Kelvin Central Buses

Kelvin Central Buses

Preserved Alexander PS bodied Volvo B10M in May 2015
Parent	FirstBus
Founded	1989
Defunct	1998
Headquarters	Glasgow
Service area	Dumbartonshire Lanarkshire
Service type	Bus operator

Kelvin Central Buses was a bus operator in Scotland Formed as a subsidiary of the Scottish Bus Group in July 1989 from the merger of Kelvin Scottish and Central Scottish, it was sold in a management buyout and in July 1998 became part of First Glasgow.

In March 1989, Central Scottish's legal name was changed in preparation for its July 1989 merger with Kelvin Scottish to Kelvin Central Buses (KCB) in preparation for privatisation. KCB had a difficult beginning with ongoing industrial action. By the time the dispute was resolved a number of new operators had stepped in to take on the abandoned services. Whereas Kelvin had been one of the more successful of the Scottish Bus Group subsidiaries, Central was financially weakened, suffered from heavy competition and burdened with a large debt.

KCB was the largest operator in Dumbartonshire and Lanarkshire operating services in the towns of Airdrie, Cumbernauld, Dumbarton, Hamilton and Kirkintilloch, Motherwell as well as in the city of Glasgow. A cream and red livery was adopted. In 1990, KCB ceased to operate Scottish Citylink services with the profit margin deemed insufficient. As part of the Scottish Bus Group, only one bid was lodged, a management buyout with the sale effective from 18 February 1991.