Highland Scottish
Highland Scottish Omnibuses Ltd was formed as a bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group in June 1985 from Highland Omnibuses Ltd, and operated until October 1995 when the company was split into two - Highland Bus & Coach and Highland Country Buses. The companies have since remerged and operate today as Highland Country Buses. It is now Stagecoach Highlands. Background From its head office in Seafield Road, Inverness, Highland Scottish operated over the massive geographical, but sparsely populated, area of the Highland region of north west Scotland. Highland Scottish was the largest operator in north west Scotland and was responsible for urban, rural and interurban services in and around the towns of Inverness, Aviemore, Nairn, Tain, Portree, Wick, Thurso and Fort William, with depots located in these towns. Services extended to Oban in the south, and Highland also operated coaches on long distance Scottish Citylink work, linking Inverness and the north west to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and points in England. Highland Scottish only operated services on the mainland. Services in the Inner and Outer Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland were operated by local independent operators. On 16 May 2008, it was announced that the Stagecoach Group would purchase Rapson's Coaches operations of Highland Country Buses and Orkney Coaches Ltd. The sale was completed in June 2008, adding over 200 buses to the Stagecoach fleet. History Highland Scottish can be traced back to 1952 when Highland Omnibuses was created when Highland Transport, Macrae & Dick and Alexanders Town Services in Inverness were joined together. In the reorganisation of the Scottish Bus Group, in 1985, to prepare for deregulation and privatisation, the company was renamed Highland Scottish Omnibuses Ltd. Unlike many of the original SBG subsidiaries, Highland's operating area remained largely unchanged. No additional territory was gained, but Oban was transferred to Midland Scottish. The red and grey livery used by Highland Omnibuses was retained for the fleet. Initially, upon deregulation, Highland continued to enjoy the monopoly position across much of its operating area. Competition started around Fort William with the arrival of a new company, Gaelic Bus, owned by Alexander MacConnacher, Brecklet, Ballachulish. However, it was the competition in the biggest town in the Highland Scottish network that was to prove controversial. Highland Scottish was the sole operator in Inverness and provided all bus services in and around the town. However, in May 1988, a group of ex-Highland drivers formed Inverness Traction Ltd, operating a fleet of leased minibuses and operating in parallel to Highland's Inverness network. Highland's response to the competition was fast and ferocious, cutting fare levels well below the competition and increasing traffic levels by 60%. Competition between the two operators was fierce and there was much ill will, with each operator accusing the other of unfair behaviour. Both companies suffered acute financial losses during the competition period, which ended when Inverness Traction went into receivership in April 1989. The services operated by Inverness Traction, and the minibus leases, were immediately taken up by an Aberdeen-based coach