CALL IT A DAY
After 22 years, it was time for Dugald to finally get off the bus
On the buses for the very last time was Paisley’s Mr Transport – the boss of Western SMT’s mammoth operations in the area.
Sixty-three-year-old Dugald McAusland retired as district traffic superintendent, a post he held or 22 years.
But the smile and the doffed hat remained even as he headed for home after his last day on duty as the man responsible for keeping the buses rolling from the Paisley, Johnstone and Largs depots.
Genial “Duggie” as he was known, was a gentleman at all times, even when facing the public’s wrath when things went wrong.
He took to the buses more out of necessity than a love for transport, but later the job was to become “my life and hobby”.
Dugald, of Paisley, joined a small private company in Paisley as a conductor back in April 1931.
But he moved to the bigger Young’s bus service in August of the same year.
“Jobs were hard to come by in these days and the pay was only 18 shillings for a sevenday week,” he recalled.
“But I had been looking for work that guaranteed a weekly income and bus conductor’s job fitted the bill.
“In 1935, I was promoted to inspector and for years later I moved into the traffic office at Johnstone. In 1943 I had three years service in the Royal Navy as a petty officer writer, an office job although I was often at sea.”