Fife Scottish
A Northern Counties bodied Volvo Olympian enters Dunfermline bus station
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| Slogan | Greener, smarter travel |
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| Parent | Stagecoach Group |
| Founded | 1961 (as Walter Alexander and Sons (Fife) Ltd.) 1991 (deregulation and privatisation of the Scottish Bus Group) |
| Headquarters | Unit 9 Castle business centre Dunfermline, Fife |
| Service area | Mostly Fife, with other services to Perthshire and Express services to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee |
| Service type | Local, regional and inter-city |
| Stations | St Andrews, Glenrothes, Dunfermline, Leven, Kirkcaldy, Halbeath Park & Ride, Ferrytoll Park & Ride |
| Depots | Glenrothes, Dunfermline, Aberhill |
| Fleet | Mostly Alexander Dennis |
| Fuel type | Diesel |
| Website | http://www.stagecoachbus.com/ |
Fife Scottish Omnibuses Ltd, in Scotland, was formed as a bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group formed in June 1985 from Walter Alexander & Sons (Fife) Ltd and is now part of the Stagecoach Group, trading as Stagecoach East Scotland (Stagecoach in Fife).
Stagecoach Fife can be traced back to 1909 and after buyout and mergers become part of Walter Alexander & Sons. In 1961 Walter Alexander & Sons was split into three separate companies with the Fife operations becoming Alexanders (Fife) with the colour red to be used as the main fleet colour.
Scottish Bus Group was prepared for deregulation of the bus industry in 1986, and eventual privatisation, which resulted in Fife Scottish Omnibuses Ltd being created. Of the seven original SBG subsidiaries, Alexanders (Fife) was the only company to survive the reorganisation intact; it lost none of its operating area to any of the new companies formed and nor did it gain. The only impact of the shake-up was the legal name change.
On its creation, the company kept the vibrant red and cream livery adopted by Alexander's Fife operations. The SBG corporate 'Fife Scottish' fleet name style was adopted, however, in an unusually large size, and larger areas of cream were the only visible differences. Some vehicles sported Best Bus In The Kingdom slogans as part of SBG's marketing drive, rather than Best Bus In Town or Best Bus Around; playing on Fife's proud history of once being a separate kingdom.
With the arrival of deregulation came the arrival of competition. Fife had previously enjoyed being the sole operator throughout much of the region and its response to the new operators showed the company's intention to remain so. Despite the cities of Edinburgh and Dundee being on the edges of its operating area, Fife concentrated on protecting its home market rather than expanding into the cities to compete against the dominant operators there. Rennie's of Dunfermline were the first challengers to Fife in and around that town, but by far the largest and most sustained competition came from local coach firm Moffat & Williamson LTD. Moffat & Williamson built up a substantial network of services throughout much of Fife, mirroring the larger operator's network. A "bus war" broke out across the region, and vehicles from both operators could be seen nose to tail on services such as that between Dundee and St Andrews. Fife's passenger base seemed loyal, however, and Rennies would soon withdraw from Dunfermline and Moffat & Williamson would scale back its operations, though retaining pockets of strong competition in the industrialised towns in the south of the region.
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Wikipedia