central belt with its acquisition of the former First Scotland East operation, including Stirling, Falkirk and Edinburgh. Beyond buses, its partnership with FlixBus has seen green coaches heading north to Aberdeen and south to London, whilst a new venture, Loch Lomond Travel, will build on McGill’s previous private hire coaching experience and develop new revenue streams in the tourist sector.
There’s a lot going on.
Bright orange
The changes which took place in the former Scotland East area following the take-over of First’s business from 19 September 2022 attracted much attention; on the one hand, there was an expectation that a new operator would immediately invest and improve, whilst from the McGill’s side, the immediate priority was stabilisation in order to put things on a sure footing.
[…]By subscribing you will benefit from:
- Operator & Supplier Profiles
- Face-to-Face Interviews
- Lastest News
- Test Drives and Reviews
- Legal Updates
- Route Focus
- Industry Insider Opinions
- Passenger Perspective
- Vehicle Launches
- and much more!
