Scottish bus operator announces partnership expansion with global travel tech company – Scottish Business News

THE UK’s largest independent bus company McGill’s has announced it will significantly increase the scale of its partnership with global travel tech company FlixBus this year.

Following a huge expansion in 2023, which saw increased routes across Scotland as well as expanded cross-border services, the Greenock-based business is proud to expand again with travel tech company Flix.

McGill’s will invest £7.5m into the expansion, bringing more brand new state-of-the-art long-distance coaches into its fleet.

The expansion will begin in spring 2024 ahead of increasing travel demand during the summer. 19 new full Flix spec coaches, including a green interior design, will come onto the network throughout 2024, bringing its total to more than 40 on the Flix network.

Ralph Roberts, Chief Executive Officer of McGill’s said: “This investment is an indication of how important the partnership with FlixBus has been for our growth in the last year. Building a relationship with Flix, a global tech leader, to develop a high-quality intercity coach network, was a bold decision that has delivered results.

“Scaling up our partnership together in Scotland and across the border will deliver even more sustainable transport options for passengers as we continue to revolutionise the UK coach market.”

The FlixBus network has gone from strength to strength since launching the partnership in 2021, launching a dedicated Scottish network in summer 2022 and growing this fivefold last year.

Scotland’s economy will benefit from the investment, with McGill’s creating an additional 65 jobs for the country.

Andreas Schorling, Managing Director of FlixBus UK said: “Our partnership with McGill’s will increase frequencies on our most popular routes in Scotland, connecting seven cities as well as a new dedicated service between Glasgow and Edinburgh.

“Our ambitious plans to become the largest and highest quality network in the UK are well underway. McGill’s consistently receives some of the best customer ratings on our entire global network and we are proud to be bringing these services to even more destinations than ever before in 2024.”

FlixBus and McGill’s were named the Best Bus Service at the 2023 National Transport Awards for the launch of their dedicated Scottish network the previous year.

Founded in 1933, McGill’s has depots in Greenock, Inchinnan, Johnstone, Dundee, Falkirk, Stirling, Livingstone & Balfron with the company headquarters located in Greenock.

Flix, parent company to FlixBus, saw its best-ever financial half-year results in 2023 with more than 50% growth and 860 million in total revenue for the period January to June. Full-year results are expected to be announced later this month.

Driver Kary-Ann McGregor from Dundee was recently named as FlixBus UK Driver of the Year, the second driver from McGill’s to win the award.