SBG scraps route package
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A SCOTTISH Bus Group market analysis package of service changes has been scrapped in the face of impending deregulation and further competition from , Strathclyde PTE.
Kelvin Scottish Omnibuses has withdrawn a package of service changes planned for the Kirkintilloch area to the north of Glasgow. The changes, one of the last stages of SBG's Scotmap project to match services to perceived demands, would have created new cross-Glasgow links.
The move was revealed by the Scottish Traffic Commissioners last week, when they granted SPTE authority to extend one of its Glasgow city services to Harestanes, a housing estate in Kirkintilloch, and to increase the frequency of services between Easterhouse and Glasgow.
The Commissioners said they could not refuse any of the SPTE applications (CM, June 22), although they said it was still sad for them to have to preside over sittings where two public bodies — each with a statutory obligation to consult with the other — were contending for traffic. Both operators had been discussing the provision of a flarestanes service for some time, but Kelvin's withdrawal of the Scotrnap package — because of deregulation and the SPTE applications — left the Commissioners with no alternative but to grant the licences.
Had Kelvin Scottish remained in the field, the Commissioners would have asked the two operators to arrive at a compromise which would not cause Kelvin severe financial damage.
• Further differences between SBG and Strathclyde come into the open at a Traffic Commissioners' hearing next month when Central Scottish Omnibuses seeks authority to run express services from Lanarkshire to Glasgow and SPTE seeks authority to run a Glasgow city service along one of Central's busiest route corridors to Larkhall.
Strathclyde, backed by Hamilton District Council, is opposing the Central plans which, they fear, could undermine supported rail .services.
And Hamilton District is supporting SPTE's proposal,