Dumfries and Galloway Independents

2017 | Transportation

Dumfries and Galloway is a unitary council area of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It comprises the historic counties of Dumfriesshire, Stewartry of Kirkcudbright and Wigtownshire, the latter two being known as Galloway. The administrative centre is the town of Dumfries. To the north it borders East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire, in the east the Borders, and to the south the county of Cumbria in England and the Solway Firth. To the west lies the Irish Sea. The main operator in the area since the 1950s was the nationalised Western SMT company, but a few independents held out and continued to run stage services alongside their coaches. Deregulation allowed many more to register routes in the area, and local authority tenders are often worked by these companies as well. Famous names such a Gibson's, Carruthers, Blue Band, and Leith were later joined by newcomers such as MacEwan's, Dickson's, Houston's, and McCall's.

David Devoy (Author)