The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Recalling those 1960s buses that kept Fife people moving
In an area where bus travel made everyday life possible, it’s little surprise that there’s been an increase in the nostalgia Fife people feel for their old lifeline.
Fife bus enthusiasts are working hard to showcase the county’s history with this form of travel.
The Scottish Vintage Bus Museum near Dunfermline is the largest of its kind in the UK, with 180 buses on site.
Arguably the largest bus museum in the world, its sheds are filled with reminders of a bygone era.
Eddie Taylor, head guide and trustee for the museum, described what it would have been like as a Fife bus driver in the 1960s.
He said: “It was hard work. You had three pedals on the floor and a manual gearbox.
“You had to manually change gears at all the different bus stops. “I would know – I did it.” In the 1960s Fife’s buses were owned by W. Alexander & Sons Ltd.
Having taken over from the trams in 1947, the Scottish bus company became the largest bus operator in the UK before it was split up in 1961.
The company’s services operated from Glasgow and Oban in the west to Aberdeen and Forres in the north-east.
This huge geographical area made management difficult and so, in 1961, operating units were opened in Fife, Falkirk and Aberdeen.
The Fife branch of Alexander’s could be found in Kirkcaldy, and its once famous blue buses adopted a bright red and yellow paint job instead.
The Forth Road Bridge opened in 1964, and Alexander’s Fife began operating a service to Edinburgh.
Also at this time, manual gearboxes were replaced by semi-automatic ones.
Mr Taylor remembers that the 1960s were also a time when single-person operation was first introduced.
He said: “There used to
be a separate conductor to give you your ticket.
“Now, the driver does everything.
“That way of working started in the ‘60s too.”
Each bus was a maximum length of 10 metres (33ft).
He added: “You don’t see that now – they’re massive!”
As part of a rebranding exercise by the Scottish Transport Group in 1978, Alexander Fife was renamed Fife Scottish.
Bus services in Britain were then changed from public bodies to private companies in 1985.
As a result of this deregulation of bus services, a further
reorganisation of the Scottish Bus Group took place in 1985, with the three units becoming five.
This included Fife Scottish Omnibuses Ltd.
Of the five original Scottish Bus Group subsidiaries, Fife Scottish was the only company to survive the reorganisation intact.
Some Fife Scottish vehicles sported “Best Bus In The Kingdom” slogans, playing on Fife’s proud history of once being a major Pictish kingdom.
Fife Scottish concentrated on protecting its home market rather than trying to compete
with the dominant operators in the cities of Dundee and Edinburgh.
While Rennie’s of Dunfermline was the first challenger to Fife Scottish, the strongest competition came from local coach firm Moffat & Williamson.
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 those running between Dundee and St Andrews.
However, Fife’s passenger base remained loyal, and Moffat and Williamson quickly scaled back its operations.
Fife Scottish once again reigned over transport in the kingdom – a position it still holds today.
In July 1991, Fife Scottish was purchased by Stagecoach for £9.1 million.
The red and cream livery of the company’s coaches was replaced by the Stagecoach corporate colours of red, blue and orange stripes on a white background.
Now part of Stagecoach East Scotland, the company trades under the name Stagecoach in Fife.
“It
was hard work. You had three pedals on the floor and a manual gearbox