Dundee
Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...
, Scotland, operating services mainly within Dundee City. The operator also runs a service to
Edinburgh Airport
Edinburgh Airport is an airport located in the Ingliston area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the busiest airport in Scotland in 2019, handling over 14.7 million passengers. It was also the sixth-busiest airport in the United Kingdom by ...
. It is a subsidiary of McGill’s Buses, which is based in Greenock, Scotland.
History
The company has its origins in the Dundee and District Tramways Company, which commenced horse tram operations on 30 August 1877. Steam traction was adopted in 1885. On 1 June 1899, the company was compulsorily acquired by the local municipality to become Dundee City Tramways, which was electrified between 1900 and 1902.
From 1922, motor buses began to be operated in addition to the trams. The tram system continued to be extended until 1933. But by 1956, the trams had been fully replaced by buses and the company renamed Dundee Corporation Transport.
Local government reorganisation meant that the bus operation passed to
Tayside
Tayside ( gd, Taobh Tatha) was one of the nine regions used for local government in Scotland from 15 May 1975 to 31 March 1996. The region was named for the River Tay.
It was created by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, following rec ...
Regional Council in May 1975. In spite of the change of name, the council's bus operations were confined to the Dundee area. The livery was changed from green to dark blue, light blue and white.
In preparation for bus deregulation in October 1986 it was restructured into a separate legal entity, Tayside Bus Company Limited and in 1991 sold in a
management buy out
A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena of 19 ...
. In February 1997 it was sold to
National Express
National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...
and that year renamed Travel Dundee. The livery changed again, this time to blue, red and white.
Travel Greyhound was the coaching subsidiary which offered a range of coaches and buses for hire. Greyhound Luxury Coaches used to be a trading name for TD Alexander and Sons who commenced operations in 1960. The business was acquired by Tayside Public Transport on 13 August 1990, and re-branded Tayside Greyhound. The Greyhound brand is no longer in use.
Travel Dundee had been a contractor to
Scottish Citylink
Scottish Citylink is a long-distance express coach operator in Scotland and Ireland (where it operates as Irish Citylink) and England (where it operates as Stansted Citylink). The company was formed as a subsidiary of Scottish Transport Group in ...
form many years. However, shortly after the formation of a joint venture between Citylink and
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are dra ...
in November 2005, Travel Dundee's services ceased. They were reinstated at short notice from 9 January 2006 when extra journeys were added to route M91 from
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
direct to
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
. In May 2006, Travel Dundee commenced operating journeys on route M90 Perth -
Kinross
Kinross (, gd, Ceann Rois) is a burgh in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, around south of Perth and around northwest of Edinburgh. It is the traditional county town of the historic county of Kinross-shire.
History
Kinross's origins are c ...
-
Dunfermline
Dunfermline (; sco, Dunfaurlin, gd, Dùn Phàrlain) is a city, parish and former Royal Burgh, in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. The city currently has an estimated population of 58,508. Acco ...
- Edinburgh. Citylink ceased for the third time in September 2008, as part of a review of coaching activities.
In November 2007 National Express announced plans to re-brand all of their operations under a new unified National Express identity with Travel Dundee rebranded as National Express Dundee in October 2008.
In June 2015, it was announced that the business would be rebranded as Xplore Dundee with a green livery resembling that of Dundee Corporation Transport introduced. The rebrand occurred on 12 September 2015.
On 22 December 2020, it was announced that National Express had agreed to sell the business to
Volvo B10L
The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...
Wright Eclipse Gemini
The Wright Eclipse Gemini is a Low-floor bus, low-floor double-decker bus body that was built by Wrightbus since 2001, based on the single-deck Wright Eclipse design. The second-generation Eclipse Gemini 2 was launched in 2009, followed by the ...
double-deckers.
Xplore Dundee, then National Express Dundee, bought 29 new Wright Eclipse Urban 2-bodied Volvo B7RLE in 2011 and 2012 which were used to replace older vehicles.
In 2013, the company received its first nine
Alexander Dennis Enviro 400
The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 is a twin-axle low-floor double-decker bus that was built by the British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis between 2005 and 2018. It replaced the Alexander ALX400, Dennis Trident (from which the Enviro400 was de ...
hybrid buses, partly funded by the Scottish Government Green Bus Fund. These were transferred to the Wolverhampton garage of
National Express West Midlands
National Express West Midlands (NXWM) is a bus operator in the West Midlands that operates services in Birmingham, Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, Wolverhampton, and Solihull, as well as limited routes outside of the general area of Birmingham, s ...
which was already operating similar vehicles before the sale of the Dundee operations.
In 2018, 14 brand new
Alexander Dennis Enviro400
The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 is a twin-axle low-floor double-decker bus that was built by the British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis between 2005 and 2018. It replaced the Alexander ALX400, Dennis Trident (from which the Enviro400 was d ...
buses arrived to operate on route 22 And 12 new all new electric buses will operate on route 28 in 2021. These buses are branded ''Emerald'' and have USB ports and free Wi-Fi onboard. These were introduced on 2 December 2018, with 9 more in November 2019 and 12 more coming soon in 2021.
Subsidiary companies
Wishart Coaches
Wishart Coaches provides rural bus and coach services in the county of Angus, from its base in Friockheim. The operation previously traded as G&N Wishart and was the last remaining division of National Express in the ''Travel'' series of brands. On 25 May 2013 the Travel Wishart operating licence was sold to Gavin Kinnear who operates coach day-trips.
Xplore More
Xplore More (previously branded as NXDiscovrit) operates coach trips and excursions, as well as the X90 Dundee to
Edinburgh Airport
Edinburgh Airport is an airport located in the Ingliston area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the busiest airport in Scotland in 2019, handling over 14.7 million passengers. It was also the sixth-busiest airport in the United Kingdom by ...
express service, which was launched on 9 June 2019.
Discover Dundee
Xplore Dundee launched an open top tour bus in 2022 for Dundee which travels across the city from Discovery Point to the Dundee Law with an extension route across the Tay Road Bridge and connections to other bus routes via the city centre.