Building on its strong heritage, McGill’s Bus Group is accelerating growth with strategic investments
Based in Greenock, Scotland, McGill’s Bus Group (McGill’s) is the largest independent bus operator in the UK (since 2020), serving a vast network including Inverclyde, Renfrewshire, North Lanarkshire, Glasgow, North Ayrshire, West Lothian, Falkirk, and Dundee. Passionate about people and quality service, McGill’s has invested significantly across the business to expand its network, offer more services to customers, and encourage more people to use buses.
McGill’s traces its history to 1933, and the McGill family successfully grew the company until 1997 when the company was sold to one of the area’s major operators, Clydeside 2000, which was later rebranded as Arriva Scotland West. In 2001, when Arriva withdrew from its Inverclyde operations, the Greenock depot was sold to former GMS owner, Alex Kean, and the Easdale family, with both parties owning 50 percent of the business until the Easdale family purchased the company in full in 2004.
Expanding services
The business has been through several evolutions since then to reach its current position. Having expanded its route network and added a new depot to its portfolio between 2005 and 2008, McGill’s had become the largest independent bus operator in Scotland by 2010. The business then acquired several smaller companies in the years that followed, including the remaining Arriva Scotland West operation in March 2012, which added 165 vehicles, 380 staff, and two depots to its network, as well as acquiring the local bus services of McColls Coaches in the same year.
By 2020, McGill’s had grown to be the UK’s largest independent bus operator. 2021 marked another year of successful growth for McGill’s, first with the purchase of Xplore Dundee and Xplore More from National Express, and then its partnership with German intercity coach operator FlixBus, which was further expanded in 2022. McGill’s next acquired the operations of First Scotland East from the First Group, taking on 550 employees, four depots, and a fleet of 257 buses as part of the deal.
CEO Tony Williamson joins us to share the story of how McGill’s is leading the way for high-quality transport solutions across Scotland. “I came into the business around a year ago with a focus on further developing it,” opens Tony. “Today, McGill’s provides a vast network of public transport services across Scotland, and we’re currently the largest UK supplier of services to FlixBus. With 45 vehicles on the FlixBus network, we operate services between London and Scotland, as well as local services to key cities like Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh.”
Positive end-to-end experience
Continuing its acquisition journey, McGill’s recently acquired Prentice Westwood Coaches (Prentice Westwood). “The acquisition of Prentice Westwood, a small coach operator based in Livingston, has strengthened our existing services in the Edinburgh area,” Tony explains. “We previously didn’t operate many services in that area other than our open-top activities in Edinburgh, but as a well-established and reputable name, Prentice Westwood has given us a great foundation to work from. We’re operating the company as a separate entity to McGill’s to protect its brand integrity, and we’re monitoring its performance to identify the best growth opportunities.”
In 2023, McGill’s existing owners launched a new business, Loch Lomond Travel (Loch Lomond), which aims to transform and reinvent coach holidays. “As opposed to traditional coach holidays, Loch Lomond offers guests a greater degree of flexibility,” Tony says. “We offer multiple pick-up points, for instance, rather than dictating specific locations, and we also run on a different pricing model where the best pricing is offered to customers who book early, rather than offering cheap seats to fill trips quickly when we’re close to departure. Due to our existing bus network, we run feeder services for outlying areas, which widens our target market and enables us to offer a more personalized service.
“Although we have a small team, we’re dedicated to growing Loch Lomond, and our media following has expanded significantly over the last few months. We’ve launched £10 mystery tours, for instance, where we take people on a day trip to reintroduce them to coach travel. Many people haven’t traveled on a coach for many years, so this is a great way to show them the quality, comfort, and technology offered by modern coaches. We’ve spent a lot of time profiling hotels and leveraging our existing partnerships to ensure we provide a positive end-to-end experience for our customers.
“As these trips and holidays are attracting a wide range of customers, we categorize our trips and create separate booklets to advertise each area,” he adds. “We have a concerts and entertainment offering, for instance, as well as football stadium tours and market day trips. We’re using profiling to ensure we’re targeting the right people for each sector, as someone who has traveled with us for an Oasis concert probably won’t be interested in a weekend trip to the Highlands, as an example.”
Sustainable solutions
Aside from expanding its network, McGill’s is also investing in its infrastructure. In 2025, the company announced its plans for a £25-milion ‘mega depot’ in the center of Glasgow. “We’ve purchased a 6.55-acre brownfield site with excellent transport connectivity, motorway access, pedestrian links, and extensive parking space,” Tony confirms. “We’re still exploring development options but we’re optimistic that the new depot will provide a modern, strategically located hub to drive continued expansion.”
Over the last five years, McGill’s has also invested £95 million in more than 150 zero-emission buses and the associated infrastructure, placing the company as one of the UK’s top three operators for fleet decarbonization. “Our now Chairman, Ralph Robert, was one of the first early adopters of electric mobility, and his stewardship laid the foundations for McGill’s to be at the forefront of electric bus adoption,” Tony elaborates. “We’ve recently taken delivery of 42 new electric buses, which takes us to a total fleet of 151 electric vehicles. We now have full charging installations at five depots, as well as slow charging facilities at more remote locations. We’re hoping to develop a large-scale charging operation in the future, and we’re keen to collaborate with councils or authorities to charge their vehicles during the day. Our buses are operating during the day and charging overnight, meaning our charging facilities would be largely available for other users during the day. From a depot perspective, we’re committed to energy conservation, and we integrate sustainability into the design of new depots to minimize energy usage while maximizing efficiency.”
Having recently won an award for recruitment and retention at the National Bus Awards, we ask Tony about McGill’s approach to these aspects. “There’s a strong culture of respect across the company regardless of a person’s position or seniority,” he states. “We know that good employees are worth retaining. We invest heavily in our people through training and development opportunities, and winning the silver award for recruitment and retention is testament to this strategy.”
From its roots as a local family business to its current position as the UK’s largest independent bus operator, McGill’s has built a reputation for its commitment to people, innovation, and sustainability. Through continued investment and new ventures like Loch Lomond, McGill’s will continue to strengthen its network of transport solutions.
Exploring strategic opportunities
Thinking about the year ahead, Tony shares: “There are two areas of focus for 2026; firstly, we want to continue our trajectory of steady growth, and secondly, we want to build on recent successes. We want to further develop the recently acquired Prentice Westwood, and we’re excited to explore new contracts in a brand-new geography for us. 2025 also saw rapid growth of our Aberdeen operations, and with the addition of an open-top bus in the city, we’re aiming to double our activities in Aberdeen throughout 2026. We’ve become quite specialized in open-top buses, and we’ll continue to serve this market as it evolves.
“Further afield, we’re always exploring strategic opportunities in Scotland and we’re currently evaluating the possibility of franchising both in the UK and internationally. While franchising isn’t a current priority, we’re open to strategic partnerships with other companies or investors that would take us beyond Scotland. However, our principal concern with franchising is that it favors larger companies without paying attention to what it means for smaller businesses that can no longer compete in these environments.
“For now, we’re focused on strengthening our reputation and delivering high-quality transport solutions across our ever-growing network,” Tony concludes. “There are certainly exciting times ahead with the coach travel renaissance we’re experiencing with Loch Lomond and the ongoing development of existing services to meet the evolving needs of our customers.”